The HIP-3 market on the Hyperliquid platform is experiencing explosive growth, capturing nearly half of all perpetual contract trading volume. While its share was a modest 2% at the beginning of the year, it is now approaching 50%. This is an impressive leap that signals a fundamental shift in trader preferences.
The main driver of this growth has been 24/7 perpetual contracts (perps) on stocks and indices—such as Nvidia, Tesla, and the Nasdaq-100. Unlike traditional exchange-traded instruments that are only available during market hours, these contracts are accessible around the clock. This opens up new opportunities for hedging and speculation, especially for participants operating in global markets during off-hours.
The key mechanism ensuring liquidity and pricing outside exchange hours is the system of oracles and funding rates. Oracles provide real-time prices of the underlying assets, while funding rates regulate the balance between long and short positions, preventing significant deviations from the actual market. It is this technological foundation that allows HIP-3 to scale so rapidly.
From my perspective, the growth of HIP-3 is not just a temporary trend but an indicator of a deeper process: decentralized exchanges (DEXs) are gradually winning market share from traditional centralized platforms (CEXs) through product innovation. If Hyperliquid continues to expand its range of instruments and maintain low fees, we could see HIP-3's share exceed 50% in the coming months. This would pose a serious challenge to classical exchanges, which currently cannot offer similar functionality in a 24/7 mode.