Hyperliquid advances against centralised exchanges as open interest surpasses $18B

• A September record of $18.1 billion in open interest took Hyperliquid's Q3 market share across eight exchanges to 11.7%.
• Despite delivering $262 billion in Q3 perpetual futures volume, HIP-3 saw its share of Hyperliquid's trading activity decline from 51.1% to 24.5%.
• A key descending trendline remains a source of resistance for HYPE.

A record $18.1 billion in September open interest underlined Hyperliquid's (HYPE) gains against major centralised trading platforms. The decentralised exchange's share of combined open interest across eight leading exchanges reached 11.7% in Q3.

Hyperliquid gains derivatives market share in Q3

Traders rebuilding positions in Hyperliquid's native derivatives markets drove the peak on 22 September, reversing the dominance of its HIP-3 markets. Those markets provide perpetual futures linked to traditional assets, including equities, indices and commodities, according to the platform's Q3 report published on Thursday.

By the end of September, open interest had reached $16.7 billion, a 79.9% rise from $9.31 billion at the end of June. On a quarterly average basis, it rose 46.4% to $12.7 billion.

Describing the September high as "carried by the core book," the report was referring to the platform's native derivatives markets.

Across the eight largest centralised exchanges and Hyperliquid itself, the platform accounted for 11.7% of open interest at the end of September, compared with 9.6% at the end of June. Having overtaken Kraken and Bybit on 12 August, the exchange went on to pass OKX on 17 September. The report also noted that its open interest had surpassed HTX in May.

The largest centralised exchanges nevertheless retain a sizeable lead over Hyperliquid. Its quarter-end open interest was equivalent to 93% of Bitget's and 27% of Binance's.

Native markets lead the increase in open interest

As trading activity returned to native crypto markets over the quarter, the composition of Hyperliquid's open interest shifted.

At $262 billion, HIP-3 perpetual futures volume was 23% higher than in the preceding quarter and represented 35.9% of the platform's matched volume. Its share of Hyperliquid's perpetual trading activity nevertheless dropped to 24.5% in September from 51.1% in July.

A 72% rebound in native trading volume from its July low explained this reversal, according to the report.

By the end of September, HIP-3 open interest had risen 27.4% from June to $3.94 billion. Faster growth in native positions, however, reduced its share of Hyperliquid's overall open interest to 23.5% from around one-third.

With quarterly volume of $153.8 billion, up 160.8% from Q2, equities retained their position as HIP-3's largest asset class. Commodity volume, in contrast, fell 47.7% to $45.6 billion.

Broader participation on the exchange accompanied the growth in open interest.

An average of 65,161 traders used Hyperliquid each day in Q3, up 20% on the preceding quarter and marking a third successive quarterly record. The number of new traders increased 14.5% to 362,611.

Although matched trading volume increased 9.3% quarter on quarter to $730.6 billion, it was still 30.5% lower than in the corresponding period last year.

After two successive quarters of net inflows, the report recorded net bridge outflows of $953 million for the quarter. It maintained, however, that these withdrawals did not signal weaker trading activity, attributing them instead to profit-taking during the market rally.

Hyperliquid technical outlook: Descending trendline keeps HYPE under pressure

Trading at $72.13 on the daily chart, HYPE retains a bearish bias below its 20-day, 50-day and 100-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs). These form a band of overhead resistance between $77.44 and $80.26. Recovery attempts remain constrained by the descending resistance trendline, whose breakout reference stands at $75.12. Meanwhile, a Relative Strength Index (RSI) reading near 35 and a deeply oversold Stochastic reading near 9 indicate that selling pressure remains strong, though it may be approaching exhaustion. They do not yet signal a confirmed reversal.

The horizontal $67.63 level offers the nearest support, with further downside levels at $61.16 and $51.57 before a more distant structural base around $33.20. Any recovery would first encounter trendline resistance around $75.12 and the nearby horizontal level at $75.69, ahead of the cluster of long- and short-term EMAs. Beyond those levels, more substantial resistance stands at $85.04, followed by $97.84.

(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)