The first US spot ETF tracking Hyperliquid’s HYPE token started trading on Nasdaq on May 12, 2026.
The fund, ticker $THYP, comes from 21Shares and pulled in $1.8 million in trading volume and about $1.2 million in net inflows by the end of the first day.
21Shares Launches First Spot Hyperliquid ETF
21Shares announced the launch of THYP in posts published yesterday, describing the fund as physically backed by HYPE tokens and capable of staking a portion of its holdings. According to the issuer, the ETF carries a 0.30% management fee, which it calls the lowest fee for a Hyperliquid ETF as of May 12.
Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart tracked the launch throughout the trading session. About two and a half hours after markets opened, he said that THYP had already reached roughly $750,000 in trading volume. NovaDius Wealth president Nate Geraci also noted that there was a leveraged 2x version of it.
Later in the day, Seyffart described the final $1.8 million figure as “a very solid day” for a new ETF launch, while adding that it was “nothing too crazy.” For comparison, when Bitwise’s Solana staking ETF (BSOL) launched in October 2025, it recorded $56 million in first-day volume, the best ETF debut of that year.
More recently, Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF (MSBT) pulled in $34 million on its first day back in April 2026, putting THYP’s $1.8 million in a different territory entirely, although the fund is tracking a significantly smaller and less widely held asset.
Risk Warning
The ETF gives traditional investors exposure to Hyperliquid’s HYPE token through brokerage accounts without directly holding the asset. Still, 21Shares included repeated warnings in its prospectus and promotional material that THYP is not a direct investment in HYPE and carries heightened volatility risks.
The firm also noted that staking introduces risks tied to validator performance, including potential slashing penalties and lock-up periods.
The wave of altcoin ETF activity that THYP is part of follows a notably warmer period for crypto fund flows, which saw Bitcoin ETFs attracting close to $2 billion in April 2026, snapping a multi-month run of net outflows and turning the year-to-date flow picture positive.
HYPE was trading near $40 at the time of writing, down about 2% in the last 24 hours and roughly 9% over the past week. It’s currently about 32% below its all-time high of $59.30, which it reached in September 2025.
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