Hyperliquid risk score
Short answer: Perpd scores Hyperliquid 72/100 (Some known risks) as of 14 Nov 2026, ranking 4 of 10 (tied). Its weakest factor is exit risk (4/10): Hyperliquid runs on its own L1, so there's no escape hatch to Ethereum. Its strongest is volume quality (10/10).
| Factor | Weight | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exit risk | 20% | 4/10 | Hyperliquid runs on its own L1, so there's no escape hatch to Ethereum. |
| Security record | 15% | 9/10 | Audited by Zellic, no code exploit found in sources checked, live since Nov 2024. |
| Liquidation & ADL | 15% | 6/10 | The HLP vault backstops liquidations, but there were 2 manipulation or ADL incidents in the last 12 months: FARTCOIN (Apr 2026) and the SK Hynix stock perp run by trade.xyz (Jul 2026) (-4). |
| Execution check | 15% | Not scored yet: needs 7 daily order-book snapshots. Preview in Perp DEX fees compared: what a $100K trade really costs. | |
| Volume quality | 10% | 10/10 | 24h volume/OI is about 1.8 and no wash-trading allegations were found. |
| Access & legal | 10% | 10/10 | Terms bar the US and Ontario, name an interface operator, require no KYC, and no regulator action was found. |
| Token, unlocks & team | 10% | 8/10 | Core contributors hold 23.8% of HYPE and vest monthly; |
| Cost | 5% | 6/10 | Base fees are 0.015% maker / 0.045% taker, the highest of the five, softened by staking discounts and HIP-3 growth mode. |
Weighted over the 7 scored factors: 72/100. Method: How Perpd scores perp DEXs.
Exit risk: 4/10
Hyperliquid runs on its own L1, so there's no escape hatch to Ethereum. Funds moving to and from Arbitrum go through a bridge secured by validator signatures. That bridge was paused during the POPCAT incident on 12 Nov 2025, now just outside our 12-month window. Most USDC now moves as native USDC via Circle's CCTP, and the legacy bridge holds under 10% of HyperCore's USDC.
- Hyperliquid paused deposits and withdrawals on 12 Nov 2025 (labeled maintenance) during the POPCAT manipulation incident. Bridge pauses have reopened within hours with no bridge fund losses reported. (source, 2025-11-12)
- 'The legacy Arbitrum bridge holds less than 10% of the USDC supply on HyperCore.' USDC is natively minted on the Hyperliquid L1, with Circle's CCTP as the route from Arbitrum. The legacy bridge was audited by Zellic. (source, accessed 2026-11-14)
- Bridge withdrawals and validator-set updates are signed by Hyperliquid validators, with a dispute mechanism (Zellic's Bridge2 audit findings). (source, Zellic report)
- No forced withdrawal to Ethereum exists: Hyperliquid is a standalone L1, not a rollup. (source, accessed 2026-11-14)
- After the 29 Oct 2026 Binance hot-wallet hack, Unit (the third-party protocol that bridges BTC, ETH and SOL to Hyperliquid) added delays to all deposits and withdrawals. No pause of Hyperliquid's own bridge was reported. (source, 2026-11-02)
Security record: 9/10
Audited by Zellic, no code exploit found in sources checked, live since Nov 2024. Bounty cap is just under $1M (-1). Market-manipulation losses are scored under liquidation.
- Audit: the bridge and its L1 staking logic were audited by Zellic. Audit date not found on the docs page. (source, accessed 2026-11-09)
- Bug bounty: Critical tier is '<1M USDC' for significant loss of user funds. (source, accessed 2026-11-09)
- Launch: HYPE genesis in Nov 2024. Core-contributor vesting starts from the 'November 2024 genesis'. (source, 2026-10-26)
- Smart-contract exploit with user funds lost: not found in sources checked. (Blockworks reported suspected North Korean hacker activity on the platform. Article not read in full; date not confirmed.) (source, not confirmed)
Liquidation & ADL: 6/10
The HLP vault backstops liquidations, but there were 2 manipulation or ADL incidents in the last 12 months: FARTCOIN (Apr 2026) and the SK Hynix stock perp run by trade.xyz (Jul 2026) (-4). The POPCAT incident (12 Nov 2025) is now outside our 12-month window.
- FARTCOIN, 9 Apr 2026: a trader lost about $3M in a thin market as positions were liquidated and auto-deleveraged, with gains going to opposing traders; PeckShield estimated an HLP loss of about $1.5M, not confirmed by Hyperliquid. (source, 2026-04)
- xyz:SKHYNIX (a HIP-3 market run by trade.xyz), 27 Jul 2026: a single bad pre-market print fed the oracle and the mark price fell about 18-19% (Nexus Mutual: about 18% peak to trough; Galaxy: 18.7%). About 960 longs were liquidated, and ADL closed about 100 profitable shorts, which realized about $10.8M of profit. (source, 2026-08-03)
- Galaxy Research analysis of the SK Hynix event and HIP-3 oracle design. (source, 2026)
- POPCAT, 12 Nov 2025: large POPCAT trades left Hyperliquid's HLP vault with a loss of about $4.9M (The Defiant). Outside the 12-month window as of 14 Nov 2026. (source, 2025-11-12)
- On HIP-3 markets, the deployer controls the oracle and mark price; Hyperliquid's core supplies the matching and margin infrastructure. (source, 2026-08-03)
Volume quality: 10/10
24h volume/OI is about 1.8 and no wash-trading allegations were found.
- 24h perp volume $13.709b; 30d perp volume $226.25b; open interest $7.712b. Ratio 24h/OI is about 1.78 (30d/OI about 29). (source, accessed 2026-11-09)
- Wash-trading / points-farming allegations: not found. There is no points program, since the token is already live. (source, accessed 2026-11-09)
Access & legal: 10/10
Terms bar the US and Ontario, name an interface operator, require no KYC, and no regulator action was found. The primary ToS could not be read directly, so this score rests on a secondary source.
- Restricted: United States (Terms s.1.5 bars US residents, entities and citizens) and Ontario, Canada (named). UK: not restricted. India: not mentioned. EU: not addressed. Sanctioned regions are also restricted (Cuba, Iran, NK, Syria, Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk). (source, 2026-10-02)
- Entity: Hyperliquid Corp. operates the website interface. Jurisdiction not found. (source, 2026-10-02)
- KYC: none for traders. Validators in the Foundation Delegation Program do KYC/KYB. (source, 2026-10-02)
- Regulator action: none found. No CFTC/SEC registration. CME and ICE urged regulators to examine Hyperliquid's manipulation risk. In Aug 2026, Trump said the CFTC chair was working to bring Hyperliquid to the US. (source, 2026-10-02)
- Primary ToS at app.hyperliquid.xyz/terms rendered no text to the fetcher (JS app). (source, accessed 2026-11-09)
Token, unlocks & team: 8/10
Core contributors hold 23.8% of HYPE and vest monthly; the team says vesting isn't linear (-2 for regular unlocks). Ahead of the 6 Nov 2026 unlock, a team member said only 180,000 HYPE would be distributed, far below the roughly 9.9M some trackers expected. There's no VC allocation.
- Ahead of the 6 Nov 2026 unlock, a team member said 180,000 HYPE would be distributed (reported from a Discord message, not confirmed on-chain in this source). (source, 2026-11-05)
- Hyperliquid Labs unstaked HYPE for its first contributor allocation; the team said vesting is not linear. (source, 2025-11)
- HYPE: 1B max supply; core contributors 23.8%; no VC allocation. (source, 2026-10-26)
Cost: 6/10
Base fees are 0.015% maker / 0.045% taker, the highest of the five, softened by staking discounts and HIP-3 growth mode.
- Tier 0 perps: taker 0.045%, maker 0.015%. HYPE staking discounts range from 5% (>10 HYPE) to 40% (>500K HYPE). (source, accessed 2026-11-09)
- HIP-3 growth mode cuts all-in fees by at least 90% (baseline taker 0.0045-0.009%). Validator-operated crypto perps are not eligible. Deployer fee share is 0-300%. (source, accessed 2026-11-09)
- Funding mechanics: not fetched (not found). (source, accessed 2026-11-09)
Compare
FAQ
Is Hyperliquid safe?
No perp DEX is risk-free. Perpd scores Hyperliquid 72/100 (Some known risks). Its main flag is exit risk (4/10).
How is Hyperliquid's score calculated?
Seven factors scored 0-10 from public sources (exit, security, liquidation, volume, access, token, cost), weighted and scaled to 100. The execution check joins once we have 7 daily snapshots.
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Scores are never for sale. This page has no affiliate links and no paid placements. Not financial advice: perps are leveraged and you can lose more than you deposit.