The record wave of retail investors flooding into gold has abruptly reversed course, unleashing wild price swings in one of this year’s hottest commodities that is deterring traders from buying the dip.

Spot gold dropped as much as 3.4 per cent overnight to below $US3980 an ounce, extending last week’s biggest sell-off in over a decade. The precious metal has now tumbled 9.3 per cent from its record high of $US4381 that it reached last Monday. On Tuesday, it fell 0.2 per cent to $US3972 an ounce.