Oil volatility sparked by the conflict with Iran is pushing traders toward decentralized exchanges (DEXs) like Hyperliquid, where markets never close, Wall Street investment bank JPMorgan said in a report Wednesday.
The bank noted an increase in activity from non-crypto investors using perpetual futures, derivatives with no expiration, to gain 24-hour exposure to oil. Unlike traditional venues, these contracts trade 24/7 and use funding rates to track spot prices.
“Notably, oil trading soared on the Hyperliquid exchange earlier this month when war with Iran broke out, as CME traders failed to react when attacks on Iranian infrastructure broke out over the weekend,” wrote analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou.
Market volatility spiked following the outbreak of war in the Middle East, with oil prices causing sharp moves as traders reacted to supply risks and geopolitical uncertainty. The initial shock was amplified by low liquidity outside of traditional trading hours, causing wider price swings and pushing investors towards venues that offered continuous 24/7 market access.
A decentralized exchange (DEX) is a peer-to-peer marketplace where users trade cryptocurrencies directly without intermediaries. Unlike centralized exchanges, DEXs are non-custodial, meaning users retain control over their private keys and funds.
Instead of relying on a central operator, DEXs use smart contracts to automatically execute trades and settle them on-chain. These trustless systems are a rapidly growing part of the cryptocurrency market and are driving new types of financial products.
With CME markets closed over the weekend, traders turned to Hyperliquid’s CL-USDC perpetual security, which remained open for price discovery. The contract, margined in USDC and up to 20x leverage, reached $1.7 billion in peak daily volume and is now the third most traded product on the platform, the bank said. Open interest has risen to around $300 million.
More broadly, analysts said demand for 24/7 access to traditional assets is accelerating interest in DEXs. Platforms like Hyperliquid use on-chain order books instead of automated market makers, offering tighter spreads and more accurate execution closer to traditional markets.
Features such as sub-second finalization and portfolio margin are further attracting institutional traders by enabling faster execution and more capital-efficient strategies.
As a result, DEXs are gaining share of mid-tier centralized exchanges in crypto derivatives, driven by speed, liquidity, self-custody, and continuous market access, according to analysts.
The trend is likely to expand beyond commodities as DEXs capitalize on a key gap in traditional finance: markets not closing, the report adds.
Hyperliquid’s HYPE token is up roughly 25% so far this year, outperforming much of the broader crypto market.
Read more: Iranian Crypto Outflows Jump 700% Minutes After US-Israel Airstrikes, Elliptic Says
