Silver nears $1 billion in volume on Hyperliquid as bitcoin remains frozen: Asia Morning Briefing

Silver is now a front-page asset on Hyperliquid, highlighting a subtle shift in how crypto derivatives venues are being used as bitcoin struggles to find direction.

The SILVER-USDC contract has become one of Hyperliquid’s most active markets, trading around $110 during Asia hours and posting roughly $994 Million in 24-hour volume.

Open interest sits near $154.5 Million, while funding remains slightly negative, pointing to heavy turnover and two-way positioning rather than a one-directional, levered bet. For a crypto-native venue built around perpetuals, that mix looks closer to a volatility- and hedging-oriented market than a speculative long.

What stands out is not silver’s price alone, but its prominence: silver is right behind BTC and ETH pairs in volume, according to CoinGecko data, and ahead of SOL and XRP.

When a commodity contract rivals major crypto assets for volume on a decentralized exchange, it suggests traders are using crypto infrastructure to express views that bitcoin and ether no longer capture efficiently. In other words, crypto plumbing is being repurposed for macro trades.

That backdrop helps explain why bitcoin itself remains stuck. Glassnode data shows BTC pinned in what it describes as a defensive equilibrium. Spot cumulative volume delta has flipped sharply negative, indicating sellers are hitting bids on rallies.

ETF flows have cooled, removing a key source of incremental demand. In derivatives, open interest has eased, funding is uneven, and options skew has risen, signaling growing demand for downside protection rather than conviction about upside.

The result is a market where bitcoin absorbs pressure without collapsing, but also fails to trend. Price stability near $88,000 masks a lack of aggressive buyers and a reluctance to deploy leverage. ETH's relative underperformance reinforces the message. Risk appetite is not moving down the curve.

Bitcoin is not being abandoned. It is just sidelined. And the rise of silver trading on Hyperliquid is one of the clearest signs yet of where uncertainty is now being priced.

Market Movement

BTC: Bitcoin is hovering near $88,000, trading sideways as persistent sell pressure and cautious positioning cap rallies despite the absence of panic selling.

ETH: Ether is trading around $2,300, down on the week and lagging bitcoin as leverage and risk appetite remain subdued.

Gold: Gold is extending its breakout, up about 15% over the past 30 days and more than 50% over six months, reinforcing the same macro stress trade showing up in silver as capital gravitates toward hard assets rather than crypto beta.

Nikkei 225: Japan’s Nikkei 225 hovered near flat in Asia trade, even as South Korean auto stocks swung sharply on renewed U.S. tariff threats, with regional markets mixed and chip-led gains in Seoul and Australia offsetting weakness in China.