Billionaire Chinese trader bets on silver collapse with $300 million wager

Investing.com -- A billionaire Chinese trader known for profiting from gold’s record rally has placed a massive bet against silver, with a position now worth almost $300 million following the metal’s recent price drop.

Bian Ximing, who maintains a low profile and resides primarily in Gibraltar, has accumulated nearly $3 billion from bullish positions on Shanghai Futures Exchange gold contracts since early 2022, according to Bloomberg. He has now established the exchange’s largest net short position in silver.

Bian’s silver short position represents approximately 450 tons, or 30,000 contracts. The metal’s sharp decline since last week has generated a paper gain of about 2 billion yuan ($288 million).

The trader’s bet hasn’t been without risk. He has been forced to liquidate some positions at a loss amid silver market volatility. However, including previous losses, Bian stands to make a net profit of around 1 billion yuan based on his position and prices as of Tuesday’s close.

Silver continued its downward trend on Thursday, falling more than 16%, likely increasing Bian’s profits significantly.

According to exchange data, Bian began building his silver short position through his brokerage Zhongcai Futures Co. in the final week of January. While the Shanghai Futures Exchange doesn’t identify individual investors behind brokerage accounts, Bloomberg reports that Bian’s personal investments and products he manages for a small client group comprise most of the company’s precious metals positions.

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