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Chinese trading company Zhongcai Futures has actually become a huge winner from the current thrashing in silver, netting over half a billion dollars from aggressive bets that the metal’s rate would fall.
Zhongcai has actually reserved earnings of more than Rmb3.6 bn ($ 519mn) considering that Friday early morning after developing brief positions in silver in late January, according to feet computations based upon disclosures to the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
Established 3 years earlier by Bian Ximing as a producer of PVC pipelines before branching into futures trading, Zhongcai stands apart as an unusual silver bear in mainland China, even as a blistering rally in the metal collected rate through January.
Since February 2, Zhongcai had actually constructed a bearish position in SHFE silver futures comparable to about 484 tonnes of the metal, worth more than $1.5 bn at present rates.
Driven by issues over the security of the United States dollar and a flood of speculative bets by financiers, rare-earth elements consisting of gold and silver rose to tape-record highs at the start of 2026. Silver rates breached $100 per ounce on January 26 and, regardless of a plunge in current days, stay up about 24 percent this year.
Zhongcai’s earnings highlight the current wild volatility in rare-earth elements trading, especially in China, where regulators have actually been working to tamp down on speculative activity.
It likewise highlights how the centre of gravity for gold and silver trading is slowly moving towards Asia, where a craze of retail financial investment in bullion was main to driving January’s historical rate rise.
Zhongcai had actually suffered losses from shorting silver in November, however restored its bearish positions throughout January. Up until now this year, the company has actually created approximately Rmb2.3 bn in net make money from trading silver futures on the SHFE, according to exchange information.
Zhongcai did not instantly react to an ask for remark.
The business initially made its name in rare-earth elements trading in 2024 when bullish bets on gold settled, as rates broke through the then-record high of $2,400 per troy ounce.
Bian, who is popular amongst traders for his routine “self-reflection” post, is likewise a minority financier in Damai Home entertainment, the Chinese media group behind movies consisting of Green Book, Oscar-winning 1917 and numerous current Objective: Difficult titles.
” There are traps and chances all over– chances in threats, and traps in chances,” Bian composed in a post in 2015. “Financial investment is basically a video game of survival.”
Recently, Bian and his trading group have actually progressively concentrated on metals futures. In addition to gold and silver, Zhongcai constructed big long positions in copper futures in mid-2025, according to exchange information.
The bet appears to show Bian’s conviction that the worldwide shift to tidy energy and China’s push into modern production will increase need, along with the possibility of increased volatility in US-China trade relations.
” Financial investment has to do with expectations, not forecasts,” Bian composed. “Copper is not just the lifeline of the electrical age, however likewise a lever of geopolitical power.”
Reporting by Leslie Hook in London and Cheng Leng in Beijing