In August, Trade.xyz accounted for 55% of the trading volume of the perpetual contract market on the Hyperliquid platform.

Written by: Cooper Duschang

Translated by: Luffy, Foresight News

In the past 30 days, the average daily trading volume of Hyperliquid futures was about 8.5 billion dollars, accounting for 4.6% of the total global crypto futures trading volume. Perpetual contracts allow traders to gain futures exposure easily without dealing with underlying assets, with no expiration dates. Traders do not need to trade options with expiration dates; they can maintain their positions by paying a small funding fee, allowing futures prices to anchor to spot prices. Hyperliquid brings traditional financial capabilities of order book matching and low-latency trading on-chain, integrated with perpetual contract products.

The Hyperliquid Improvement Proposal HIP‑3 officially launched in October 2025, enabling permissionless creation of perpetual contract markets. Developers can independently launch perpetual contract markets to generate revenue, expand the ecosystem, and reduce reliance on Hyperliquid validator nodes.

This article will analyze the Hyperliquid HIP‑3 upgrade, the market share of Trade.xyz, and how transaction fee sharing from non-crypto categories empowers the HYPE token.

What Changes Did HIP‑3 Bring to Hyperliquid

HIP‑3 unlocked the capability for external developers to independently deploy perpetual contract markets. Previously, the launch of new perpetual contract markets required voting approval from validator nodes, leading to process delays and a high reliance on centralized Hyperliquid validator nodes.

After enabling HIP‑3, developers who stake 500,000 HYPE (about 27 million dollars) gain the right to directly deploy three perpetual contract markets. Once deployed, they can participate in auction bidding to launch more contract markets. HIP‑3 uses a 31-hour Dutch auction, with a starting bid of 500 HYPE (about 27,000 dollars), where developers gain deployment rights by bidding. After a developer successfully bids, the starting bid for the next round will double the current transaction price, then the price will linearly decrease back to 500 HYPE until the next bidder wins. All proceeds from the auction are used to buy back and burn HYPE tokens.

The staking requirement of 500,000 HYPE (which can be forfeited) combined with auction costs has led to a concentration phenomenon among HIP‑3 developers, with very few participants able to achieve profitability. Meanwhile, Trade.xyz has grown to be the largest HIP‑3 perpetual contract service provider, with open positions exceeding 4 billion dollars, and the trading volume and fee contribution to the Hyperliquid ecosystem continue to rise.

Trends of open positions for Hyperliquid native and Trade.xyz

Trade.xyz: A Dominant Eco-Developer

Trade.xyz has secured a massive share of the perpetual contract trading volume on Hyperliquid. From January 2026 to date, Trade.xyz has facilitated a cumulative trading volume of over 460 billion dollars, accounting for about 30% of Hyperliquid's total trading volume.

Monthly trading volume distribution on Hyperliquid

Currently, the Hyperliquid platform has a total of 484 trading markets: 232 are natively launched by the platform, 108 are deployed by Trade.xyz, and the remaining 144 come from other HIP‑3 developers. In the past month, there were a total of 23 new market deployment auctions, of which Trade.xyz secured the launch qualifications for 8 equity perpetual contract markets, adding chip companies GIGADEV and CXMT, as well as launching the computing power ETFs LYTE and NCLD.

Entering August, Trade.xyz's monthly trading volume has exceeded that of Hyperliquid's native markets, constituting 55% of the total trading volume on the platform.

Trade.xyz holds absolute dominance in non-native markets

Developers can create similar markets with custom leverage limits and oracles, providing alternative trading pools for traders. However, nearly 100% of the trading volume for these duplicate markets flows to Trade.xyz. This forces other small and medium developers to pursue niche perpetual contract tracks that Trade.xyz has yet to cover, in order to achieve differentiated competition.

In-Depth Analysis of Market Segmentation

Trade.xyz focuses on stocks and commodity perpetual contracts, tapping into the hottest market narratives of AI / computing power trading. As traders begin to trade derivatives related to computing power costs, Trade.xyz has launched numerous perpetual contracts for AI companies and industry proxy indices.

Trends of AI / computing power market trading volume on Trade.xyz

In July, a basket of perpetual contracts for AI supercomputer companies and chip manufacturers exploded, contributing 53% to Trade.xyz's daily trading volume. Among them, SK Hynix and Micron each account for 20% of this asset basket's trading volume; SanDisk, DRAM index, and Nvidia follow closely as the most actively traded varieties in the AI computing power sector.

Apart from the AI sector, observing Trade.xyz's popular varieties shows a robust demand for perpetual contracts on traditional financial assets. From January 2026 to date, the five most popular contracts on the platform ranked by cumulative trading volume are: crude oil, silver, Brent crude oil, NASDAQ 100 proxy contracts, and S&P 500 contracts.

Trends of daily average trading volume for Trade.xyz's crude oil, silver, Brent crude oil, NASDAQ 100, and S&P 500 markets

Although recent trading volume has become somewhat scattered, the market remains operational 7×24 hours, allowing traders to respond quickly to unforeseen events. During geopolitical conflicts, even when US stocks close or on weekends, crude oil and other varieties still experience price fluctuations. In August, commodity and stock index contracts accounted for about 30% of Trade.xyz's total trading volume, significantly down from a peak of 88%, reflecting a shift in funds to newly launched assets on the platform.

Trends of pre-listing contract trading volume for Trade.xyz's SPCX

The perpetual contracts for company stocks before IPO also hold significant potential. During the SPCX IPO expectation phase, market speculation surged, leading to over 1.3 billion dollars in trading volume for this asset on Trade.xyz. Trade.xyz can quickly launch markets to capture short-term hot trends, creating substantial fees for itself and Hyperliquid.

How Transaction Fee Revenue Affects the HYPE Token

For perpetual contract markets that do not operate with validator nodes, Hyperliquid implements standard maker/taker fees. Currently, Trade.xyz is in a growth mode, significantly reducing fees by over 90% to promote user growth.

In the past month, Trade.xyz generated 5 million dollars in fees. The fees will be split evenly between Trade.xyz and Hyperliquid; Hyperliquid will primarily use its portion for repurchasing and burning HYPE in the secondary market.

The correlation between HYPE price and Hyperliquid trading volume

From the data of January 2026, the price of the HYPE token shows a weak positive correlation with Hyperliquid's overall trading volume. The channels for capturing HYPE's value are becoming more diverse: prediction markets, perpetual contracts for pre-IPO assets, and USDC reserve income are all empowering HYPE and the entire Hyperliquid ecosystem.

Hyperliquid's aligned pricing asset mechanism also generates another source of income: Circle distributes 90% of the underlying investment income of all USDC balances on the platform to Hyperliquid. As more perpetual contracts denominated in USDC are launched, Hyperliquid will receive more income, which will be used for HYPE buybacks.

Conclusion

In terms of both open interest and trading volume, Trade.xyz is a leading HIP‑3 ecosystem developer. In the past month, a substantial amount of perpetual contract trading volume has migrated from Hyperliquid's native markets to the markets launched by Trade.xyz. The driving forces behind this shift stem from a rich array of trading assets, as well as market hotspots such as AI computing power narratives, geopolitical event trading, and pre-IPO corporate valuation battles.

Once Trade.xyz exits growth mode, the actual fee rate will increase, further expanding the scale of fee income, leading to more HYPE buybacks. The recovery of the crypto perpetual contract market will also bring additional trading volume growth. As long as Hyperliquid and Trade.xyz continue to launch ecosystem-friendly products and integration solutions, they will be able to continuously create value for the HYPE token. Trade.xyz is attracting an increasing number of users through 7×24 hour on-chain trading of traditional financial assets.