In early 2026, according to East 8 Time, the decentralized derivatives trading platform Hyperliquid announced its 2025 core data and product progress. Against the backdrop of the official reiteration of "no external financing introduced," the disclosed key operational indicators such as user numbers, TVL, trading volume, open interest, and protocol revenue all recorded several times year-on-year growth, sparking widespread discussion in the market. Notably, the user count increased from approximately 300,000 to 1.4 million, TVL surged to about $6 billion, the highest single-day trading volume reached $32 billion, open interest expanded to $16 billion, and the peak 24-hour protocol revenue hit $20 million, forming the five main lines of this surge. In the highly competitive derivatives space, this performance, viewed by officials and external observers as "organic growth," suggests that it is driven more by product and reputation rather than relying on capital and large-scale customer acquisition. The following analysis will focus on these five sets of data to dissect the specific sources of Hyperliquid's growth, the risks and constraints behind it, and the sustainability of this self-sustaining model, rather than merely listing the numbers.
User Growth Curve and Changes in Trader Structure
● User Volume and Growth Rate: Hyperliquid disclosed that the platform's user count increased from approximately 300,000 to about 1.4 million, representing a year-on-year growth rate of about 367%, indicating that the user base nearly quadrupled within a year. This pace corresponds to the operational performance throughout 2025, rather than a short-term spike, and includes several rounds of market fluctuations amplifying the demand for derivatives.
● Growth Path and Customer Acquisition Methods: Under the premise that the official emphasized no external financing and no reliance on large-scale marketing, such growth is closer to typical product-driven expansion. User acquisition relies more on trading experience, liquidity depth, risk control reputation, and community dissemination, rather than advertising and subsidy wars, which also provides a higher starting point for subsequent retention and active quality.
● Industry Comparison and Relative Position: Directionally, in a phase where leading and secondary derivatives platforms generally enter stock competition, achieving more than three times user growth within a year is uncommon; most platforms exhibit slow climbs or oscillating growth. Therefore, Hyperliquid's user expansion stands out among its peers, but the outline and briefing did not provide specific competitor data and rankings, so judgments still need to be combined with broader industry statistics.
● User Structure and Retention Implicit Variables: Such a steep growth curve also implies that the new traders may include a large number of high-frequency and short-term cyclical participants, who often flood in during active market periods and quickly dissipate when volatility subsides. The platform needs to stabilize this traffic into loyal users through product iteration, contract categories, and capital tool design; otherwise, high growth rates will reflect more in peak data rather than long-term retention. Subsequent trading volume and protocol revenue data will further test the quality of this user structure if a "peak but high volatility" pattern emerges.
Funding Profile Under TVL and Open Interest Expansion
● TVL Volume and Meaning: Hyperliquid announced its TVL to be approximately $6 billion, with a year-on-year growth of about 200%. In the derivatives context, TVL mainly represents the scale of user collateral assets and liquidity pools, serving as the underlying "ammunition" supporting leveraged trading and liquidity depth. Compared to spot DeFi protocols, the explanation of derivatives TVL more strongly points to trading margins and risk reserves rather than merely passive income accumulation.
● Open Interest Expansion: Corresponding to TVL, the platform disclosed that the open interest was approximately $16 billion, with a year-on-year increase of about 300%, far exceeding the growth of TVL itself. This indicates that as the liquidity pool expands, the nominal value of contracts corresponding to unit margins is further amplified, meaning that the overall leverage level and risk exposure have significantly increased, with capital "accumulation" and risk exposure rising simultaneously.
● Sources of Funds and Stability: Under the premise of no external financing, the rise in TVL and open positions relies more on existing users' additional margins, profit reinvestment, and spontaneous influx of new funds, rather than the platform's own capital or market-making support from capital parties. The advantage of this model is that the funds are relatively "real" and have strong endogenous characteristics, but it also means that in adverse market conditions, there is a lack of substantial capital buffers to maintain the stability of TVL and position sizes.
● TVL and Open Interest Matching and Risk Implications: With TVL growing by about 200% and open interest increasing by about 300%, the two do not expand in proportion, indicating that the contract value leveraged by the same unit margin is increasing. This can improve capital efficiency and enhance position utilization, but in extreme market conditions, it may also amplify liquidation pressure and risk of under-collateralization, necessitating upgrades to insurance funds and risk control parameters; otherwise, slight price fluctuations could trigger chain liquidations. This structural amplification will manifest as "dual amplification of revenue and risk" in the surge of trading volume and peak protocol revenue.
Trading Volume Explosion and Leverage Activity as a Double-Edged Sword
● Single-Day Trading Volume and Open Interest Linkage: Hyperliquid disclosed its highest single-day trading volume of approximately $32 billion, with a year-on-year growth of about 113%, while the peak open interest was about $16 billion, with a year-on-year increase of about 300%. The growth in trading volume is lower than that of open interest, indicating that the platform relies not only on "volume-boosting" high turnover but also has larger-scale, sustained leveraged positions, with activity and depth of positions increasing simultaneously.
● Trading Volume and Open Interest Ratio Relationship: Structurally, the $32 billion in single-day transactions and $16 billion in open interest means that the daily transaction volume is several times the open interest size, reflecting a high turnover rate and high-frequency trading participation. Deeper leverage and more frequent trading can significantly enhance trader stickiness and increase market-making and fee income, but it also means that during significant volatility, liquidation events become more concentrated, and liquidity demand becomes more extreme.
● Market Cycle and Platform-Specific Factors: The overall market volatility in 2025 rebounded, bringing natural volume bonuses to all derivatives platforms. Hyperliquid's trading volume explosion benefited from this cyclical upswing and also related to its differentiated attempts in product, matching performance, and asset supply. However, the currently available data only shows peak sizes and cannot fully separate the proportions of "market-driven" and "platform capability" factors; more complete time series data is needed for verification.
● Risk Management Pressure Under Amplified Volume: In the context of no external financing, the geometric amplification of trading volume and position size creates significant pressure on the platform's risk management system, insurance fund size, and technical stability. On one hand, high volume makes the funding gap caused by a single risk control error or system failure more substantial, undermining user trust; on the other hand, high-frequency liquidations and large-scale clearances also require matching, oracle, and liquidation processes to remain smooth under extreme loads. Hyperliquid's choice to rely on protocol revenue for self-accumulation buffers, rather than depending on external capital for support, effectively tests its risk control and system resilience under higher difficulty.
Protocol Revenue Peaks and Self-Sustaining Capability
● Revenue Peaks and Growth: The platform disclosed its highest 24-hour protocol revenue of approximately $20 million, with a year-on-year growth of about 471%. As a direct reflection of fees and funding rates, this figure not only reflects the amplification of trading volume but also indicates that in a high-volatility environment, funding rates and liquidation-related income have concentrated increases, mirroring the profit side of the aforementioned trading volume and open interest explosion.
● High Revenue Corresponding Market Scenario: From the derivatives logic, a single-day revenue peak of $20 million likely corresponds to trading days characterized by high volatility, strong directional trends, and concentrated liquidations. During such times, trading frequency surges, funding rates expand, and the turnover between long and short positions intensifies, allowing the platform to bear higher risk control pressures and public sentiment risks while also gaining exceptionally considerable fee and funding income. Revenue and risk events often amplify simultaneously rather than independently.
● Self-Sustaining and Risk Reserves: In the absence of external financing support, such a level of revenue peak and corresponding high gross profit structure provides the platform with strong self-sustaining capability. On one hand, it can continuously invest in optimizing underlying technologies such as matching engines, risk control models, and monitoring systems; on the other hand, it also provides a more ample source for insurance funds, risk reserves, and potential bad debt coverage, reducing reliance on external capital infusion.
● Information Gaps and Prudent Interpretation: It is important to emphasize that the currently available data only includes single-day revenue peaks and other partial indicators, while total annual protocol revenue and total annual trading volume statistics have not yet been disclosed. Previously circulated figures such as "total annual protocol revenue of approximately $844 million" and "total annual trading volume of approximately $2.9 trillion" have been classified as pending verification information and do not have a basis for citation at this stage. Readers assessing Hyperliquid's financial performance should clearly distinguish between "peak performance" and "annual average levels," maintaining necessary prudence regarding the missing annual data.
HyperEVM and NFT Moves Lay the Groundwork for Growth
● Three Core New Features: In 2025, Hyperliquid successively launched HyperEVM, a permissionless validator set, and Hypurr NFTs, forming the most important set of product actions in its high-growth year. These updates go beyond simple matching and trading functions, pointing to a more complete ecosystem and brand layout.
● External Evaluation and Market Expectations: According to public opinions from observers like @TechFlowDaily, the market generally believes that HyperEVM and the permissionless validator set will lay the foundation for Hyperliquid's future growth, while Hypurr NFTs will help shape a unique user culture and brand asset. It is worth noting that public information has not provided specific price performance or financing data corresponding to these features, so related judgments remain more at the functional level and structural impact.
● Ecological Significance of HyperEVM and Permissionless Validator Set: The launch of HyperEVM signifies that Hyperliquid is attempting to extend itself from a single derivatives matching platform to an infrastructure capable of supporting various DeFi applications and strategies by being compatible with mainstream smart contract environments. The accompanying permissionless validator set enhances openness in consensus layers and node participation rules, allowing more participants to provide security and computing power for the network at lower thresholds. This combination not only strengthens the decentralized narrative but also hopes to attract more developers to build strategy protocols, asset management tools, and derivatives innovations on Hyperliquid, further feeding back into TVL and trading volume.
● The Brand and Community Role of Hypurr NFTs: The launch of Hypurr NFTs adds recognizable IP and brand symbols to Hyperliquid, helping to create differentiated memory points in the highly homogenized derivatives space. On the other hand, NFTs themselves can also serve as carriers for user levels, loyalty, and incentive mechanisms, playing roles in governance, fee discounts, and market-making incentives. Since specific floor prices and speculative data have not been disclosed, discussions should focus more on their potential roles in community cohesion, user identity, and trading incentive design, rather than short-term price speculation.
Testing the Limits of Organic Growth and Next Stage Challenges
The key data set of users, TVL, trading volume, open interest, and protocol revenue in 2025 outlines Hyperliquid's high multiple growth rate achieved within a year. The user count surged from about 300,000 to 1.4 million, TVL increased to $6 billion, open interest soared to $16 billion, the highest single-day trading volume reached $32 billion, and the peak daily protocol revenue hit $20 million. These indicators were achieved without external financing, relying on the protocol's own profitability and product reputation, highlighting a strong "self-sustaining" characteristic and making Hyperliquid one of the most watched samples in the derivatives space in 2025.
The advantage of this organic expansion model lies in its low dependence on external capital, relatively flexible strategic choices, and the absence of excessive compromises for short-term valuations or equity structures; revenue and growth come more directly from real user behavior, enhancing its ability to resist "volume manipulation" and subsidy withdrawal. However, its disadvantages are equally apparent: in extreme market conditions, on-chain security incidents, or sharp liquidity contractions, projects lacking a substantial capital moat are more likely to expose shortcomings such as insufficient margins, weak insurance funds, and inadequate technical redundancy. The resilience and recovery speed under systemic shocks will be key challenges.
Looking ahead to 2026, whether Hyperliquid's growth curve can gradually shift from "leverage amplification + market bonuses" to "ecological depth + product stickiness" depends on several key indicators: first, whether the quality of active users improves, and whether short-term high-frequency speculators can be gradually balanced by more long-term strategic users and institutional participants; second, the stability and drawdown resistance of TVL and open interest under different market conditions, which is an important window for testing capital stickiness and trust; third, whether new features like HyperEVM, the permissionless validator set, and Hypurr NFTs truly foster a sustainable application ecosystem rather than remaining at the promotional level.
On the data front, readers should continue to pay attention to Hyperliquid's subsequent official disclosures and authoritative statistics. In particular, data such as total annual protocol revenue and total annual trading volume, which have not yet been made public or are disputed, should not be easily trusted without reliable source verification. Only with a more complete data sample and observations over a longer period can one truly determine whether this round of "counterattack growth" is a phase of high leverage amplification or a sustainable accumulation of business and technology.
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