HyperLiquid Derivatives Traders Taking A Step Back? Here’s What Happened

Hyperliquid registered impressive growth in the last few months as the derivatives market ballooned alongside the recent market excitement.

The DEX has become one of the key players in the derivatives segment, and as such, it has also become a decent yardstick for assessing the state of the market.

Speaking of the state of the market, Lookonchain data revealed recently that a Hyperliquid whale secured a $13.6 million profit.

It also revealed that the whale closed perpetual positions, then acquired over $12.8 million worth of ETH in the spot segment.

While this was an isolated observation, it was relevant because it highlighted a shift towards more caution. An outcome that reflected recent market moves across most of the top coins.

Most of the top coins recently experienced overheated levels of open interest. This also underscored risk of volatile swings characterized by heavy liquidations. As such, risk appetite in the derivatives segment cooled down.

Hyperliquid Perps Retreat After Solid Run in July

The level of volumes in the perpetuals segment painted a clear picture of the level of engagement in Hyperliquid.

For example, Perpetual (perps) volumes surged from as low as $2 billion on 28 June to as high as $18.14 billion on 22 July.

Perps on hyperliquid retreated back to the $10 billion range, which was still relatively high. However, it did reveal that investors were shifting down gears as far as appetite for leverage was concerned.

DEX volume also demonstrated a similar outcome with a surge from June lows near $180 million to $829 million at its peak in July. It retreated to the $600 million level by the end of July.

Although the above outcome signaled a cautious outlook, it also revealed that the market was waiting for more clarity as far as directional movements were concerned.

Either way, Hyperliquid may benefit regardless of the directional bias in August, considering the duality of the derivatives segment.

Meanwhile, the Hyperliquid whale tracker on Coinglass revealed that shorts were higher in the last 24 hours at $5.35 billion compared to longs at $4.88 billion.

It also revealed that the long/short ratio pulled back significantly in the last week of July, along with the number of traders.

HYPE Price Extends Downside

Hyperliquid’s native coin, HYPE, has been moving somewhat in tandem with the market. The previously robust bullish dominance decelerated, giving the bears a chance to take over.

HYPE price peaked at $49.8 in mid-July after a 431% rally from its lowest price point in 2025. This recent peak also happened to be its new ATH.

However, it adopted a bearish trajectory since then and was down to a $40.9 price tag at press time courtesy of a 17% dip.

One of the main reasons for the sell pressure was the fear of safety as the U.S reignited the tariff war, as Trump had promised to do in August.

This outcome signaled the possibility that risk-on assets may extend their decline further as investors move to secure their recent profits.

HYPE’s Fibonacci retracement suggests that a strong pullback may send the price towards the $24 to $29 price range. Spot flow data revealed that sell pressure was accelerating.

While this short-term bearish outlook gestured the possibility of more downside, the long-term picture heavily relied on Hyperliquid’s rising dominance.

The DEX experienced a rapid surge in its popularity in the last 12 months. HYPE’s long-term outlook might rely heavily on Hyperliquid’s ability to maintain its ascent.