Silver perpetuals near $1B on Hyperliquid as Bitcoin stalls at $88K
Silver perpetuals on crypto derivatives venue Hyperliquid surged to roughly $994 million in 24‑hour volume, making the SILVER‑USDC contract one of the exchange’s top markets—behind BTC and ETH but ahead of SOL and XRP. Open interest on the contract is about $154.5 million and funding is slightly negative, indicating heavy turnover and two‑way positioning consistent with volatility trading and hedging rather than a directional, levered long. The rise in commodity trading on a crypto-native perpetuals market highlights capital rotating into hard assets via crypto infrastructure.
Meanwhile bitcoin is rangebound near $88,000. On‑chain and derivatives data show a ‘defensive equilibrium’: spot cumulative volume delta has turned negative, ETF inflows have cooled, open interest eased, funding is uneven, and options skew points to rising demand for downside protection. Ether is lagging (around $2,300 in the Asia session), while gold and silver are outperforming amid macro stress — gold is up roughly 15% over 30 days and over 50% in six months. For traders, the key takeaways are heightened use of crypto derivatives for macro commodity exposure, subdued risk appetite in crypto (less leverage), and increased demand for downside hedges in BTC and ETH.
Neutral
The news signals a shift in how crypto derivatives venues are used—traders are employing perpetual contracts to gain exposure to macro commodities (silver) and to hedge risk rather than to push leveraged crypto directional bets. That is neutral for immediate crypto price direction: bitcoin remains rangebound around $88K with signs of seller activity on rallies and rising demand for downside protection, which limits upside but also prevents sharp crashes. Short term this suggests muted volatility for BTC/ETH and rising volume in commodity-linked perpetuals; traders may see increased flow into hard assets and hedging products. Long term, the repurposing of crypto plumbing for macro trades could diversify venue volumes away from pure crypto bets, potentially reducing leverage-driven blowups but also dampening crypto-only liquidity during risk-off periods. Comparable past episodes include periods when macro stress (eg. geopolitical or fiat-rate shocks) pushed flows into gold/commodities and into hedging instruments on crypto exchanges—these tended to coincide with sideways crypto price action and higher demand for options protection. Overall impact: neutral — markets adapt, risk is managed, but no clear bullish or bearish impulse for core crypto assets.