Arthur Hayes has projected a rally in the HYPE token price as activity on its platform climbs. This comes as oil-linked futures continue to surge on Hyperliquid amid the escalating war between the United States and Iran.
Oil Activity Heats Up on Hyperliquid as Hayes Eyes HYPE Token Upside
BitMex Co-founder Arthur Hayes has set a $150 target for the altcoin as activity grows on HIP-3, its permissionless perp market. The surge in activity has been heavily linked to tensions in the Middle East.
Where price discovery happens when TradExchanges sleep. @HyperliquidX $HYPE to $150 pic.twitter.com/WxtvmqnpwO
— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) February 28, 2026
Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 has activityeing remarkable activity since its launch in October. As reported by CoinGape, in January, HIP-3’s open interest reached an all-time high of over $793 million. This was due to trading activiy on commodities like oil, which led to a 25% HYPE token pump at the time.
The Oil-USDH perpetuals saw an increase of over 5%, touching the $73.12 mark, while another perpetual, the USOIL-USDH, rose to above $88. These two perpetuals saw a combined trading volume of almost $17 million and an open interest of more than $9 million within the last 24 hours.
Gold and silver futures were also on the rise. This suggests the market is digesting the tension between the US-Israel alliance and Iran.
The fee structure of Hyperliquid involves channeling some of the fees into the coin’s buy-back and burning process. Hence, an increase in activity, such as the surge in oil futures, resulted in more fees being generated. This reduced the circulating HYPE token supply.
The Hyperliquid protocol has earned $2.8 million in fees over the past 24 hours, according to data from Defillama. It has now burned $9 million worth of tokens over the last seven days. This has increased by 20.4% compared to last week.
HIP-3 Adoption Jumps as Markets React to Conflict
The level of activity on the HIP-3 platform since the U.S-Iran conflict has been explosive. This has led the open interest to hit the $1.1 billion mark. The late January and early February 2026 time frame has shown the highest increase in volume, which has gone over the billion-dollar mark and has also touched the $5 billion mark on a daily basis.
Experts say this level of activity could only be bullish for the HYPE token. The OI interestingly hit a new ATH right after the United States launched its attack on Iran.
The open interest of HIP-3 reached a new ATH compared to the Total OI on Hyperliquid, with 18.53%. pic.twitter.com/9TEqwXgoxX
— Hyperliquid News (@HyperliquidNews) February 27, 2026
Arthur Hayes’ projection is particularly interesting considering that the situation escalated even further after Iran launched an attack on the bases of the U.S. This led to a response from President Trump, who stated that they would launch further airstrikes within the next couple of weeks.
It has also been reported that Iran said it is no longer interested in any form of negotiations, especially after the death of its supreme leader.