On March 27, 1980, known as Silver Thursday, the price of silver collapsed after the Hunt brothers' attempt to corner the silver market failed. The price of silver had soared to nearly $50 per ounce, but when the exchange raised margin requirements and the Hunt brothers could not meet their obligations, the price crashed to around $11 per ounce. The panic threatened major financial institutions and required a $1 billion bailout, revealing the dangers of excessive speculation.

The Silver Thursday panic became a cautionary tale about the excesses of the 1970s commodity boom, influencing the economic literature and satirical poetry of the early Reagan era. The Hunt brothers' story was referenced in works by writers like Tom Wolfe, who used the episode to critique the culture of greed that would come to define the 1980s.