Hyperliquid’s HYPE token climbed above $57 on Thursday, just eight months after it previously traded at those levels. A wave of short liquidations and ETF-driven buying pushed the token to within 2% of its all-time high near $59, reached in September 2025.
The rally has made HYPE one of the market’s strongest large-cap performers this year, as traders increase leveraged exposure to the fast-growing perpetual futures platform.
How the Short Squeeze Played Out
On-chain analytics firm Santiment reported that on May 18 and 19 funding rates across exchanges spiked sharply into negative territory, indicating many traders were opening short positions expecting a pullback.
Instead, the price continued to rise. As it climbed, bearish traders were forced to buy back their positions to avoid liquidation, which added upward momentum rather than easing it.
Liquidation data from CoinGlass highlights the impact on short sellers. Over a recent 12-hour period, roughly $21 million in HYPE futures positions were liquidated, with shorts accounting for nearly all of that amount—only about $677,000 came from long positions. Over 24 hours, short liquidations reached $30.6 million versus $1.08 million on the long side, illustrating how decisively shorts were squeezed.
Unusually, open interest did not collapse during these liquidations, as is often the case. Santiment reported HYPE’s open interest above $1.92 billion, while CoinGlass data shows it nearer $2.5 billion. New traders stepped in to replace those forced out, which typically occurs when demand for exposure to an asset is strong.
At the time of writing, HYPE was up nearly 17% in 24 hours and more than 46% over the past seven days. Over the past year, the token has gained over 111%, outpacing major assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, BNB, and DOGE by a wide margin.
Why Is HYPE Up?
The rally has coincided with growing institutional interest in Hyperliquid. Santiment identified new HYPE-linked ETFs launched in May by Bitwise and 21Shares as a key catalyst for the price move.
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan recently praised Hyperliquid as “one of the fastest-growing financial businesses” he has seen, arguing that investors may be underestimating both the platform and its token.
Bitwise colleague Hunter Horsley noted on May 21 that Hyperliquid, alongside Solana, represents a budding category he called “revenue chains.” Horsley highlighted that Hyperliquid has generated $790 million in total blockchain revenue, compared with Solana’s $532 million, with Tron and Ethereum trailing at $471 million and $425 million respectively.
Prior to this latest surge, HYPE had already risen roughly 24% from its May 13 low near $38. That earlier gain was partly driven by the passage of the CLARITY Act on May 14 and the debut of synthetic SpaceX perpetual contracts on the Hyperliquid-linked platform Trade.xyz.