Hyperliquid just printed $1.5 billion in oil-linked trading volume in 24 hours and traders are betting that the Iran war will propel the price of its HYPE token to new records.
The volume is a record that underlines how fast traders are rotating into energy bets on the crypto-native decentralised trading platform as the Iran war spirals.
Hyperliquid’s growth amid all the chaos will “only accelerate,” Hyunsu Jung, CEO of Hyperliquid treasury firm Hyperion DeFi told DL News.
“We firmly believe liquidity begets liquidity, and Hyperliquid is currently the most liquid onchain venue by a wide margin, especially in terms of trading volume and open interest, which are key metrics for any perpetual futures exchange,” he said.
The milestone lands as Israel launched fresh strikes on Tehran on Friday. The strikes came despite President Donald Trump urging restraint following attacks on Iranian gas infrastructure.
Iran has retaliated against Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, which processes about a fifth of global liquefied natural gas. The damage is expected to take years to repair.
As attacks intensify, uncertainty is ripping through global energy markets and redrawing trading flows in real time, pushing oil firmly above $100 a barrel.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has sent Hyperliquid’s native HYPE token up 35% over the past month even as Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies have mostly stagnated.
Arthur Hayes, Maelstrom chief investment officer, was quick to flag the rotation to Hyperliquid.
“Pretty impressive that oil contracts are trading $1.5 billion a day,” he said.
“HYPE is taking over. See you at $150.”
To be sure, that’s almost three times the all-time high of $59 HYPE notched in September. It currently trades at $40.
Traders are betting big that HYPE will stay above $35 over the next three months, according to onchain options platform Derive.xyz.
Polymarket punters put the chances of HYPE reaching $100 before the end of the year at 24%, according to one bet. Another prediction market put the chances of the price climbing to $44 in March at 56%.
War spiraling
The backdrop to this trading frenzy is a rapidly intensifying regional conflict that has already reshaped energy flows.
The Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for about 20% of global oil supply, still sits under heightened threat. Tankers face mounting insurance costs while naval patrols have increased. Western governments and Japan are scrambling to secure shipping lanes and diversify supply routes.
Markets are pricing not only barrels, but disruption, delay and escalation.
The war has already killed thousands and spread across multiple theatres. Energy infrastructure in Iran and neighbouring states is now in the crosshairs, transforming pipelines, terminals and liquified natural gas trains into strategic assets and potential targets.
In this context, Hyperliquid is also expanding its toolkit. The upcoming HIP-4 upgrade will introduce outcome markets, prediction contracts and bounded options designed for hedging cross-asset dislocation.
“With the coming HIP-4 Outcome Markets upgrade, users will also be able to access new instruments like prediction markets and bounded options, which can serve as hedging instruments for positions in perpetuals and HIP-3 assets,” Jung said.
Crypto market movers
Bitcoin is up 1.7% over the past 24 hours, trading at $71,151.
Ethereum is up 0.2% over the past 24 hours at $2,165.
What we’re reading
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Bitcoin Is in Uncertain Territory. Could Strategy’s STRC Be the Last Straw? — Unchained
Why Washington won’t spoil crypto’s SEC victory — DL News
Fed zaps Bitcoin investors’ risk appetite. Here’s what to expect next for the price — DL News
