HYPE hits record $76.90 as $11.5M in shorts liquidated

On June 16, the digital asset HYPE climbed 11.6% to a record $76.90, reaching that high at 9:01 a.m. Eastern. The token recovered from a June 11 low near $53. The intraday move liquidated roughly $11.5 million in short positions and just over $1 million in long positions. HYPE’s market capitalization approached $17 billion, placing it among the ten largest crypto assets by market cap.

The price rise followed a broad market sell-off earlier in the week that saw bitcoin dip toward $61,000. Trading volume increased around a recent initial public offering, which coincided with higher activity on Hyperliquid’s platform.

Hyperliquid’s Assistance Fund has been using trading fees to buy HYPE on the open market. The protocol-managed treasury deployed millions of dollars a day to absorb supply, while traders increased use of perpetuals and other leveraged products on the platform.

Delphi Digital analyst Simononchain wrote that the treasury’s current purchasing scale remains far from able to fully counter the large volume of core contributor token unlocks scheduled in coming months.

Market observer Robert Sagurton wrote that traders who used Hyperliquid’s pre-market perpetuals avoided fills and liquidity problems that affected non-perpetual spot markets during the IPO. He wrote, “The non-perps markets were messy — returned funds from not getting filled, not as much volume, off-market pricing and liquidity given locks, etc. While those who just traded perps from the pre-market had a great experience and did quite well.”

Scheduled token unlocks for core contributors will increase circulating supply. Observers said they will watch unlock timelines and daily buyback volumes to assess whether the Assistance Fund offsets new supply.

The rapid price change produced significant leveraged trade liquidations and renewed attention on Hyperliquid’s supply mechanics as contributor unlocks approach.