Open interest on Hyperliquid has surged to $14.669 billion, the highest level since October 2025, according to DefiLlama data. The platform's OI crossed the $14 billion threshold on September 4 after bottoming near $4.76 billion in February — a roughly 210% increase over seven months. Unlike the rapid leverage buildup seen in October last year, the climb has been gradual since March, suggesting a structurally different expansion.
Several catalysts have supported this trend. On August 19, Coinbase announced that its Base app would use Hyperliquid-powered perpetual futures, opening access to more than 290 perp markets across crypto, commodities and equities. The next day, President Trump said the CFTC is actively working on bringing Hyperliquid onshore. Then on September 6, about 9.92 million HYPE worth roughly $820 million was unlocked; instead of weakening momentum, the market held firm and open interest printed a local high the following day.
The composition of growth has shifted toward core markets. Builder-deployed HIP-3 markets previously drove OI higher, rising from 18% to 34% of platform OI by August, but the latest monthly increase of $3.80 billion came as HIP-3 OI declined by about $200 million. This matters because core markets route around 99% of fees into HYPE buybacks, while builder markets let deployers keep up to half of generated fees.
Hyperliquid now accounts for about 76% of perp DEX open interest, with total tracked perp DEX OI at $19.2 billion as of September 8. Hyperliquid's $14.6 billion compares with Aster at $2.5 billion, Lighter at $1.1 billion and edgeX at $598.6 million. The report cautions that open interest measures notional open positions rather than inflows, and can be built by longs, shorts or a balanced mix, with higher OI also creating more liquidation risk if prices move sharply.
