Hyperliquid's July volume reached a historic high of $320 billion. Why is the HYPE price performing weakly? The movements of Large Investors are attracting follow.

The decentralized perpetual futures exchange Hyperliquid set a historic trading volume record in the highly volatile month of July, with a total trading amount exceeding $320 billion, a month-on-month surge of 47%. The doubling of Ethereum's open contracts propelled the platform's total open contracts to surpass the $15 billion mark for the first time. With its first-mover advantage and the gathering effect of whale users, Hyperliquid occupies the leader position in perpetual DEX, with its derivatives trading volume reaching 11.9% of mainstream CEX market share. However, the platform's native token HYPE has shown weak performance, with prices falling to $38.54, and open contracts dropping to a monthly low of $1.46 billion, putting over 70% of long positions at risk. Despite the departure of renowned trader James Wynn and Aguila Trades suffering losses exceeding $35 million in July, rational traders such as "White Whale" still attract attention. With its core advantages of no KYC and on-chain settlement, whether Hyperliquid can withstand competition from compliant exchanges has become the focus of Q3.

Volume surged by 47%, Hyperliquid set a historical record of $320 billion in July

The turbulent cryptocurrency market in July drove the decentralized perpetual futures trading platform Hyperliquid to set a new monthly trading volume record. The platform's total trading volume for the month reached $320 billion, a 47% increase month-on-month, continuing its momentum of rising monthly trading volumes. Ethereum became a key growth engine, with its open interest nearly doubling over the past month, helping Hyperliquid's total open interest to surpass $15 billion for the first time.

The leader position of the perpetual DEX is solid, but the high leverage characteristics hide the risk of liquidation

Hyperliquid, leveraging its first-mover advantage and the aggregation effect of Whale users and high-frequency traders, continues to lead the decentralized Perptual Futures trading space. Currently, its derivatives trading volume has reached 11.9% of the market share of mainstream centralized CEX giants. However, the high leverage (up to 50 times) offered by Hyperliquid poses significantly higher risks in derivatives trading compared to traditional platforms, often resulting in dramatic position fluctuations and public liquidation events, attracting widespread attention in the market. The total locked value (TVL) of the platform based on collateral is currently $597 million.

Transaction fee income is impressive, HYPE Token is in a weak predicament

Strong trading activity is directly reflected in the fee income. Hyperliquid continued to generate high daily fees in July, with a minimum of 2 million USD and a maximum exceeding 4 million USD per day, almost no days of trading inactivity throughout the month. In contrast to the platform's trading heat, its native token HYPE has shown weak performance. The current trading price of HYPE is 38.54 USD, continuing its downward trend (previously close to 50 USD). The open contract amount of HYPE has also dropped to a monthly low of 1.46 billion USD, with 1.1 billion USD still concentrated on the Hyperliquid platform itself. It is noteworthy that over 70% of traders hold long positions in HYPE, making it highly susceptible to short attacks and position raids. Although Hyperliquid still accounts for over 40% of HYPE's trading volume, the price discovery mechanism has changed due to the token flowing to other exchanges, and the increase in arbitrage opportunities has also ended its early one-sided upward trend.

The dynamics of large holders are diverging: "exiting the market", "huge losses", and "rationality" coexist

At the end of July, well-known trader James Wynn allegedly withdrew from the Hyperliquid platform. As of August 5, his public address shows no holdings, and he recently declared he would shift to trading Meme Tokens. Although Wynn has activated other addresses, he has only built very small positions in the past few weeks. Another trader, Aguila Trades, recently shifted to a 40x leveraged short position on BTC and is once again facing the threat of liquidation. In July, he operated against the trend due to the sharp fluctuations in Bitcoin, incurring losses exceeding $35 million. In contrast, the publicly traded trader known as "The White Whale," famous for his cautious and rational style, has recently been closely monitored, as his strategy successfully avoided the risk of severe liquidation.

No KYC on-chain Settlement Moat, Facing Compliance Exchange Challenges

Hyperliquid's position as the core hub for global Perptual Futures trading may face challenges from compliant exchanges offering similar products in the future. However, as of now, Hyperliquid remains the only DEX platform providing direct access to Perptual Futures with no KYC requirements and direct on-chain Settlement. This unique advantage constitutes its key competitive barrier.

Conclusion: Hyperliquid demonstrated the explosive potential of the decentralized perpetual futures sector in July with a staggering $320 billion trading volume and $15 billion in open contracts. Although the high leverage nature brings significant liquidation risks, it has become a key factor in attracting aggressive traders. However, the soft price of the native Token HYPE and the decline in open contracts, combined with changes in the movements of large holders like James Wynn, add uncertainty to the platform ecosystem. Against the backdrop of a gradually clarifying regulatory framework, whether Hyperliquid can rely on its core advantages of no KYC and on-chain Settlement to continue resisting the impact of compliant exchanges and maintain its position as the leader in perpetual DEX will be the core focus of the next phase. Investors need to closely monitor its TVL changes, the long and short game of HYPE, and the strategy shifts of top traders.