Hyperliquid Rockets as Oil Touches $100: Arthur Hayes Reveals Why

Hyperliquid oil-linked perps cleared over $1 billion as crude spikes toward $100 dollars amid Middle East turmoil.

As we reported this past Monday, Hyperliquid continues to cement its reputation as “the room where it happens” for a new class of traders that are turning into Hyperliquid’s tokenized oil perpetuals, as well to metals and other “essential assets”.

In a post on the social network X this Thursday morning, Hyperliquid’s official account announced that the trading of Real World Assets (RWA) on the platform continues to break records, as it’s now “surpassing $1.3B in open interest and $1.4B in weekend volume”. As stated on Monday, this times of extreme geopolitical chaos seem to finally have outgrown TradFi, as traders search for alternatives to act as fast as their unrest demands: Hyperliquid is always available, even while legacy futures markets close for the weekend.

Over the past 2 weeks, RWA trading on Hyperliquid has repeatedly broken records, surpassing $1.3B in open interest and $1.4B in weekend volume.

When traditional markets are closed, Hyperliquid is the premier venue for 24/7 price discovery on oil, metals, indices, and other…

— Hyperliquid (@HyperliquidX) March 12, 2026

The structural advantages of a DEX like Hyperliquid are unmatchable when rapidly changing circumstances prompt equally volatile feelings: 24/7 access, permissionless HIP‑3 listings, and the ability to size into oil, gold, and equity index perps without going through a broker.

Hyperliquid’s native token, $HYPE, has been rallying alongside the oil: HYPE saw a surge of over 8% over the past 24 hours, reaching $37 dollars, a big improvement from previously sinking nearly below 50% of its past September high.

This surge aligns with BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes predictions. On March 9, Hayes shared an essay on his Substack arguing why he believes that $HYPE is going to $150 by August 2026. The piece, titled “$HYPE Man”, frames Hyperliquid as the standout exchange‑token play for a volatile 2026 because it monetizes trading activity regardless of market direction. Hyperliquid is one of the largest fee‑generating protocols in crypto, and Hayes argues that roughly most of those fees are routed back to HYPE through buybacks and burns, turning the token into a direct bet on on-chain derivatives revenue.

Hayes believes that, assuming revenue climbs back toward peak levels and the market is willing to rerate Hyperliquid to a higher earnings multiple that still sits below some listed TradFi exchanges, $HYPE could go around the $150 by mid‑2026. In his view, growth in macro‑linked products like oil and gold, listed through HIP‑3, are central to this upside, since more war‑driven oil flow on Hyperliquid means more protocol fees and a stronger buyback engine for HYPE.

My essay on why $HYPE is going to $150 by August 2026.

https://t.co/M1la2HpdzT

— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) March 9, 2026

The Iran war, tanker incidents, and supply fears are reviving the classic “oil shock” playbook just as DeFi venues like Hyperliquid make commodity risk tradable via tokens. If conflict and energy shocks persist, tokenised oil on Hyperliquid could increasingly shape sentiment and pricing across both DeFi and TradFi.

Cover image from Perplexity, HYPEUSDT chart from Tradingview