Hyperliquid Jumps on Margin Upgrade, Oil Trading Frenzy

Hyperliquid’s HYPE token extended its months-long rally as the decentralized exchange emerged as a primary venue for trading tokenized crude oil following the U.S. attack on Iran, with volume in the product surging past $1 billion.

The token jumped to an intraday high of $35.28, and is up 5% in the past 24 hours and more than 120% over the past year, according to CoinGecko data—contrasting with major altcoins that remain down 40% to 70% or more during the same span.

The surge comes as Hyperliquid prepares to upgrade its portfolio margin feature, transitioning from “pre-alpha to alpha phase” on the next network upgrade, the exchange announced in its Telegram channel Tuesday. The feature will be suitable for accounts with under $500,000 in portfolio size, with access gated to users who meet weighted volume requirements.

“Dynamic margin scaling and cross-collateral improvements reduce systemic liquidation risk, making the platform safer for larger positions on volatile assets,” Nicolai Søndergaard, research analyst at Nansen, told Decrypt. “Less chance of the abuse of withdrawal happening like in the past.”

Beyond the technical upgrade, he said Hyperliquid remains “the altcoin darling with the most belief behind it,” adding that it’s “still driving good volume and well used and has a good reputation.”

Hyperliquid and oil

Traders have increasingly turned to Hyperliquid for tokenized crude oil perpetuals since the U.S.-led attack on Iran on February 28. The 24-hour trading volume for the product has reached $1.39 billion, trailing only Bitcoin’s $3.55 billion and far exceeding Ethereum’s $898 million, according to the exchange data.

Crude oil positions worth $56 million have been liquidated amid escalating Middle East tensions, making it the second-largest liquidated asset after Bitcoin’s $111 million over the past 24 hours.

Marcin Kazmierczak, co-founder of oracle provider RedStone, pointed to HIP-3, Hyperliquid’s permissionless market program as a key driver of the platform’s growth. Open interest on permissionless markets recently hit a record $1.2 billion, he told Decrypt, with only seven of the top 30 markets being crypto pairs. “The rest are commodities and equities—oil, gold, silver, S&P 500,” he said. “That is a meaningful shift.”

The numbers underscore Hyperliquid’s dominance. It now has over $5 billion in total open interest, $5.71 billion in 24-hour volume, and $4.06 billion in total value locked, according to CoinGlass data—outpacing competitors like Aster, Edgex, Lighter, and Jupiter.

The token’s resilience comes despite broader crypto market volatility, with Bitcoin up 3.4% over the past 24 hours, triggering $365 million in total liquidations across all assets.