Hyperliquid Captures Stock Market: Exchanging 90% Fee Discounts for 50% RWA Trading Volume, Is This Deal Worth It?

Authors: Carlos & Toma

Translation: TechFlow

TechFlow Editor's Note: Hyperliquid's TradeXYZ captured the traditional finance perpetuals market with fees at a 90% discount (0.9bp vs 9bp), and within two weeks, the RWA trading volume share exceeded 50%. This 'secure territory first, monetize later' strategy has proven successful: priority fee revenue has exceeded 80% of HIP-3 direct trading fees, and the platform still holds $5.7 billion USDC earning interest. Two weeks before the listing of Chinese chip stock CXMT, TradeXYZ predicted the opening price within a 2.6% error margin, while traditional institutions' forecast range was 45-75 yuan (66% error). This proves that crypto-native infrastructure is not just for trading coins; it is equally capable of pricing real-world assets.

On Monday, global market risk assets plunged collectively, Bitcoin closed down 2.4%, and stock markets, gold, and crude oil fell simultaneously—such resonant decline is not common.

Figure: Synchronized decline of global risk assets on July 27, intraday trend comparison of BTC, Gold, Nasdaq 100, and S&P 500

The background of intensified selling pressure is this Wednesday's Federal Reserve FOMC meeting. After inflation data came in lower than expected two weeks ago, the probability of a rate hike on CME FedWatch once plummeted, now it has climbed back to 40%. After Monday's close, Bloomberg reported that Citadel Securities believes a 'surprise rate hike' is a real possibility, and selling accelerated subsequently.

Figure: CME FedWatch shows July rate hike probability rebounded from 16.0% a week ago to 36.3%

In terms of sectors, only three indices rose on Monday: 2025 Crypto Stocks (+1.6%), Solana Ecosystem Index (+1.5%), and Launchpad Index (+0.4%).

Figure: Ranking of single-day returns by sector, only 2025 Crypto Stocks, Solana Ecosystem, and Launchpad Index rose

The Perpetual Contracts Index (-6.1%) led the decline, mainly due to the sharp fall of HYPE. Although Hyperliquid's exchange metrics (Carlos will analyze in detail below) remain strong, HYPE is facing dual pressure from large-scale unstaking requests and regulatory concerns.

Figure: Surge in pending HYPE unstaking volume, approximately 7.4 million HYPE expected to unlock before next weekend

Approximately 7.4 million HYPE (about $400 million) is expected to unlock before next weekend, including shares from funds such as Multicoin Capital. Although Multicoin clarified that these tokens will not be sold, but are for routine wallet management, HYPE still encountered selling pressure.

Hyperliquid's RWA Flywheel is Operating

TradeXYZ completed another successful transition from pre-IPO price discovery to real-time public markets this week.

On July 14, TradeXYZ opened the pre-IPO market for Chinese chip manufacturer SMIC (CXMT) before its listing on the Shanghai STAR Market. In the nearly two weeks before the stock publicly traded, Hyperliquid users could gain exposure and continuously price its expected market cap.

At the opening, the contract implied price was approximately 48.20 yuan, only 2.6% lower than CXMT's opening price of 49.50 yuan. While the public pre-listing forecast range was 45-75 yuan, this strongly proves the effectiveness of pre-IPO perpetual contracts as a real-time price discovery tool.

More importantly, CXMT again indicates that RWA is becoming core to Hyperliquid. For the second consecutive week, RWA became the leading category by futures trading volume, accounting for over 50% of weekly trading volume.

Figure: Hyperliquid perpetual contract trading volume composition, RWA share exceeded 50% for two consecutive weeks

TradeXYZ also set a record of $3.76 billion in open interest on Sunday, bringing Hyperliquid's total open interest to $11.42 billion.

Figure: Hyperliquid perpetual contract total open interest hits new high of $11.42 billion, Trade[XYZ] contributes significantly

It is worth noting that the TradeXYZ market is still in growth mode, protocol fees are reduced by 90%. The base taker fee is about 0.9 basis points, while the standard rate is 9 basis points. I believe this will not change in the short term. Traditional finance perpetuals are still in early stages, liquidity attracts liquidity, maintaining the platform's leading position may be more valuable than maximizing near-term fee rates. Even if the growth mode ends, for highly competitive stock and index markets, full standard fees may also be unreasonable.

Nevertheless, discounted trading fees do not mean weak monetization capability for this activity. HIP-3 markets also generate revenue through priority fees, as traders and market makers compete for low latency and priority inclusion. On certain days, priority fee revenue has exceeded 80% of HIP-3 direct trading fee revenue. Thus Hyperliquid can monetize growing RWA activity through the transaction ordering stack, while maintaining low surface trading fees.

Figure: Hyperliquid daily priority fee revenue has exceeded HIP-3 direct trading fee revenue multiple times

The broader conclusion is that Hyperliquid is diversifying what users trade and how the protocol earns revenue. Native crypto perpetuals remain the core business, but HIP-3 has expanded trading volume to RWA assets, priority fees monetize execution and ordering competition, and the approximately $5.7 billion USDC held in the ecosystem creates another significant revenue source through revenue sharing.

Figure: Changes in Hyperliquid ecosystem stablecoin (USDC) supply, HyperEVM fund size rises rapidly

CXMT is the latest evidence that this strategy works: Hyperliquid is evolving from a crypto perpetuals exchange into infrastructure for broader financial markets. Shaunda will release a deep dive report on the growing importance of priority fees in the coming days, stay tuned.

HPC and Multicoin Support CFTC's Prediction Market Framework

Hyperliquid Policy Center and Multicoin Capital submitted a comment letter, supporting the prediction market framework proposed by the CFTC, arguing that event contracts fall under the committee's exclusive federal jurisdiction and should not be fragmented among state gambling regimes. The letter emphasizes that Hyperliquid's HIP-4 outcome contracts are fully collateralized on-chain tools, capable of supporting prediction markets without leverage or liquidation. The letter suggests two modifications to the final rules. First, the CFTC should formally adopt a settlement-based definition to determine when contracts 'involve' gaming or other restricted activities, and provide more examples. Second, regulators should publish their reasoning after each contract review, including when allowing markets to continue, so builders can rely on a consistent system of regulatory precedents.