The price of Hyperliquid's native token, HYPE, surged over 5% in 24 hours to approximately $38.28, accompanied by a 50% spike in trading volume to nearly $288 million. This rally occurred amid a broader market recovery, with Bitcoin gaining over 4%.
The primary catalyst was a public endorsement from Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and CIO of Maelstrom. On April 8, 2026, Hayes stated on X that HYPE is "the only thing we're buying right now." He reiterated a long-standing price target of $150 for the token by August 2026, representing a roughly 4x increase from current levels. Hayes cited the platform's revenue-sharing model as a key conviction, where 97% of protocol revenue is used to buy back and burn HYPE tokens from the open market.
Despite a significant token unlock of 9.9 million HYPE to core contributors on April 6, the market absorbed the additional supply without major selling pressure, indicating the event was likely priced in. The platform's total open interest remains robust, standing above $2.3 billion, and it has expanded into tokenized real-world assets like oil futures.
Concurrently, on-chain data revealed Hayes has been exiting other positions, selling his ETHFI holdings at a 13% loss and moving a substantial amount of AUKI tokens, likely indicating a sale.
Technically, HYPE faces immediate resistance near $38, with a breakout potentially targeting $41.27. Support is seen at $36.38 and more critically in the $33.48–$35.19 zone. The token's price action has been choppy around $35 due to conflicting whale activity, with large transfers indicating both accumulation for long-term holding and sell-side pressure, creating short-term volatility.
