HYPE Surges Above $57 as Short Squeeze Pushes it 2% Away From ATH

Hyperliquid’s HYPE token climbed above $57 on Thursday, simply eight months after its final go to to these ranges, as a wave of quick liquidations and ETF-driven shopping for pushed the token inside 2% of its all-time high close to $59 reached in September 2025.

The rally has turned HYPE into one of many market’s strongest large-cap performers this yr, whereas merchants pile into leveraged bets tied to the fast-growing perpetual futures platform.

How the Short Squeeze Played Out

According to on-chain analytics agency Santiment, on May 18 and 19, funding fee information throughout exchanges registered a pointy spike into unfavorable territory, an indication that enormous numbers of merchants had been opening quick positions and betting on a pullback.

Instead, the worth stored climbing, and as it rose, these bearish merchants had been pressured to robotically purchase again their positions to keep away from liquidation, which added extra upward strain somewhat than eradicating it.

The liquidation information from CoinGlass makes the harm to shorts clear. It exhibits that over the previous 12 hours alone, roughly $21 million in HYPE futures positions had been worn out, with shorts accounting for all however $677,000 of that determine. In 24 hours, quick liquidations reached $30.6 million in opposition to $1.08 million on the lengthy aspect, exhibiting simply how onerous the shorts bought squeezed.

What makes the state of affairs extra uncommon is that open curiosity didn’t collapse in the course of the liquidations, as it usually does. According to Santiment, HYPE’s open curiosity was above $1.92 billion, however information from CoinGlass exhibits it is now sitting nearer to $2.5 billion.

This is as a result of new merchants stored stepping in to interchange those that had been being flushed out, and that solely occurs with belongings that individuals genuinely need publicity to.

At the time of writing, HYPE was up almost 17% in 24 hours and greater than 46% over the previous seven days. Across one yr, it’s up over 111%, outrunning heavyweights like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, BNB, and DOGE by a big margin.

Why Is HYPE Up?

The asset’s rally has coincided with rising institutional consideration round Hyperliquid, with Santiment pointing to new HYPE-linked ETFs launched in May by Bitwise and 21Shares as one of many most important catalysts behind the transfer.

Bitwise’s Matt Hougan additionally not too long ago gushed over Hyperliquid, calling it “one of many fastest-growing monetary companies” he had seen and arguing that buyers had been nonetheless underpricing each the platform and its token.

Meanwhile, his colleague, Hunter Horsley, posted on May 21 that the community, as effectively as Solana, is forming a brand new class he called “income chains,” noting that it has generated $790 million in complete blockchain income, forward of Solana’s $532 million, with Tron and Ethereum following at $471 million and $425 million, respectively.

Recall that earlier than this newest leg up, HYPE had already gained round 24% from its May 13 low close to $38, partly on the again of the CLARITY Act passing on May 14 and the debut of artificial SpaceX perpetual contracts on the Hyperliquid-linked platform Trade.xyz.

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