On-chain trading is shifting heavily toward energy commodities as oil perpetual futures contracts on Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 platform have reclaimed the daily volume lead over equities and metals. Brent crude and WTI perpetual futures dominated activity on May 22, driven by escalating geopolitical tensions around the Strait of Hormuz blockade, which pushed Brent to $105.95 and WTI to $98.03.
Brent perpetuals recorded over $365 million in 24-hour trading volume, while WTI futures attracted a staggering $831 million, according to data from Dune Analytics. This surge propelled HIP-3’s open interest to a new record above $2.50 billion, marking a milestone for the platform that has gained momentum since March. TradeXYZ, which deploys contracts daily for individual stocks, indices, and now commodities, accounted for over 93% of all HIP-3 volumes.
The renewed focus on oil has directly benefited the Hyperliquid ecosystem and its native token, HYPE, which recently hit a fresh all-time high above $60. The creation of HIP-3 contracts locks an increasing amount of HYPE, boosting scarcity. HIP-3 now represents over 41% of total Hyperliquid volumes, and some of its oil pairs rank among the platform’s top 10 most traded instruments.
Research from Kaiko highlighted that oil has become the first asset class to react sharply to geopolitical news over the past two months, with BTC and equities decoupling from oil’s performance since March. This divergence led traders seeking directional moves to flock to Brent and WTI perpetuals, which offer strong, news-driven volatility while remaining less erratic than most crypto tokens. Analysts noted that while BTC drifted away from its safe-haven narrative, oil futures presented a more predictable yet highly reactive trading opportunity.
Separately, Delphi Digital emphasized that Hyperliquid is evolving beyond a mere exchange into a core financial infrastructure layer. The upcoming HIP-4 upgrade will introduce outcome-based trading, allowing positions on events like CPI releases that pay out directly on outcomes rather than directional price moves. This feature is expected to retain capital that would otherwise rotate off-platform, reinforcing Hyperliquid’s liquidity flywheel. Circle’s USDC reserves on Hyperliquid are already generating treasury yield, with 90% recycled into HYPE buybacks.
