HYPE enters price discovery, prepares to break $100

HYPE entered price discovery once again, after breaking above $97 and setting expectations for three-digit prices. The token rose based on spot demand, as well as directional trades on derivative markets. 

HYPE traded at $97.32, spiking during Asian trading hours. The token kept most of its gains, later slacking to $96.

HYPE is still expected to break out above $100 soon and find a new price range. The recent rally brought HYPE to a new all-time high while other blue-chip tokens were still 50% to 80% from their all-time peaks. Even BTC needs a 48% price move to regain its previous all-time highs.

As of September 2026, HYPE traded with daily records in trading volumes. During the latest record spike, HYPE volumes reached $1.15B. The current HYPE records happened for a circulation of 222M tokens, out of a total of 995M. 

Most of the recent HYPE activity, around 8% of all volumes, happens on the native Hyperliquid platform. HYPE trading is no longer highly concentrated and can be used as a general signal of improving crypto sentiment.

HYPE open interest reaches new all-time peak

The recent crypto market recovery boosted investor appetite for risk. HYPE open interest expanded to a new all-time high at $2.96B, just as derivative trading for altcoins and tokens was picking up. 

Hyperliquid’s L1 open interest is also at an all-time peak, recently breaking above $9B based on DeFi Llama data. Hyperliquid itself reported total open interest of over $18B, a new all-time record. 

Open interest reached an all-time high of $18B on Hyperliquid pic.twitter.com/rIVNZywI83

— Hyperliquid (@HyperliquidX) September 23, 2026

HYPE is now in the top 12 of coins and tokens by open interest, on track to break out among legacy coins, based on Coinalyze data. 

One of the reasons for the growth in open interest is the need to take directional positions. Over 62% of traders are long on HYPE, with around 37% on average holding short positions. On Hyperliquid itself, over 65% of traders are going long. 

The recent price rally caused around $2.15M in short liquidations for the past 24 hours. For now, traders are not attempting to short HYPE or betting on a quick breakdown of the rally. 

HYPE shows potential for sustainable growth

HYPE trading has evolved from its initial reliance on the native Hyperliquid DEX. Now, the token is widely distributed, with multiple sources of liquidity. 

HYPE gains support from the ongoing burn of trading fees, which immediately reflect the shift in trader sentiment. Additionally, around 13% of the total supply is staked, leaving it out of active trading. 

Future emissions may increase the supply of HYPE, but in the short term, demand for fees and staking controls HYPE inflation. 

Demand for HYPE also comes from the requirement to stake more coins for deploying perpetual futures markets, as well as prediction pairs on the HIP-4 platform. 

Individual whales are also boosting demand for HYPE spot markets. In the past month, one whale spent $400M on HYPE, recently adding another $36M worth of tokens within days. HYPE pays out 2.23% in staking fees and has additional uses within the Hyperliquid ecosystem. 

The recent climb of HYPE does not include treasury companies or any form of ETF buying, relying mostly on crypto insiders and whales to keep up with spot demand.

The recent price climb is starting to raise the issue of the real HYPE valuation. Hyperliquid achieves $694M in annualized revenues, with positive earnings for the past six quarters. HYPE now trades at about a multiple of 30 for the platform’s annual revenues, entering a price zone where the platform’s growth is challenged to catch up with the token expansion. 

Additional revenue comes from Hyperliquid’s L1 platform, which mostly comes from the existing trading apps and deployers. For now, Hyperliquid lags in revenues from stablecoin usage, which is still mostly happening on Ethereum, Solana, and TRON.