Key Insights:
- The Hyperliquid crypto price soared by over 14% on Saturday, while the rest of the crypto market cooled.
- Gold demand during the weekend may have fueled HYPE token demand through HIP-3 as tokenized forms offer exposure.
- Hyperliquid volumes surged considerably in the last week of February.
Hyperliquid crypto may have been the best asset to hold this weekend, accounting for all the developments that influenced the markets. The sharp uptick in HYPE price on Saturday outperformed most assets. Moreover, a deeper dive into market dynamics suggests it may have been related to gold.
For context, Hyperliquid crypto exchanged hands at $31 at press time after a 21% uptick this weekend. Most top coins barely cracked 5% in daily gains during the same session. This suggests that the momentum may have been tied to the ongoing demand for gold, and here’s how.
The situation in the Middle East has worsened. It has traditionally led to less demand for risk-on assets and greater demand for gold and other safe havens. This Hyperliquid crypto price prediction analyzes potential price scenarios as geopolitical risks and economic uncertainty shape market sentiment.
How Gold Demand May Be Fueling Demand for Hyperliquid Crypto?
Gold derivatives on Hyperliquid have been growing rapidly, particularly thanks to HIP-3. It is an improvement protocol that introduced permissionless creation of perpetual markets.
The process requires large amounts of HYPE tokens to be staked to create perps of a particular asset. Unsurprisingly, gold perps have been growing rapidly on the Hyperliquid DEX.
According to BlockBeats, gold traders have been positioning in Hyperliquid crypto over the weekend in anticipation of demand driven by the Iran-US conflict. Demand for gold tends to surge during times of heightened geopolitical tensions, especially when on a large scale.
Hyperliquid Crypto Premium Signals Surging Demand for Gold Perps
The premium on Hyperliquid compared to spot markets was indicative of strong demand. This is because gold is traditionally available during business days on traditional exchanges, which close during the weekends. However, gold perps are available for trading even on weekends on platforms like Hyperliquid.
This also coincided with recent reports indicating that HIP-3 was demonstrating clear positive growth. This was particularly evident in HIP-3 daily open interest, which recently pushed above $1.1 billion.
To put this growth into perspective, HIP-3 open interest was below $300 million in December 2025. It has grown more than 3-fold in just 3 months.
Hyperliquid Crypto On-chain Data Confirms Positive Growth
On-chain data also offered more confirmation, aligning with the above data. The Hyperliquid L1 chain registered positive growth across several key metrics.
Why is this important? Well, the bearish market conditions have, for the most part, negatively impacted network usage and demand. This is not only true of cryptocurrencies but also of blockchain networks.
Since HIP-3 mechanisms require Hyperliquid crypto staking, it is important to evaluate the TVL. Although it experienced a significant cooldown from last year’s highs, the Hyperliquid TVL achieved a slight premium from January lows.
The network’s TVL bottomed out at $1.17 billion on 21 January. It has since bounced back to $1.55 billion as of 1 March. The Hyperliquid crypto volume also jumped from $73 million on 22 February to $335 million by 1 March.
Its TVL and DEX volume surge may indicate rising activity. Gold was one of the few assets that have been receiving attention in the last week of February. Although it was not officially confirmed, the rising demand for gold access last week, especially during the weekend, could be tied to the recent hype around gold.