Silver markets faced extreme stress last week as prices collapsed during heavy global trading. The event pitted Hyperliquid's HIP-3 silver perpetuals against CME's COMEX futures, offering a real-world test of the DeFi exchange's market design.
Before the crash: tighter spreads for small trades, thin depth
Prior to the selloff, Hyperliquid's silver perps showed median spreads of 2.4 basis points, slightly narrower than COMEX's 3 basis points during overlapping hours. Trade sizes on Hyperliquid tilted small—median around $1,200—yet execution quality remained close to institutional norms, with median slippage around 2 bps, just above COMEX.
Depth differed sharply. COMEX carried about $13 million within five bps, while Hyperliquid held only $230,000 in the same range. For retail-sized clips, tighter top-of-book pricing reduced immediate execution costs.
During the crash: spreads blow out, but dislocations fade fast
At roughly 17:00 UTC, silver prices collapsed as leveraged positions unwound. Reports of a potential Fed leadership change amplified volatility. Silver fell roughly 31% from intraday highs, triggering forced liquidations. Median spreads on Hyperliquid widened 2.1x vs 1.6x on COMEX. About 1% of Hyperliquid trades printed over 50 bps from mid-price.
Yet price dislocations were brief. Hyperliquid's silver basis briefly exceeded 400 bps over COMEX, but the gap lasted less than two minutes and mean-reverted within 19 minutes.
Weekend continuous trading: 175,000 trades, $257M notional
After COMEX closed Friday, Hyperliquid remained open through the weekend. Over 49 hours, the platform processed 175,000 trades representing $257 million in silver notional. Median weekend spreads compressed to 0.93 bps. Trade sizes declined but execution improved for small clips, with median slippage below weekday levels.
Reopening convergence: prices aligned in seconds
When COMEX reopened Sunday, Hyperliquid's final weekend price converged with the opening auction within seconds. The episode highlighted the exchange's role as a continuous venue during traditional market closures.