$650B CRASH: Silver Hits $71 — But China Paying $89 (Paper Market COLLAPSING)

Silver just did something it hasn’t done in years — a violent $13 crash in a single night.
But while New York paper silver fell to $71, Shanghai was paying $89 for the same metal — an $18 gap that shouldn’t exist in a “normal” market.

In this video, we break down what really happened on December 29–30, 2025 and why this move wasn’t about “bad news”… it was about market plumbing.

What triggered the crash (and why it happened overnight)

Silver hit an all-time high near $84, then dropped ~15% into the $71 area during Ghost Week — the thin-liquidity window between Christmas and New Year when institutional desks are quiet and order books are dangerously shallow.

The 3 invisible forces that moved silver (not headlines)

Most investors think markets move on news.
But this crash was driven by:

Liquidity (buyers vanish → prices gap violently)

Leverage (margin thresholds → forced selling)

Liquidation (risk algorithms dump at any price)

The doom loop most people miss: liquidation + gamma

As the initial forced selling hit a thin market, options dealers were pushed into negative gamma hedging, creating a feedback loop:
price drops → hedging sells more → price drops more → hedging sells more.

That’s how a correction turns into a massacre in hours.

The part that changes everything: the “Shanghai Reality Check”

While paper markets were collapsing, Shanghai silver closed around $89, and the premium over London reportedly reached record territory.

In efficient markets, arbitrage closes a gap like that fast.
So if the gap stayed open… something is blocking the flow of real metal.

The countdown catalyst: China export licensing (Jan 1)

Starting January 1, new export licensing rules are expected to restrict who can export silver, potentially choking off supply routes and splitting the world into two markets:

Western paper price discovery (COMEX-driven)

Eastern physical demand pricing (industrial-driven)

Why this might be opportunity, not “the end”

This move looks less like fundamental weakness and more like a mechanical flush:
weak hands removed, leverage purged, and physical demand signaling a very different valuation.

📌 Question for you (comment)

Do you believe the “real” silver price is closer to $71 paper… or $89 physical — and why?

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Disclaimer: This content is educational and not financial advice.