What is Hyperliquid and how does it work?
Hyperliquid is a blockchain built for trading. Its main product is an on-chain exchange for perpetual futures and spot tokens with a central limit order book, where you trade from your own wallet without a traditional account.
The short version
Most decentralised exchanges use liquidity pools. Hyperliquid works more like a centralised exchange: buyers and sellers place orders on a central limit order book, and orders are matched by price and time. The difference is that the order book, matching, margin and liquidations all run on Hyperliquid's own layer-1 blockchain, so every trade is recorded on-chain.
You connect a crypto wallet (or log in with email), deposit USDC and trade. There is no identity check on the app itself, and placing orders costs no gas. You pay trading fees instead, which start at 0.045% taker and 0.015% maker on perps for new accounts. See Hyperliquid fees for the full schedule.
How the pieces fit together
| Component | What it does |
|---|---|
| HyperBFT | The chain's consensus algorithm, inspired by HotStuff. It gives one-block finality. |
| HyperCore | The built-in trading engine: perpetual futures and spot order books, margin and liquidations. The docs state it currently supports 200,000 orders per second. |
| HyperEVM | An Ethereum-style smart contract layer on the same chain, so apps can build on HyperCore's liquidity. More in our HyperEVM guide. |
| HIP-3 | Lets third parties deploy their own perpetual markets on Hyperliquid. See HIP-3 explained. |
What you can trade
- Perpetual futures (perps): contracts that track an asset's price with no expiry date. You can go long or short with leverage. Maximum leverage depends on the asset and position size; on BTC it is up to 40x for positions up to $150M notional, and many smaller assets are capped at 10x or lower.
- Spot tokens: you buy and own the token itself, without leverage. See spot trading.
- Vaults: you can deposit into community vaults or the protocol's HLP vault, which runs market-making and liquidation strategies. Read HLP vault before depositing.
Ready to trade? Check that Hyperliquid is allowed where you live, then sign up with code POLYGOLD for 4% off trading fees.
Open HyperliquidThe HYPE token
HYPE is the native token of the Hyperliquid chain. It is used for gas on HyperEVM, for staking with validators, and staking it also gives trading fee discounts of 5% to 40% depending on how much you stake. HYPE launched on 29 November 2024 with 31% of the supply (310 million tokens) distributed to early users. Hyperliquid has said it did not take venture capital, and there was no private investor allocation. More in HYPE token and staking HYPE.
Who can use it
Hyperliquid's terms of use restrict users in the United States (including US citizens abroad), Ontario in Canada, sanctioned countries such as Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria, and occupied regions of Ukraine. The website blocks these locations, and using a VPN to get around this breaks the terms. If you are in the US, read Hyperliquid in the US first.
The risks worth knowing
- Leverage cuts both ways. At 20x, a price move of under 5% against you can get you liquidated. Positions are liquidated automatically. Read how liquidation works.
- Smart contract and bridge risk. Funds come in through a bridge and native USDC. Bugs, validator failures or exploits could cause losses, and there is no deposit insurance.
- Governance risk. In March 2025, validators voted to delist the JELLY market after a manipulation attempt put the HLP vault under pressure. That protected the vault but showed that a small validator set can step in on markets.
- Self-custody. If you lose your wallet's recovery phrase, nobody can restore your account.
We cover these in more depth in Is Hyperliquid safe?
Frequently asked questions
Is Hyperliquid a centralised exchange?
No. It runs on its own blockchain and you trade from a self-custodied wallet. But it uses a central limit order book like a centralised exchange, and a relatively small validator set runs the chain.
Do I need KYC to use Hyperliquid?
The Hyperliquid app does not ask for identity documents. Its terms still apply, and users in restricted locations such as the United States are not allowed to use it.
What is the maximum leverage on Hyperliquid?
It depends on the asset and position size. BTC goes up to 40x for positions up to $150M notional, ETH up to 25x, and many smaller assets are capped at 10x. High leverage makes liquidation much more likely.
Is Hyper Primer part of Hyperliquid?
No. Hyper Primer is an independent guide. We are not affiliated with Hyperliquid, we do not hold funds, and we earn a share of fees if you sign up with our referral code.