Hyperliquid (HYPE) has become one of the most liquid trading venues in the cryptocurrency market, attracting growing interest from hedge funds and institutional investors as capital shifts away from bitcoin and ether, according to Joshua Lim, global head of markets at FalconX.
The decentralized derivatives exchange, which launched its HYPE token last year, has become a major source of trading activity for FalconX clients. Lim said demand for Hyperliquid products has grown as investors look for opportunities beyond the largest cryptocurrencies.
“For things like HYPE, where there is a broad consensus that it is an assignable asset, there is a lot of liquidity. It is not difficult to trade it,” Lim said in an interview. “For us, HYPE is probably more active some days than Ethereum.”
Comments come like bitcoin. and ether (ETH) have struggled to attract new inflows as investors focus on a smaller group of alternative crypto assets. Lim said FalconX expects major cryptocurrencies to remain range-bound over the coming months due to macroeconomic uncertainty, ETF outflows and competition from other speculative investments.
“What this actually translates to is implied volatility, so the options price is near all-time lows,” Lim said. “People don’t think bitcoin and ether are going to move much.”
Instead, traders have been dabbling in assets linked to emerging themes such as artificial intelligence (AI) and decentralized trading infrastructure.
“Altcoins are moving a lot,” Lim said. “That’s where the hot money is going. It’s in things like HYPE and Zcash (ZEC) and Venice (VVV). AI tokens are doing very well.”
Hyperliquid’s appeal extends beyond its token. Lim said hedge funds are increasingly using the platform’s derivative products because they provide access to markets that are difficult or impossible to trade elsewhere.
“They’re very good at launching things early,” he said, pointing to Hyperliquid’s pre-IPO perpetual contracts tied to companies like SpaceX. “We have hedge funds that have no other way to trade them liquidly.”
The growing interest in Hyperliquid reflects a broader bet that crypto-native trading infrastructure can expand beyond digital assets. The platform generated around $800 million in revenue in 2025 and has steadily expanded its product line from crypto perpetual futures to tokenized stocks, commodities, and prediction-style markets.
Grayscale has argued that Hyperliquid’s long-term importance may lie less in the HYPE token itself and more in its potential to serve as a 24/7 trading venue for a wide range of financial assets. Regulatory developments remain a key uncertainty, particularly as the platform currently restricts US users, but supporters increasingly see Hyperliquid as a test case for how blockchain-based marketplaces could compete with traditional exchanges in the future.
