On 28 Oct 2025, Hyperliquid’s HYPE token flashed to $98 on the Lighter DEX for a few seconds, a move traced to a broken bot that swept a thin order book rather than genuine buying. Lighter removed the erroneous candle so users again saw normal prices, treating the move as a glitch instead of a real market repricing.
The episode exposed how brittle prices become when liquidity is shallow. A runaway algorithm lifted the quote far above any fair value, after which Lighter deleted the spike and later told reporters the bot was at fault. Similar glitches have hit other DEXs and revived debate about built‑in safety switches to prevent or reverse suspect ticks.
The flash offers clear lessons for order book DEXs: a single faulty bot can print a price that no one actually traded; teams should cross‑check prints across multiple venues before rebalancing; platforms need live filters that flag or reverse anomalous ticks; and if strange prints keep popping up, large players will lose trust.
Network setup, distribution, and market context
Hyperliquid runs its own layer‑1 chain with in‑house engines HyperBFT, HyperCore and HyperEVM. The project claims the network handles 100,000 orders each second and confirms in under one second.
The HYPE supply is fixed at one billion units, with 310 million distributed via a genesis airdrop to early users and no venture capital. That spread sets a base for liquid markets.
Perpetual DEX volume is a fierce race: in September 2025, Aster booked $25.7 billion while Hyperliquid logged $10.09 billion, The Block reports. Right now, HYPE trades near $46.25 with over $60 million in 24‑hour turnover and carries a market value between $11.6 billion and $15.6 billion. Treasury and trading desks must fold those numbers into risk models. A perpetual is a future that never expires—long and short players exchange funding fees to keep the contract price close to the spot index.
The episode is now a footnote on Lighter’s charts. The practical takeaway is simple: verify prices and tighten circuit breakers before trusting any single exchange feed.
