Why Is Silver Down Today? XAG Hits Its Lowest Level of 2026 and Tops Crypto Futures Liquidations on Binance

What happened to silver

Silver had already been weak for two months. On Thursday it broke a support level set on 15 October and fell more than 5%, touching what FXStreet described as an eleven-month low of 54.53 USD in the US afternoon. FXStreet's report notes an unusual mix: investors bought US Treasuries, which pushed yields down, yet silver still could not rally because energy prices and the US dollar were both rising.

The energy shock is the key. According to FXStreet's gold coverage, oil surged after Yemen's Houthis said they attacked an airport in eastern Saudi Arabia, and a drone was intercepted while targeting a Saudi Aramco processing facility at the Shaybah oil field. Higher oil feeds directly into inflation expectations. The Federal Reserve raised rates last month for the first time since 2023, and traders now see a chance of another hike in December, even though the CME FedWatch tool puts the odds of no change at the October meeting at 92.8%. Metals that pay no interest suffer when the market prices higher rates for longer.

Gold fell too, to its lowest level in more than two months near 4,025 USD in early Asian trading on Friday. Silver fell harder, which is typical: it is a smaller, more volatile market that also depends on industrial demand.

The crypto-exchange numbers

Silver is no longer only a commodities-desk story. Binance, OKX and Bitget all list USDT-margined silver perpetuals that trade around the clock, and the drop was visible in their public data, all read at about 10:49 SGT on 23 October.

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The sharpest leg came in one hour. Binance's hourly chart shows XAGUSDT dropping from 54.79 to 53.69 between 09:00 and 10:00 SGT (01:00 to 02:00 UTC) on 23 October, with 147 million USDT traded in that hour alone, the busiest hour of the past day.

Where the liquidations hit

Our own liquidation tracker, which records forced closures on Binance and OKX, shows silver at the top of the board. In the hour to 10:47 SGT, XAGUSDT accounted for about 11.0 million USD of liquidations, more than OKX's BTC perpetual (9.7 million) and ETH perpetual (4.9 million). The single largest liquidation in that hour was a 1.0 million USD long on XAGUSDT at 09:53 SGT. Over four hours, silver liquidations reached 13.8 million USD, and gold's XAUUSDT added another 5.6 million.

What this means in plain terms: traders who used leverage to buy the dip in silver earlier in the week were forced out when the price broke through 54.5. Their forced selling added to the drop, which is the classic liquidation cascade crypto traders know from bitcoin, now happening on a metal.

Funding tells you the crowd is still leaning long. All three venues show positive funding, meaning long positions pay shorts every interval. Bitget's rate is about 2.5 times Binance's, and OKX's 8-hour figure is higher still. Positive funding after a sharp drop means many traders are still betting on a bounce, and they keep paying for that bet while they wait.

What to do if you trade silver on a crypto exchange

1. Treat it like a volatile altcoin, not a safe haven. Silver's 24-hour range on Binance was 56.91 to 53.56 USDT, a move of about 6% from top to bottom. At 10x leverage, that range is enough to wipe out an isolated position.
2. Check funding before you hold overnight. Binance and Bitget charge every four hours, OKX every eight. If you are long, positive funding is a cost on every interval. Our funding-rate board shows how crypto funding compares.
3. Watch the energy headlines and the Fed. The driver this week is oil and rate expectations, not crypto. A new attack on oil infrastructure, or Fed comments ahead of the October meeting, can move silver in minutes.
4. Use stop orders and keep leverage low. The 09:00 SGT candle shows how fast liquidity disappears when a level breaks.
5. Compare fees, because metals traders churn. If you trade metal or crypto perpetuals often, fees add up quickly. Bitget lists the XAGUSDT perpetual and signing up on Bitget with code nexu888 returns up to 60% of trading fees. Our OKX profile covers OKX, which also lists silver and gold swaps.

What we could not verify

We could not see the full split of silver liquidations between longs and shorts, only that the largest single one was a long. Our tracker covers Binance and OKX, so liquidations on other venues are not included. We also did not use any analyst price targets; the levels in this article are prices that already traded.

Quick answers

Why is silver down today? An oil spike after attacks on Saudi Arabia raised inflation fears and Fed rate-hike bets, and a strong dollar added pressure. Silver fell more than 5% on Thursday and kept falling on Friday.

How low did silver go? FXStreet reported an eleven-month low of 54.53 USD on Thursday; Binance's XAGUSDT perpetual traded as low as 53.56 USDT by Friday morning Asian time.

Can I trade silver on a crypto exchange? Yes. Binance (XAGUSDT), Bitget (XAGUSDT) and OKX (XAG-USDT-SWAP) all list USDT-margined silver perpetuals that trade 24/7, subject to each exchange's regional rules.

How big were the silver liquidations? About 11.0 million USD in one hour and 13.8 million over four hours on Binance, based on our liquidation tracker.

Did gold fall too? Yes, to its lowest level in more than two months near 4,025 USD early on Friday.