Weekend warriors: How HyperLiquid became retail’s bear market playground
HyperLiquid thrives in the crypto bear market by monetizing derivatives volume and offering unique features like weekend equity trading.Summary
Despite a broader crypto bear market, the HYPE token has gained value because the underlying decentralized derivatives exchange, HyperLiquid, profits from trading activity rather than price appreciation. While competitors like Aster and Lighter saw volume decline, HyperLiquid's volume surged, driven by perpetual futures trading, which benefits from market choppiness, hedging, and relative-value strategies. The platform has expanded beyond crypto to offer synthetic exposure to equities, forex, and commodities, notably enabling weekend trading for U.S. equities, appealing to retail traders accustomed to 24/7 crypto markets. HyperLiquid maintains a non-custodial framework, contrasting with centralized failures like FTX, though it faced a decentralization challenge in April 2025 when it intervened to settle a toxic trade involving the JELLY token, leading to governance scrutiny. Since then, it has adjusted governance, and its resilience shows it functions more as a venue monetizing volatility than a high-beta bet on asset appreciation.
(Source：CoinDesk)