Hyperliquid’s HYPE token rallied sharply on August 19 and 20 after President Donald Trump said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission was working to bring the platform to the United States in a fully compliant and legal manner. According to CoinGecko, HYPE traded at $71.9 on August 20, up more than 23% over 24 hours and 26% over seven days, as the broader crypto market cap climbed 7.5% to $2.45 trillion overnight.
The remarks came from a White House crypto meeting, where Trump said CFTC Chairman Mike Selig is “working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant and legal manner.” The comments do not amount to regulatory approval or authorization for a US launch, but they have strengthened expectations that on-chain perpetual-futures markets could eventually receive a formal US compliance pathway rather than remain outside the American market.
The CFTC’s inaugural Innovation Advisory Committee meeting was scheduled for August 20 at 1 p.m. Eastern time in Washington. The committee is expected to examine how financial regulation should respond to emerging technologies and digital-asset markets, with market participants watching for discussion of on-chain derivatives and potential compliance frameworks relevant to Hyperliquid.
Separately, Coinbase announced on August 19 that eligible Base App users would gain access to more than 290 perpetual-futures markets through Hyperliquid. The offering supports up to 50x leverage depending on the asset and includes markets tied to cryptocurrencies, stocks, and commodities. The service remains unavailable in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and other jurisdictions that restrict leveraged digital-asset derivatives.
Derivatives data pointed to elevated speculative positioning. Aggregated futures open interest reached approximately $3.01 billion on August 20, up 16.43% over 30 days, while 24-hour liquidations totaled around $43.21 million, with shorts accounting for roughly 87.6% of liquidations. Funding was positive in 152 of the previous 180 four-hour periods, indicating increasingly long-biased positioning.
Elsewhere, crypto trader Ansem shared an outlook for an equal-weight portfolio consisting of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, HYPE, and PUMP, suggesting it could deliver returns of three to five times over the next two years. Ansem highlighted HYPE and PUMP as offering the most attractive expected returns relative to risk among the five assets, though such projections remain speculative and carry meaningful risk.
