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Hyperliquid's HYPE hits record high

There's at least one corner of crypto markets that's not dullsville, and that's HYPE.

The native token of Hyperliquid hit a record high of $59.30 on Thursday, with derivatives data pointing towards a potential short squeeze.

Most of the market has been positioned against the move. The long/short ratio sits at just 0.89, with more accounts shorting the token for the first time since January. Funding rates have also flipped negative, confirming the crowd has been fading the rally.

But that strategy hasn't worked out; $33.5 million in short positions have been liquidated in the past 24 hours, compared to $2 million in long positions.

The move comes on the back of strong fundamentals; the protocol has generated over $896 million in revenue over the past 12 months, with 97% of trading fees funneled back into HYPE token buybacks.

The rally is also backed by institutional momentum, with 21Shares and Bitwise rolling out U.S.-listed Hyperliquid ETFs on Nasdaq on May 12, drawing over $5 million in early inflows. Coinbase and Circle have also committed to stake HYPE to activate a new protocol upgrade, AQAv2.