Oil perpetual futures return to dominate trading on Hyperliquid

Oil is once again the main focus of on-chain trading. On Hyperliquid, Brent and WTI perpetual futures moved ahead of stocks and metals in terms of daily volumes. 

On-chain traders focused on oil while the Strait of Hormuz blockade continued. Brent oil rose to $105.95, creating additional uncertainty for the global economy. 

WTI oil traded at $98.03, still drawing in significant interest due to its partial correlation with Brent. 

On HIP-3, Brent achieved over $365M in trading volumes for the past day, while WTI trading reached over $831M.

The shift in trading volumes also showed Hyperliquid immediately reflected shifts in trader attitudes, away from stocks and into energy commodities. 

Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 reaches a new record in open interest

HIP-3, the third-party platform, continues to expand its influence in decentralized trading. Since March, HIP-3 has emerged as one of the major hubs of perpetual futures volumes, with over $6B in weekly trading. 

Open interest on HIP-3 expanded to over $2.50B, a new record since the platform started accelerating in March. HIP-3 was also among the factors pushing the HYPE token to new all-time highs above $60 in the past week. 

For now, TradeXYZ makes up over 93% of all HIP-3 volumes, based on DeFi Llama data. The creation of HIP-3 contracts locks increasing amounts of HYPE, increasing the token’s scarcity.

HIP-3 is turning into a key element of the Hyperliquid ecosystem growth. TradeXYZ deploys new contracts almost daily, reflecting the movements in individual stocks, while also carrying the major equity index and commodities markets. 

Based on Dune Analytics data, HIP-3 makes up over 41% of total Hyperliquid volumes. Some of the HIP-3 contracts compete with the top crypto pairs on Hyperliquid and are among the top 10 most traded pairs. 

Global uncertainty put oil in the spotlight

According to Kaiko research, in the past two months, oil has become the first asset to react to geopolitical news. Tensions in the Middle East pushed Brent and WTI permanently higher, with increased volatility. 

Kaiko also noted BTC and equities diverged from the performance of oil, leading to the changing trading behavior for HIP-3 users. BTC remained much less volatile and broke its overall correlation to oil futures in March. As a result, traders seeking directional moves paid more attention to Brent and WTI perpetual futures.

BTC drifted from its narrative of being a safe haven, breaking down and reacting negatively to geopolitical uncertainty, noted Kaiko analysts.

Analysts also noted the oil market had an exceptional news-driven nature, reacting immediately with strong directional news. Oil futures move on announcements of conflict de-escalations in Iran and rally with supply concerns. 

For crypto traders, those volatile moves can translate into significant gains. Oil perpetual futures, even with larger daily price moves, are still less volatile in comparison to crypto tokens, offering a more predictable trading opportunity.