Hyperliquid’s native token HYPE is trading near $82 after a 4% gain in 24 hours, pushing its year-to-date advance above 220%. The token is now the 9th most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalization with an $18.2 billion valuation and a fully diluted valuation of roughly $78.4 billion.
The move was partly supported by the listing of the Solana-based memecoin USELESS on Hyperliquid. USELESS surged 15% after the listing, with trading volumes jumping 30% to $173 million.
On-chain data shows continued accumulation by a major whale. According to Lookonchain, the wallet address 0x6436 bought another 308,569 HYPE worth about $26 million and staked it. That brings the wallet's total to 4.05 million HYPE, valued at around $322 million, all staked. Crypto Banter noted the same address has been buying and staking since early summer, including a 3.24 million HYPE purchase last week.
Supply-side pressure also remains in focus. Hyperliquid bought and burned 32,770 HYPE — about $2.65 million — in 24 hours at an average price of $81.01, according to Onchain Lens. The lifetime burn now stands at 48.57 million HYPE, worth approximately $3.82 billion at current prices, or 4.86% of max supply permanently removed.
Open interest on Hyperliquid climbed from $7.9 billion to $8.1 billion this week, signaling that traders are still positioning for upside. However, BTC trade volumes on the platform dropped sharply from 3.08 million trades in the week of August 16 to 656,000 last week, a 79% decline. A bearish divergence has appeared on the daily chart, even as a bull flag formed after HYPE broke above $75. Analysts maintain a $100 price target, but warn a pullback to $75 is possible first — roughly 13% below current levels.
Ran Neuner, founder of Crypto Banter, said on Cointelegraph’s Chain Reaction podcast that regulation is Hyperliquid’s biggest risk. He expects governments that have already started regulating centralized exchanges to turn next to decentralized platforms. Still, he argued that Hyperliquid’s network effects create a strong moat, comparing it to Uber’s dominance in ride-sharing. On the regulatory front, President Trump said in August that CFTC Chair Michael Selig was working to bring Hyperliquid into the US in a fully compliant and legal fashion, news that at the time pushed HYPE up about 20% to near $70.
