Why Hyperliquid Is Pulling In Fresh Trader Interest
Last week, half the trading volume on Hyperliquid was not related to crypto.
The real-world-asset perpetuals accounted for 52% of Hyperliquid's $48.2 billion in weekly volume between July 13 and July 19. That one asset class beat all other asset classes on the exchange put together.
Participation is more likely to have increased in the number that stands out more. RWA holdings have increased by 32% in one month to 1.25 million, and the tokenized amount of the holdings grew by 3.5% to $36.7 billion.
Traders are not only testing out the category, but they are staying in it.
HYPE, the platform's native token, is trading close to $60.55 right now and has fallen approximately 21% from its 2024 low of $2.54, but has risen around 1,490% from the same time last year. The weekly volume is high in the midst of the drop in the token's price, which is an interesting split.
Mechanical is a part of the attraction. Routes that are hyperliquid have been able to achieve nearly 99% of trading fees converted into open market buybacks, while the protocol's total revenue hit $1 billion on June 30.
The revenue model and an RWA expansion via the RWA Hackable Framework, which allows other builders to create their own markets, have provided traders with an incentive to stay on for more than speculation.
There's an undertone of risk, too. The token just went through a token unlock that saw the release of about $600m of HYPE, while the RWA side of the business has been growing faster than ever on certain days, with net outflows on the token side of ETF flows.
It's the real thing: great usage numbers versus a token under supply pressure.
At this time, the platform's total value locked (TVL) is $6.3 billion, while the 24-hour trading volume is nearing $281 million.
This is not a call to buy or sell HYPE. Really a case study of a decentralised exchange getting product-market fit in a category that the market has yet to price in.
Not financial advice.
Do you believe that this is a trend specific to Hyperliquid's setup or is it a larger trend that will be found across DeFi?
