The Hyperliquid Thesis
The House of All Finance
The Hyperliquid gameplan is simple:
Win Perps. Own Spot. Grow Apps.
The key concept here is stacking liquidity: Once the flywheel starts spinning, there's no better place to build for finance.
PERP VOLUME
$4.2B
$4.9B
over the last day
Last Week
$1.1B
-21.3%
last week
Last Month
$6.1B
-59.3%
last month
Last 3 Months
$1.9B
-31.5%
last 3 months
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Perps: The Execution Engine
Perps attract leverage, hedging, and market makers: whoever wins perps wins depth first. On Hyperliquid, orders match on-chain by price then time, and margin/funding/liquidations settle in the same step, so fills are predictable and liquidations don't spiral. That reliability keeps size at the top of the book, spreads stay tight, and HL's perp price becomes the reference. As depth grows, the futures-spot gap tightens and hedging gets cheaper, pulling more collateral on-chain. With perps setting price and absorbing risk, spot flow and new apps can plug directly into that depth.
The Gravity Well Forms
HL's share rises because fills are better, not because of incentives. Pros want predictable queueing, tiny slippage on 1–5 bps moves, and liquidations that clear instantly on-chain (not via slow keepers). HLP helps stabilize books during spikes, so fills and liquidation slippage stay orderly. An uptick here basically says market makers prefer HL's on-chain engine and risk model over CEX/AMM setups.
Perp DEX Volume by Venue — why Hyperliquid dominates
The perp landscape is consolidating into Hyperliquid because execution and risk are better where it matters. Early players like dYdX and GMX built solid businesses, but Hyperliquid's on-chain price-time order book + deterministic liquidations keep top-of-book thick and spreads tight when others thin out. HLP standardizes market-making/liquidation flow, so books stay supported in volatility.
Open Interest by Protocol
Open interest shows where traders warehouse risk, so price discovery happens here. Rising HL OI means confidence and stickiness.
Spot: Unified Settlement & Collateral
Spot is how we own settlement. With spot orderbooks and perps on the same stack, collateral and PnL move instantly without bridges or fragmentation. Basis compresses, hedges get cheaper, and every dollar does double duty. Native USD rails make working capital sticky, turning trading flow into durable liquidity. As more markets go on-chain, this unified model becomes the default.
The Capital Efficiency Play
Spot markets are tougher than perps. Binance has massive network effects: more pairs, more volume, more habit. But Hyperliquid is making a different bet. Instead of trying to match Binance's breadth, they're focusing on depth and execution quality. Hyperliquid converts perps flow → spot turnover on the same stack. As traders hedge and settle inside HL, share ticks up on core pairs first.
The Execution Model Wars
The battle for onchain spot volume comes down to a simple choice: do you want easy or do you want good? AMMs like Uniswap made trading accessible to everyone, but they're not built for size. Professional traders need better execution, tighter spreads, deeper liquidity. Hyperliquid brings traditional orderbook precision to onchain settlement. As more institutional money moves onchain, execution quality becomes the deciding factor: one that Hyperliquid is primed to win.
HyperEVM: Apps that Monetize Liquidity
This is where things get really interesting. HyperEVM isn't just another smart contract platform. It plugs straight into Hyperliquid’s execution layer so apps can borrow, stake, and hedge against the same liquidity that powers perps and spot. Each new app increases return on capital, which attracts more deposits, which deepens the books.
The Three-Layer Capital Stack
The TVL breakdown shows the flywheel in balance. HLP is the market-making engine that keeps perps tight. Spot TVL is working capital parked for basis/hedging. Apps TVL turns idle dollars into lending, staking, and basis yield. More HLP → better execution → more spot turnover → more collateral for apps → More HLP
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The Stablecoin Settlement Layer
Think of this as the pulse of DeFi on HYPE. Stablecoins are the system’s cash and margin. On HyperEVM, a mix of USDC/USDT (clean rails), over-collateralized/synthetic dollars (USDe, feUSD, USDH, etc.), and yield-bearing dollars (e.g., T-bill tokens) sits right next to perps and spot. Funds rotate in one stack—wallet → money markets → perps/spot—so LSDFi loops (stake LST/kHYPE → borrow USD → hedge) run natively. As these balances grow, basis tightens, hedge costs fall, and each dollar does more work.
The Main Capital Indicator
USDC TVL is the clean signal. Traders, LPs, and builders all need dollar rails to participate. Rising USDC on Hyperliquid means increased base liquidity to fund perps margin, settle spot, and underwrite HyperEVM credit.
The Capital Flow Pulse
Daily net flows are the heartbeat of the stack. Sustained positive streaks often line up with listings, funding dislocations, or new app releases. Quick outflows after events are healthy too, it means people are taking profits as well. The point is that real money can enter, rotate, and redeploy inside the same venue.
HyperUnit: Total Capital Capture
HyperUnit TVL is the import meter, marking how much outside capital chooses to live on Hyperliquid. When it rises, collateral sits next to the perps engine and spot books, cutting frictions and lifting turnover. This is Own Spot → Grow Apps in one number: more imports → deeper books → larger credit/yield capacity for apps
HyperUnit: The Multi-Asset Gravity Well
Token-level inflows show breadth of collateral. BTC/ETH whales opting into one-stack settlement means Hyperliquid is trusted to handle spot settlement with precision rivaling the best CEXes.
The Flywheel is Spinning
Win Perps. Own Spot. Grow Apps. One stack handles execution, settlement, and utility. Perps depth pulls flow; that flow anchors USD collateral; anchored collateral powers apps that create hedging and leverage demand—feeding back into perps. Hyperliquid being a simple perp dex is a fundamental misuderstanding of the platform: In reality it’s a financial operating system where every layer amplifies the next. The data shows the flywheel is already spinning. The question isn't whether it will continue: it's how fast it will accelerate.