Hyperliquid Whales Flip Bullish On Bitcoin After Two Weeks of Shorts: Report

• Hyperliquid generated nearly $191 million in third-quarter protocol revenue, according to a quarterly report.
• Since late August, Circle's USDC reserves' interest has generated half of HYPE's revenue.
• Payward, Kraken’s parent company, announced plans to launch Bitnomial to run a HIP-3 market on Hyperliquid. 

Hyperliquid’s (HYPE) price edged lower on late Friday as Glassnode data showed the largest traders on Hyperliquid had turned bullish on Bitcoin (BTC) again after two weeks of betting against it.

"Hyperliquid whales just flipped back to the net long on $BTC," Glassnode said on X. The firm said the whales had held short positions over the past two weeks, their first short exposure since early 2026. Glassnode pointed to the group's track record, explaining that the same traders "were short from the top and long through the whole August pump.” 

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On Stocktwits Hyperliquid was one of the top trending tickers among cryptocurrencies at the time of writing. HYPE’s price was down 2% over the past 24 hours, amid broader market weakness. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around HYPE remained in the ‘bearish’ zone, while chatter around it stayed at ‘normal’ levels over the past day.

Record Trader Activity

The change in positioning came as Hyperliquid's user base keeps growing, with average daily traders reaching a record 65,161 in the third quarter, up 20% from the previous one, according to a quarterly report from the Hyperliquid Research Collective, an independent research hub that covers the Hyperliquid ecosystem.

Much of that growth came from stock-based contracts, as equity perpetuals recorded nearly $154 billion in third-quarter trading volume, up 161% from the previous quarter. That made equities the largest category on HIP-3, the system that lets outside teams launch their own markets, with 58.8% of its total volume. Korean stocks drove much of the jump, but they also exposed a risk. 

A pricing error in the SK Hynix contract on July 28 had triggered over $57 million in liquidations, the report said.

Buybacks Continue, Revenue Rises

Hyperliquid generated close to $191 million in third-quarter protocol revenue, up 21.7% from the previous quarter. About half of that increase came from interest earned on Circle’s (CRCL) USD Coin (USDC) reserves, which began on August 27. The platform's Assistance Fund spent $148.7 million buying HYPE in the quarter, up 5.7%. 

However, it bought 26.4% fewer tokens as the average price it paid rose to $72.93. The report also noted Hyperliquid's push into the U.S. Kraken parent Payward announced for Bitnomial, a U.S. regulated derivatives exchange, to run a HIP-3 market on Hyperliquid. 

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