Silver approaches $1B in trading on Hyperliquid while bitcoin stays flat: Asia Morning Briefing

Silver surges on Hyperliquid as bitcoin stalls, highlighting macro-driven crypto flows

Silver has emerged as a standout asset on Hyperliquid, underscoring a subtle shift in how crypto derivatives venues are being used as bitcoin struggles to find direction.

The SILVER-USDC perpetual contract has become one of the platform’s busiest markets, trading near $110 during Asia hours and posting roughly $994 million in 24-hour volume. Open interest sits around $154.5 million, while funding rates remain slightly negative, suggesting heavy two-way positioning rather than a purely directional, leveraged trade. For a crypto-native venue built around perpetuals, this activity resembles a volatility- and hedging-driven market more than a speculative long.

Notably, silver’s prominence is striking: it ranks just behind BTC and ETH pairs in volume, according to CoinGecko data, and surpasses SOL and XRP. That silver—a commodity rather than a traditional crypto asset—is drawing comparable volume indicates traders are using crypto infrastructure to express macro or hedging views that bitcoin and ether no longer capture efficiently. In other words, decentralized exchanges are increasingly being repurposed for macro trading.

Meanwhile, bitcoin remains stuck. Glassnode data shows BTC pinned in what it describes as a defensive equilibrium, with cumulative spot volume delta turning sharply negative as sellers press bids on rallies. ETF inflows have cooled, removing a key source of incremental demand, while derivatives metrics show eased open interest, uneven funding, and rising options skew, signaling growing demand for downside protection rather than conviction on upside moves.

The result is a market where bitcoin absorbs selling pressure without collapsing, yet fails to trend. Price stability near $88,000 masks a lack of aggressive buyers and restrained leverage deployment. Ether’s relative underperformance reinforces this cautious sentiment. In short, risk appetite has stalled, leaving BTC sidelined while traders pivot to alternative macro exposures like silver.

Market Snapshot

• BTC: Trading near $88,000, bitcoin remains range-bound as persistent sell pressure and cautious positioning cap rallies.
• ETH: Ether hovers around $2,300, down on the week and lagging BTC as leverage and risk appetite remain muted.
• Gold: Continuing its breakout, gold is up roughly 15% over the past 30 days and more than 50% over six months, reinforcing the macro “safe haven” trend also reflected in silver flows.
• Nikkei 225: Japan’s Nikkei 225 traded near flat in Asia, even as South Korean auto stocks swung sharply on renewed U.S. tariff concerns. Regional markets were mixed, with chip-led gains in Seoul and Australia offsetting weakness in China.