Silver Surges on Hyperliquid as Crypto Traders Pivot to Macro Bets

Silver has emerged as a surprise front-page asset on Hyperliquid, underscoring a quiet but meaningful shift in how crypto derivatives platforms are being used as bitcoin struggles to establish direction. The SILVER-USDC perpetual contract has become one of Hyperliquid’s most actively traded markets, changing hands near $110 during Asia hours and generating roughly $994 million in 24-hour trading volume.

Open interest stands close to $154.5 million, while funding rates remain slightly negative. This combination points to heavy turnover and two-way positioning, rather than an aggressive, leveraged long. For a crypto-native derivatives venue built around perpetual futures, this activity profile looks more like a volatility and hedging market than a speculative bet. Silver’s prominence is striking: CoinGecko data shows silver trading volume just behind bitcoin and ether pairs on Hyperliquid, and ahead of major crypto assets such as Solana and XRP.

When a commodity contract rivals leading cryptocurrencies in volume on a decentralized exchange, it signals that traders are increasingly using crypto infrastructure to express macroeconomic views that bitcoin and ether are no longer capturing efficiently. In effect, crypto plumbing is being repurposed for macro and hard-asset trades.

This shift helps explain bitcoin’s current stagnation. According to Glassnode, BTC is locked in what it calls a defensive equilibrium. Spot cumulative volume delta has turned sharply negative, indicating that sellers are consistently hitting bids during rallies. ETF inflows have cooled, removing a key source of incremental demand, while derivatives markets show easing open interest, uneven funding, and rising options skew, all pointing to increased demand for downside protection.

As a result, bitcoin remains resilient but directionless. Price stability near $88,000 masks a lack of aggressive buyers and a broader reluctance to deploy leverage. Ether’s relative underperformance around $2,300 reinforces the same message: risk appetite is subdued. Bitcoin is not being abandoned, but it is being sidelined, while silver’s rise on Hyperliquid highlights where uncertainty and macro stress are now being priced.