Binance Launches USDT-Settled Silver Perpetual Contracts, Expanding Crypto Derivatives into Precious Metals
On January 7, 2026, Binance Futures, the derivatives arm of the world's leading cryptocurrency exchange, announced a significant expansion of its product lineup by launching silver perpetual contracts. This marks Binance's first official entry into precious metals derivatives, bridging the gap between traditional commodity markets and the digital asset ecosystem. The new contracts are settled and margined entirely in Tether (USDT), the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, providing traders with a familiar and liquid settlement asset within the crypto space. This strategic move allows users to gain leveraged exposure to the price of silver without needing to hold the physical metal or use traditional fiat currencies. The contracts support leverage of up to 50x, catering to both retail and institutional traders seeking amplified returns or sophisticated hedging strategies. With a remarkably low minimum trade size of just 5 USDT, the product is designed to be highly accessible, lowering the barrier to entry for a global audience interested in silver speculation. To ensure the contract price closely tracks the underlying spot market price of silver, a funding fee mechanism is applied every four hours. This perpetual contract structure, a staple in crypto derivatives, eliminates expiration dates, allowing for continuous, long-term positions. This launch represents a pivotal step in the maturation of cryptocurrency exchanges, demonstrating their capability to host complex financial instruments beyond digital tokens. By leveraging USDT as the settlement layer, Binance enhances capital efficiency for traders who can now use a single asset (USDT) to trade across crypto, and now, commodity markets. This innovation is likely to attract new capital from traditional commodity traders into the crypto ecosystem, further deepening liquidity. For the broader finance sector, it signals the accelerating convergence of digital and traditional asset classes, with blockchain-based platforms becoming one-stop shops for multi-asset trading. The introduction of a regulated, transparent, and accessible silver derivative on a major crypto exchange could potentially disrupt parts of the traditional precious metals trading landscape. It underscores the growing utility of stablecoins like USDT as foundational settlement rails for a new generation of global financial products. This development is bullish for the digital asset industry as it showcases continuous innovation, expands use cases for crypto infrastructure, and strengthens the argument for cryptocurrencies as an integral part of the future financial system.
Binance Futures Launches Silver Perpetual Contracts Settled in USDT
Binance Futures has expanded its derivatives offerings with the introduction of silver perpetual contracts, marking its first foray into precious metals. The contracts, which went live on January 7, allow traders to speculate on silver prices with leverage of up to 50x. Settled and margined in USDT, the product requires a minimum trade size of 5 USDT and charges a funding fee every four hours to maintain alignment with spot prices.
Traders can collateralize positions using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through Binance's multi-assets mode, though haircuts are applied to mitigate volatility risks. The launch follows strong performance in gold and silver markets during 2025, signaling Binance's strategic push beyond crypto-native products. Copy trading functionality will be enabled within 24 hours of launch.
