1 billion HYPE burn could shock supply – Can Hyperliquid hold $20?

Hyperliquid [HYPE] is showing notable fundamental activity.

The token slipped below the $30 level but remained up more than 3% on the day at press time. This modest rally followed a proposal from The Hyper Foundation aimed at reducing supply.

The key question now is whether this move will drive prices higher, or if the upcoming December unlocks will counteract the effect.

Hyper Foundation proposes to burn 1B HYPE 

The Assistance Fund held 1 billion HYPE tokens, which the Hyper Foundation proposed to burn. Validators will signal their intention for governance on December 21st, with voting results expected on December 24th, when users can start staking.

At press time, the Assistance Fund held more than a billion tokens valued at more than $37 billion.

If the Foundation’s proposal prevails in the voting stage, it will significantly decrease the total and circulating supply, indicating a positive outlook.

Source: Hyper Foundation/X

Due to the magnitude of the tokens burned, a supply shock would follow. When supply reduces and meets rising demand, prices tend to move up, a classic trend in supply dynamics.

However, the current scenario did not show evidence of demand, as price and activity were in decline.

Will bulls defend the $20 zone?

On the charts, the HYPE price was breaking lower levels, aligning with the broader crypto market. The altcoin breached the $35 zone, which had previously prevented further breakdown more than five times.

After hitting $27, HYPE was down about 56% and looked headed toward the critical support at $20. However, the shift in supply dynamics could change this outlook.

Source: TradingView

The $20 level served as both a psychological marker and a previous higher high from April. As such, it represented a potential turning point if the bulls could defend the zone.

HYPE’s price weakness mirrored a sharp drop in Perpetual Futures (Perps) volume. Once accounting for 57% of the market, Perps volume has fallen to just 16%, as of writing.

In practical terms, trading volume declined from a mid‑October peak of about $30 billion to roughly $8 billion.

Source: Blockworks

On the other hand, the Spot Volume was around $200 million from levels above $1.2 billion when HYPE was rallying.

As its activities and prices fall, more selling pressure appears to be building.

Upcoming sell pressure from unlock 

While the proposal could help turn around the price direction, the upcoming HYPE token unlocks for December posed a problem.

According to a post by Ali Charts, an additional 10 million tokens will enter the market, bringing the total unlocked since November to 20 million.

While this may not fully offset the impact of burning 1 billion tokens, the increase in circulating supply could still create short‑term selling pressure.

Final Thoughts

• HYPE proposes to burn about 1 billion tokens and has opened the voting 
• HYPE price struggles as it looks headed toward $20, though a reversal seemed possible given the potential shift in supply dynamics.