🥳 Hyperliquid’s native token, HYPE, just pushed back above $50 for the first time in roughly 8 months after traders aggressively bet against the rally on May 18th and 19th. Funding rate data across exchanges showed a major spike in negative funding, which usually means large numbers of traders were opening short positions and expecting the price to fall. Instead, $HYPE continued climbing, creating the conditions for a classic short squeeze. As the price kept rising, many bearish traders were forced to buy back their positions automatically, adding even more upward pressure to the rally.

📈 At the same time, HYPE’s open interest (which measures the total value of active futures contracts that are still open) has remained extremely high, currently above $1.92B. Many traders assume liquidations automatically cause open interest to collapse, but that isn’t always true. In HYPE’s case, due to it being one of the hottest assets in crypto currently, new traders continued entering positions even while others were being liquidated.

🏦 The major catalyst behind HYPE’s rally has been growing excitement surrounding new Hyperliquid-related ETF products. In May 2026, firms like Bitwise and 21Shares launched exchange-traded funds tied to HYPE, giving traditional investors a way to gain exposure to the asset without directly using crypto wallets or decentralized exchanges. Many traders see these ETF launches as a sign that Hyperliquid is moving beyond just a niche DeFi platform and becoming a more institutionally accepted crypto ecosystem.

🧐 Check out our custom chart for HYPE to track funding rates and open interests across exchanges!