Hyperliquid’s native token, HYPE, traded above $50 on 20 May for the first time in about eight months, as investors increasingly bet on the protocol’s broader ambitions even as some analysts question whether the rally is outpacing underlying fundamentals.
Hyperliquid’s Meteoric ETF-Fueled Surge Has Some Questioning the HYPE Hype
21 May 2026 - 00:20 CEST
By Jona Jaupi
HYPE traded around $52.60 as of 22:00 UTC, up about 8% over the past 24 hours, and more than 100% year-to-date, bringing its market capitalization above $16bn, according to CoinGecko data.
The rally comes amid Hyperliquid's efforts to expand beyond its core business as a decentralized perpetual futures exchange into a broader financial trading platform. The protocol, which has a total value locked (TVL) of $5.2bn, has recently introduced developments tied to stablecoin integration, prediction markets and other products aimed at broadening its ecosystem.
ETF demand builds
Data conducted by Sandmark analysts found that recently launched HYPE spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may already be adding meaningful buying pressure.
Early inflow data suggest HYPE ETFs may be attracting outsized demand from investors. During their first six trading sessions, market-cap-adjusted inflows topped Bitcoin (BTC) products on three days and Ether (ETH) products on five, with one session outperforming all competing crypto ETF products.
Research by analysts at Bitcoin Suisse AG found that HYPE ETFs purchased roughly 2.5 times more HYPE than Hyperliquid's Assistance Fund bought during the same period – highlighting the ETF heated demand.
Early investor appetite appears to be coming largely from banks and family offices, along with some retail investors using brokerage platforms, according to comments from analysts at crypto asset manager 21Shares.
A combination of drivers
Kyle Reidhead, head of research at Milk Road, told Sandmark the rally appears to be driven by a combination of momentum and new business developments. He pointed to Hyperliquid's recent relationship with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase as a bullish catalyst that could diversify the protocol's revenue streams. On 14 May, Coinbase said it would become the official deployer of the USDC stablecoin on the network.
Another potential catalyst for Hyperliquid’s recent gains is alt.fun, a memecoin launchpad on HyperEVM, according to Jesús Pérez Sánchez, CEO of crypto hedge fund Posidonia21.
"This is significant because memecoins have been one of Solana's crown jewels and a key driver of its on-chain activity through Pump.fun," Sánchez said. "It seemed unlikely Hyperliquid could compete in that space, yet alt.fun directly positions Hyperliquid to challenge Solana's dominance not just in derivatives but now in spot memecoin trading as well."
Is HYPE more than hype?
Still, questions around Hyperliquid extend beyond valuation and growth metrics as the platform takes on a larger role across crypto markets.
Reidhead cautioned that some of Hyperliquid's core activity metrics have not accelerated alongside the token's price gains. "I would say is that their fees from the blockchain and active users are not necessarily growing," he said. "It’s been stagnant for a while, so I wouldn’t say that the underlying fundamentals are necessarily improving."
The protocol generated roughly $5.8bn in 24-hour perpetual futures volume on 20 May, while open interest stood near $9.5bn, according to DeFiLlama data.
On the spot side, Hyperliquid processed approximately $146.2mn in daily volume, with more than $3.3bn traded over the past month. Still, the protocol's revenue stood at $52.2mn in April, far below its peak of $127mn in August 2025.
"I will say their valuation currently is definitely quite high versus their actual revenues and buybacks, so I’m not sure that this price will necessarily sustain or continue to grow at these levels," he said, cautioning that the token’s price may be outpacing the project’s underlying financial performance.
Jason Rindahl, chief executive of Nebula DeFi, a Web3 venture building company, also cautioned that some concerns are worth paying attention to as the platform scales.
"The criticism around transparency and concentration risk is not entirely unfair because every rapidly scaling exchange style ecosystem faces questions around decentralization, liquidity concentration, governance influence, and operational transparency," Rindahl said.
However, he added that the broader crypto industry is also entering a phase where users "care less about ideological purity" and more about liquidity, speed, reliability and user experience.
"Hyperliquid’s challenge will be proving it can scale while continuing to decentralize trust over time," Rindahl said.
