Yesterday the price of Hype recorded a new all-time high ($ATH).
The peak was recorded above $62, and was then followed by a very small correction that brought it back below $60.
Now, to tell the truth, it has also fallen below $58, but these latest movements are really negligible compared to what it had done in the previous days.
Hype
Hype is the native token of Hyperliquid.
In reality, from a strictly technical point of view, Hype should be considered a real cryptocurrency, given that Hyperliquid is also a level-1 blockchain, but it operates as a sort of Ethereum layer-2. This often leads to Hype being defined only as a token, even though it is actually a real cryptocurrency.
Hyperliquid in fact is not only the main DEX in the world for crypto perp trading, but it is also an independent layer-1 blockchain.
However, its relationship with Ethereum, albeit indirect, is fundamental.
Not only is the Hyperliquid blockchain fully compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, but it also has an integrated bridging system that allows the direct transfer of ETH, USDC and other assets from Ethereum and Arbitrum to Hyperliquid.
So the move from Ethereum to Hyperliquid is practically direct, and is carried out in fact with a single click directly on the DEX. Users do not perceive any discontinuity, and therefore tend to believe, mistakenly, that Hyperliquid is an Ethereum layer-2 like Arbitrum, and not a true layer-1.
This factor, however, plays a very important role both with regard to the success of Hyperliquid and, indirectly, with regard to the market value of Hype.
The success of Hyperliquid
Hyperliquid as a DEX works very well.
In fact, it is a very fast, very high-performance decentralized exchange, and it allows the trading of crypto perpetual futures (perps) with the possibility of opening both long and short positions, and also with leverage.
The fact that there is almost no discontinuity with Ethereum has meant that liquidity has flowed very easily from Ethereum to Hyperliquid, and this has brought a lot of it in a short time onto the new blockchain.
Suffice it to say that in just six and a half months, from the beginning of December 2024 to mid-May 2025, its TVL went from zero to one billion dollars, then going on to reach the all-time high in September of the same year at 2.7 billion.
With the start of the crypto bear market its TVL fell, but it never again dropped below 1.1 billion.
Indeed, starting from the end of January 2026 it rose again a bit, up to the current 1.7 billion dollars.
It is now the seventh blockchain in the world by TVL, despite being less than two years old, but if we exclude Bitcoin (i.e. Lightning Network) and Base (which is a layer-2 in the world), it becomes the fifth.
The first $ATH of Hype
In light of all this, the remarkable performance of the Hype token is quite easy to explain.
However, an important clarification needs to be made in this regard.
The initial price of Hype, in December 2024, was about $3.2, although this was in all respects a launch price that was too low, so much so that in a few weeks it had already risen above $30.
As an “initial” reference point it is better to take the $20 of January 2025.
Starting from the end of February last year there was the first correction, which brought it to $10. In other words, in less than two months it lost 50% of its market value.
In mid-April, however, there was already a rebound, which lasted almost five and a half months and led to the first real all-time high, above $58. This, among other things, is also more or less the current price level.
However, that turned out to be only a mini-bubble, and in fact it burst in September.
The burst ended up bringing the price of Hype back to those very $20 that are the starting reference point of the bubble itself.
The current situation
At the end of January 2026 the second rebound occurred.
So far this rebound has been going on for four and a half months, that is, a duration not much shorter than that of last year’s mini-bubble.
Moreover, from the starting point the ongoing rebound has already pushed the price of Hype up by almost 200%, so that a similar dynamic appears very close to that of last year’s mini-bubble.
However, there are a couple of differences.
The first is that last year’s mini-bubble started to inflate from $10, while the 2026 one started at $20.
The second is that it has been lasting four and a half months, while last year’s lasted one month longer.
If, however, we take $20 as a reference, last year it took 135 days to go from $20 to $58, and then correct almost instantly to $40 within a few days. This time it took 130 days to go from $20 to $62.
Therefore, the risk that the $ATH recorded yesterday could precede the bursting of a new mini-bubble, perhaps in the coming days, does not seem negligible at all.
