Whale Swallows $21M in Hyperliquid (HYPE)—Sends Token Soaring to $50 All-Time High

A crypto whale just dropped $21 million on Hyperliquid’s HYPE token—and the market followed like clockwork. The altcoin ripped to a record $50 as liquidity hunters piled in. Here’s how it unfolded.

The Whale Playbook

Single-wallet buys don’t usually move markets… unless they’re eight figures deep. This one triggered a textbook liquidity grab, with HYPE gaining 30% in 24 hours. Exchanges scrambled to adjust order books as the token smashed through resistance levels.

Retail’s FOMO Moment

Small traders—always late to the party—jumped in after the breakout. Social volume spiked 400% as ‘hyperliquid’ trended on Crypto Twitter. Classic case of buy-the-rumor, sell-the-news behavior. (Pro tip: whales start dumping when your barista starts giving token tips.)

The rally proves two things: liquidity begets liquidity, and nothing moves markets like a big bag of someone else’s money. Just don’t ask what happens when the whale decides to take profits—that’s when the real ‘hyper’ liquidations begin.

Key Takeaways 

Whales are back to buying Hyperliquid after the recent correction. Still, HYPE is outperforming most of its peers in on-chain statistics. Analysis suggest that it could follow in ETH’s footsteps. 

Hyperliquid [HYPE] has surged over 5x from its recent low of $9, despite posting a modest 6% gain in the past 24 hours, at press time.

While HYPE has shown impressive overall performance, most other cryptocurrencies have struggled, with many posting losses.

The recent market correction has presented buying opportunities, and whales along with savvy traders have taken advantage of the dip. Bitcoin [BTC] and ethereum [ETH] have been the top picks during this period.

But where does that leave HYPE?

How HYPE is on whales’ radar?

Per SpotOnChain, a new whale deposited about $21 million USDC into Hyperliquid and longed 466,421 HYPE averaging $45 per token.

The new buyer is now sitting at a profit of $1.23 million which is almost a 6% gain. Also, Arthur Hayes took his total HYPE holding to 58,631 tokens.

Hayes had an unrealized profit of over $206,000, at press time.

Source: SpotOnChain

New and old whales are keeping their eyes glued on HYPE. Not only are they considering its potential for price jump but also its on-chain metrics that are in full support of bullishness.

HYPE outperforms its peers

On-chain data was also doing great for HYPE.

In the past 24 hours, Hyperliquid’s perpetual contracts saw a staggering $27 billion in trading volume, at press time, 35 times higher than its spot volume, which stood at $770 million.

The platform has been receiving widespread praise from market participants, especially when compared to many of its more established peers. 

Much of the acclaim centers on Hyperliquid’s dominance in spot trading, powered by its HyperCore engine and the HyperEVM infrastructure supporting its DeFi ecosystem.

Hyperliquid’s Total Value Locked (TVL) has experienced explosive growth, more than quadrupling in just eight months. 

Starting the year at $500 million, TVL now sits at approximately $2.23 billion.

Source: DefiLlama

All these activities meant more fees collected. But why are fees important for Hyperliquid crypto price?

Only Tether and Circle had generated more fees than HYPE. HYPE’s weekly revenue hit an ATH.

Hyperliquid’s Assistant Fund used 97% of these fees (about $6.63 million in a day) for buybacks. This created scarcity of these tokens in the market thus supported higher prices.

Can it lead the altcoin season?

On the daily chart, the HYPE/USDT pair continues to push toward new highs, consistently breaking previous records. 

At the time of writing, the price was holding above the $45 support level and appears poised to attempt a fresh all-time high (ATH) above $50.

Historically, each altcoin season has been defined by a standout performer—Ethereum in 2017, and solana [SOL] in 2021.

 In 2025, HYPE seems to be emerging as that breakout contender, especially with ETH leading the broader market rally.

Source: Finish/X

The altcoin had flipped the 20SMA with price far above the significant $40 zone. On the flipside, a break below $35 could onset a bear market structure.

In summary, HYPE’s performance since its debut suggests it could be the leading altcoin of the current season. 

Its remarkable rebound,from a low of $9 during the bear market spanning mid-December 2024 to April 2025, underscores growing investor confidence and anticipation around its potential.