Gold, silver and oil drive 65,000% jump in commodity perpetuals

BitMEX said in a Thursday report that commodity perpetual swaps were the fastest-growing segment of TradFi perps in the first quarter of 2026, with weekly volume rising 65,463% from $38.1 million to $25.0 billion.

The report said silver, crude oil and gold drove most of that growth. By the week of March 15, Silver (XAG) accounted for 34.8% of the market share of tokenized commodities, followed by crude oil (CL) for 27.7%, gold (XAU) at 27.5% and Silver on Hyperliquid for 6%, according to a Thursday report.

BitMEX said the March entry of crude oil added a new leg to the market, attributing that move to Iran-related geopolitical tensions and broader demand for 24/7 commodity exposure on crypto-native venues.

The figures point to a fast-growing niche inside crypto derivatives markets.

Global Weekly Volume by Commodity Pair. Source: BitMEX

Brent crude oil has risen by around 44% since the first US/Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, from around $69 to above $99 at the time of writing, according to data from Trading Economics. Oil prices peaked at around $114 on Tuesday, their highest level since the beginning of the conflict.

Brent Crude Oil, six-month chart. Source: Tradingeconomics

Weekend dislocations lifted commodity perps

Onchain TradFi perps are driving traders to “speculate and hedge against weekend geopolitical events like the recent Iran conflict, in real time,” Stephan Lutz, CEO at BitMEX, told Cointelegraph. “While the perpetual swaps model will continue to capture significant market share in commodities trading due to its 24/7 nature, we are highly skeptical about tokenising spot assets,” he said.

However, minting physical commodities on the blockchain is complicated by the legacy financial system’s “complex, arbitrary legal rules,” Lutz said, adding that onchain derivatives will continue to eat into the trading share of traditional commodities, until “legacy giants like the CME” launch their own 24/7 trading venues.

Related: Crypto exchanges gain as tokenized commodity market climbs to $7.7B

In the broader market, the total market capitalization of onchain commodities declined by 2.7% during the past 30 days to $7.34 billion as of Thursday, according to data aggregator RWA.xyz.

Tokenized commodities market capitalization. Source: RWA.xyz

BitMEX, which says it launched the first perpetual swap in 2016, now offers more than 20 TradFi contracts, according to the report.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, introduced gold and silver perpetuals in January. It offers contracts spanning precious metals and tokenized equities. Its Silver (XAG) contract saw an average daily volume of $1.31 billion during the quarter, according to the report.

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