Hyperliquid vs CME: Silver Crash Tests HIP-3 Market Design

• Before the crash, Hyperliquid silver perps showed tighter spreads than COMEX for small trades despite much thinner depth.
• During the selloff, spreads widened on both venues, with Hyperliquid seeing brief dislocations that mean-reverted quickly.
• After COMEX closed, Hyperliquid handled heavy weekend volume and aligned prices smoothly when futures reopened.

Silver markets faced extreme stress last week as prices collapsed during heavy global trading activity. Hyperliquid and CME’s COMEX both processed heavy silver flows as prices dropped sharply. The event tested Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 silver perpetuals against traditional futures benchmarks.

Pre-Crash Trading Shows Tight Spreads for Small Trades

Before the selloff, Hyperliquid’s silver perpetual traded competitively with CME’s COMEX Micro Silver futures. According to market data, median spreads on Hyperliquid measured 2.4 basis points. COMEX posted slightly wider median spreads near 3 basis points during overlapping hours.

Trade sizes on Hyperliquid skewed smaller, with a median trade near $1,200. However, execution quality remained close to institutional benchmarks. Median slippage reached about 2 basis points, only slightly above COMEX levels.

Depth differed sharply between venues. COMEX carried about $13 million within five basis points. Hyperliquid held roughly $230,000 in the same range. Still, for retail-weighted trades, tighter top-of-book pricing reduced immediate execution costs.

Crash Triggers Liquidity Stress Across Both Venues

At roughly 17:00 UTC, silver prices collapsed as leveraged positions unwound. Reports of a potential Federal Reserve leadership change intensified volatility. Silver fell roughly 31% from intraday highs, triggering forced liquidations.

During the crash, spreads widened on both venues. Hyperliquid’s median spreads expanded 2.1 times, while COMEX widened 1.6 times. Execution quality degraded more sharply on Hyperliquid, with about 1% of trades printing over 50 basis points from mid-price.

Despite this, price dislocations remained brief. Hyperliquid’s silver basis briefly exceeded 400 basis points versus COMEX. However, the gap lasted less than two minutes and mean-reverted within 19 minutes.

Weekend Trading

After COMEX closed Friday, Hyperliquid continued trading through the weekend. Over 49 hours, the platform processed 175,000 trades and $257 million in silver notional. Median weekend spreads compressed to 0.93 basis points.

Trade sizes declined, but execution improved for small clips. Median slippage fell below weekday levels. Silver prices continued adjusting ahead of the Sunday reopen.

When COMEX reopened, prices converged within seconds. Hyperliquid’s final weekend price aligned closely with the opening auction. The episode highlighted Hyperliquid’s role as a continuous venue during traditional market closures.