Hyperliquid's open interest climbed to $14.3 billion on Sunday, within 3% of the level it held the day before the exchange's October 2025 crash. HYPE, its native token, hit an all-time high of $88, lifting its market cap to nearly $20 billion. The rebound splits into two phases: builder-deployed HIP-3 markets drove the early recovery, then gave ground back to Hyperliquid's core perpetuals in recent weeks.
Hyperliquid's total open interest reached $14.3 billion on Sunday, within 3% of the level it held the day before the platform's infamous October crash. On Oct. 10, 2025, the exchange's open interest fell about 56% in a single day, from $14.7 billion to $6.5 billion. The recovery since then has run in two distinct halves.
HIP-3 drove the rebound, then reversed
HIP-3, Hyperliquid's framework for builder-deployed markets, carried the first leg of the open interest recovery. Its share of Hyperliquid's total open interest grew from 18% in March 2026 to over 34% by August. HIP-3 open interest itself set a record above $4.44 billion that month. Of the $8.47 billion increase in Hyperliquid's total open interest over the past six months, HIP-3 accounted for roughly 30% of that growth.
That contribution has since faded. Over the past three months, HIP-3's growth made up only 15% of the total gain. Over the past month Hyperliquid's total open interest rose $3.57 billion while HIP-3's open interest fell $119 million. As a result, HIP-3's share of total open interest has slipped from 34% last month to 25% today.
Coinbase and Washington behind the renewed demand
Two likely catalysts initiated the broader growth in Hyperliquid's perpetual futures activity. First, Coinbase began routing Base App users to Hyperliquid in mid-August, opening a new retail funnel for the exchange. Second, President Trump said the CFTC is working on bringing Hyperliquid onshore in a compliant way.
This shift toward the core exchange matters more for HYPE than the headline open interest figure suggests. HIP-3 builders keep up to half the trading fees on markets they deploy. Hyperliquid's core perpetuals route close to 97% of the fees they generate into HYPE buybacks, so a dollar of open interest returning to the core exchange is worth materially more to HYPE than a dollar arriving through a builder.
Revenue fell even as volume grew
Hyperliquid's gross revenue peaked at $457 million in Q3 2025 and fell to $202 million by Q2 2026, even as HIP-3's share of total open interest climbed over that period. Assistance Fund purchases followed the same path, dropping from $290 million in Q3 2025 to $149 million in Q2 2026. HYPE's price has still moved higher, now sitting at an all-time high of $88 with a market cap of nearly $20 billion, up over 50% this month.
Source: The Block
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