In October 2025, on-chain perpetual futures turnover crossed the $1 trillion mark, and Hyperliquid powered much of the surge. The milestone signals liquidity migrating from private servers to open code, forcing institutions, builders, and watchdogs to confront new custody, governance, and rule-book questions.
Hyperliquid handled about $317 billion of the October trillion and cleared $78 billion on its busiest day. Since going live in 2023, the venue has booked $2.35 trillion in total and now posts more than $27 billion every 24 hours. Data firms like CoinStats and The Block estimate Hyperliquid holds 60–80 percent of all on-chain perpetual trade, underscoring its outsized role in the market.
The speed comes from Hyperliquid’s own chain, HyperEVM, built for sub-second blocks and zero gas fees. Orders sit on-chain, matches happen on-chain, and the network claims it can process 200 000 messages each second. This setup cuts both cost and delay, which matter to anyone using leverage or supplying depth to the book.
October metrics and market share
The money side shows rapid growth: the protocol has earned about $310 million to date, with more than $110 million arriving in the recent stretch. The native token HYPE rose roughly 950 percent after its generation event, but it also fell 37 percent in one 30-day window when talk of new rules and vote outcomes spooked buyers.
Concentration, compliance, and market structure risks are in focus. Public filings suggest a small group and one family hold key rights, which means if they act in concert, the chain’s rules or funds could change at short notice. At the same time, users can open accounts with no KYC and the platform’s dollar proxy, USDH, has no clear audit trail, drawing letters from supervisors.
The team has also lodged draft papers for a one-billion-dollar public listing, a move that could shift the story from “decentralized rebel” to “regulated issuer.”eeds, traditional cash will pour in and the debate over policing a “decentralized” but single owner exchange will intensify, shaping how on-chain derivatives evolve from here.
