- Hyperliquid’s open interest reached $16.8 billion by September 30, up nearly 80% from June, with its market share rising to 11.7%.
- Q3 protocol revenue increased 21.7% quarter over quarter to $190.9 million, while the Assistance Fund spent $148.7 million on HYPE buybacks.
- Equity perpetuals generated $153.8 billion in HIP-3 volume, representing 58.8% of quarterly activity as third-party trading apps expanded.
Hyperliquid overtook Bybit, Kraken and OKX in open interest during the third quarter, according to the Hyperliquid Research Collective. Its open interest reached $16.8 billion by September 30, nearly 80% above June levels. The figure peaked at $18.1 billion on September 22, while its share of combined open interest rose to 11.7%.
Open Interest and Protocol Revenue Climb
Its share among Hyperliquid and eight major centralized exchanges rose from 9.6% in June. Q3 protocol revenue reached $190.9 million, up 21.7% quarter over quarter but down 36.5% year over year.
Trading and network revenue rose 10.7% to $173.6 million. Another $17.3 million came from USDC reserve income accrued from August 27. That income accounted for half of the quarterly revenue increase.
The Assistance Fund received its first payment in early October, making it available for Q4 buybacks. During Q3, it spent $148.7 million on HYPE, 5.7% more than in Q2. However, it acquired 26.4% fewer tokens as the average purchase price reached $72.93.
Equity Perpetuals Drive HIP-3 Activity
Equity perpetuals generated $153.8 billion in volume, up 161% from the previous quarter. They represented 58.8% of HIP-3’s $262 billion quarterly volume, with Korean stocks contributing to the increase.
However, Korean stock contracts exposed pricing risks outside local market hours. A July reference-price incident involving SK hynix perpetuals triggered $57.4 million in liquidations. Meanwhile, tradeXYZ handled 97.5% of HIP-3 volume in September.
Native perpetuals volume rose 72% from July to September. Consequently, HIP-3’s share of total perpetuals volume fell from 51% in July to 25% in September. Daily traders averaged a record 65,161, up 20% quarter over quarter. Third-party apps earned $25 million in builder-code fees, a 50% increase. Coinbase also routed Base App perpetuals to Hyperliquid’s order books.
Payward Outlines a Route to U.S. Access
U.S. access remained pending at quarter-end. President Trump said on August 19 that the CFTC was working to bring Hyperliquid to the United States.
On September 16, Payward, Kraken’s parent, announced plans for Bitnomial to operate a HIP-3 venue. Bitnomial is a U.S.-regulated derivatives exchange. Payward plans to use Hyperliquid infrastructure for its clients, but regulatory approval remained outstanding. U.S. clients could not yet trade on the venue.
