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Silver’s 17% plunge reignites market behaviour that once topped bitcoin liquidations
It is the same setup Michael Burry warned about this week, when he said falling crypto collateral can force metal selling in a feedback loop.
Feb 5, 2026, 4:45 a.m.
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What to know:
- Silver plunged as much as 17% in 24 hours, erasing a recent rebound and dragging gold and copper lower amid thin liquidity and heavy speculative positioning.
- Tokenized silver markets saw large forced liquidations, including about $16.82 million of long positions in XYZ:SILVER on Hyperliquid, underscoring how leverage is amplifying the sell-off.
- Hedge fund manager Michael Burry has warned of a "collateral death spiral" in which falling crypto collateral triggers selling in tokenized metals, with positioning and forced unwinds now outweighing macro drivers such as shifting Federal Reserve expectations.
Silver sank as much as 17% in the past 24 hours, wiping out a two-day rebound as the metal struggled to find a floor after last week’s historic rout.
The move dragged gold and copper lower as well, extending an unwind that traders say has been magnified by thin liquidity and heavy speculative positioning.
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The renewed drop is also showing up on crypto rails. On Hyperliquid, one of the larger liquidation prints tied to tokenized silver was a forced close of roughly $17.75 million in XYZ:SILVER, with about $16.82 million of that coming from long positions, according to trade data shared by market participants.
The lopsided unwind fits the pattern of late, with traders leaning into rebound bets only to get flushed when volatility spikes again.
That spillover is exactly what hedge fund manager Michael Burry flagged earlier this week.
Burry described a “collateral death spiral” dynamic, where leverage builds as metals rise, then falling crypto collateral forces traders to sell tokenized metals to meet margin. He singled out bitcoin losses could force institutions to liquidate profitable metals positions.
In that kind of tape, the liquidation leaderboard can look inverted, with metals products briefly doing more damage than bitcoin itself.
Macro headlines are not helping. Markets are still digesting the policy implications of Kevin Warsh’s nomination as Federal Reserve chair, while President Donald Trump has pushed back on the idea that the Fed could turn more hawkish.
Rate expectations matter for precious metals, but the bigger driver right now is positioning and forced selling, not the clean macro bid that powered last month’s surge.
