Perpetual futures tracking SK Hynix on Hyperliquid crashed 20% to $900 in one minute before rebounding above $1,000. Trade.xyz, which deployed the market under Hyperliquid's HIP-3 framework, is investigating after a single pre-market share trade in Seoul reached the contract's oracle price.
Between 23:00 UTC and 23:01 UTC, perpetual futures tracking SK Hynix on Hyperliquid crashed 20% to $900, according to data from Hyperliquid. The price rebounded to over $1,000 the very next minute and was recently priced at $1,092. The contract is traded and denominated in the dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC, and it tracks a South Korean chipmaker whose American depositary receipts debuted on Nasdaq earlier this month.
One share at 1.272 million won started it
The disruption began shortly after South Korea's alternative exchange, NextTrade, opened its pre-market session. One SK Hynix share changed hands at 1.272 million won, 29.96% below the previous close of 1.816 million won. Korean reports attributed the print to a possible order error combined with limited liquidity during the early session.
Trade.xyz documentation states that the SKHX oracle tracks one SK Hynix common share and converts its Korean won price into U.S. dollars using the prevailing exchange rate. That design allowed the unusual trade to affect the on-chain contract even though it involved only one share, and leveraged positions linked to the mark price could then face liquidations or automatic deleveraging.
Trade.xyz operates the market under HIP-3
A Hyperliquid representative said the market was deployed and operated by Trade.xyz under the HIP-3 framework. HIP-3 allows independent teams to launch perpetual markets on Hyperliquid while using the network's order books, margin system and liquidation engine, with the deployer selecting the oracle and controlling leverage limits and settlement.
Trade.xyz is investigating and plans to publish an update after reaching a conclusion. There is no verified evidence that Hyperliquid's blockchain or smart contracts were compromised; the available information points to an external market print passing through Trade.xyz's pricing methodology.
Korean chip shares fell after the perp
An hour later, the Korean stock market opened on a negative note, led by chipmakers. By the end of the day, SK Hynix shares had dropped by 15% to 1,550,000 won ($1,762), and the benchmark Kospi index fell 11%. SK Hynix ADRs, 10 of which equal one share, fell 4.5% in pre-market trading to $136.51.
Flash crashes on crypto exchanges are common between the U.S. market close and the opening of markets in South Korea and elsewhere in Asia, because liquidity tends to be relatively thin compared with other market hours. Trade.xyz had not issued a final incident report when checked.
Sources: CoinDesk, crypto.news
Trading involves risk.
Risk Disclaimer
