Silver perps near $1B volume on Hyperliquid as Bitcoin stays rangebound

Silver has quietly climbed into the spotlight on Hyperliquid, a crypto-native perpetuals venue better known for BTC and ETH. During Asia trading hours on Jan. 27, the SILVER-USDC perpetual changed hands at roughly $110 and printed about $994 million in 24-hour volume, putting it among the exchange’s busiest markets.

The contract’s positioning looks less like a one-way punt and more like traders using crypto rails for macro exposure. Open interest hovered near $154.5 million, while funding sat slightly below zero. That combination, big volume, meaningful open interest and mild negative funding, often points to active two-sided flow and hedging, not a crowded leveraged long.

What’s striking is the ranking. CoinGecko data shows silver volume sitting just behind bitcoin and ether pairs on Hyperliquid, ahead of major altcoin markets like SOL and XRP. When a commodity perp can compete with top crypto tickers for attention, it suggests the “trading stack” is being repurposed. The same infrastructure built for crypto speculation is increasingly hosting volatility trades tied to metals and broader risk sentiment.

Bitcoin, meanwhile, looks stuck in place. Glassnode has described the market as a “defensive equilibrium,” and the tape matches that mood. Spot cumulative volume delta has flipped sharply negative, implying sellers are leaning into rallies. At the same time, ETF inflows have slowed, removing a steady bid that helped drive earlier advances.

Derivatives aren’t offering much help either. Open interest has eased, funding is patchy across venues, and options skew has moved higher, a sign that traders are paying up for downside protection. Price holding near $88,000 looks less like confidence and more like hesitation: not enough urgency to break lower, and not enough risk appetite to push higher.

Ether has lagged around $2,300, while capital keeps drifting toward hard assets. Gold’s recent run (roughly 15% over 30 days and over 50% in six months) fits the same story that’s turning silver into a headline market on a crypto exchange.