Unlock Editor’s Digest for free
FT editor Roula Khalaf selects her favorite stories in this weekly newspaper.
Chinese trading firm Zhongkai Futures has emerged as a big winner from silver’s recent decline, making more than half a billion dollars from aggressive bets that the metal’s price would fall.
Zhongcai has booked a profit of more than Rmb3.6 billion ($519 million) since Friday morning after building a short position in silver in late January, according to FT calculations based on disclosures to the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
Founded by Bian Ziming as a maker of PVC pipes three decades ago before venturing into futures trading, Zhongcai stands as a rare silver bear in mainland China, even as a blistering rally in the metal gained momentum during January.
By February 2, Zhongkai had taken a bearish position in SHFE silver futures equivalent to approximately 484 tonnes of the metal, worth more than $1.5 billion at current prices.
Precious metals including gold and silver hit record highs in early 2026, driven by concerns over the safety of the US dollar and a flood of speculative bets by investors. Silver prices crossed $100 an ounce on January 26 and, despite a decline in recent days, remain up about 24 percent this year.
Zhongcai’s profits highlight the recent wild volatility in precious metals trading, particularly in China, where regulators are working to rein in speculative activity.
It also underlines how the center of gravity for gold and silver trading is gradually shifting towards Asia, where a frenzy of retail investment in bullion was central to driving January’s historic price surge.
Zhongkai suffered losses from silver shorting in November, but regained its bearish position during January. So far this year, the company has made a net profit of about Rmb2.3bn from silver futures trading on SHFE, according to exchange data.
Zhongkai did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company first made its name in precious metals trading in 2024 when bullish bets on gold paid off as prices broke a then-record high of $2,400 per troy ounce.
Bian, who is famous among traders for his regular “self-reflection” blog posts, is also a minority investor in Damai Entertainment, the Chinese media conglomerate behind the movies. green bookOscar winner 1917 and many recent Mission: Impossible Topic.
“There are traps and opportunities everywhere – opportunities in the risks, and traps in the opportunities,” Bian wrote in a blog post last year. “Investing is essentially a game of survival.”
In recent years, Bian and his trading team have increasingly focused on metals futures. In addition to gold and silver, Zhongkai also built large long positions in the copper futures market due in mid-2025, according to exchange data.
The move reflects Bian’s belief that the global transition to clean energy and China’s push into high-tech manufacturing will drive demand, as well as the potential for increased volatility in US-China trade relations.
“Investing is about expectations, not predictions,” Bian wrote. “Copper is not only the lifeblood of the electric age, but also a lever of geopolitical power.”
Reporting by Leslie Hook in London and Cheng Leng in Beijing
