HYPE Negative Funding Meets $3.23B Open Interest and Long-Led Liquidations
HYPE is trading at $85.751 with aggregate open interest near $3.23 billion, but the more important signal is the funding split: the 8-hour average is -3.3 basis points, while the latest venue prints are mostly positive. That mismatch points to a market where crowded long exposure is being repriced unevenly rather than a clean, synchronized short squeeze. For Hyperliquid, the negative average is the warning flag, because the underlying perpetual market still carries a heavy long bias.
News attention has recently focused on reports that Ethereum surpassed Bitcoin in open interest on Hyperliquid, adding to the broader debate over how quickly derivatives activity is rotating across major assets.
Funding is negative in aggregate, not everywhere
The latest funding rate data show a sharp venue dispersion. Bybit and BitMEX are at approximately 1.0 basis point, while OKX is around 0.5 basis points and Binance about 0.3 basis points. Hyperliquid itself is near 0.1 basis points. On the negative side, Paradex is around -0.6 basis points and Gate is close to zero on the downside. The headline average of -3.3 basis points therefore should not be read as every venue paying shorts; it indicates that the aggregated funding calculation is being pulled lower by weaker or negative pockets.
The open-interest structure reinforces that caution. Binance holds $388.3 million, or 12.0% of the tracked total, and increased its HYPE OI by 1.9% over 24 hours. Bybit holds $262.4 million, or 8.1%, with a 0.6% increase. Gate contributes $217.1 million, or 6.7%, but fell 2.3%, while Bitget holds $185.7 million, or 5.8%, and declined 0.3%. Across the tracked market, total OI slipped just 0.2%, meaning leverage has not been flushed despite the negative aggregate funding signal.
Longs are absorbing the liquidation pressure
The liquidation tape is decisively one-sided. Over 24 hours, long liquidations reached $3.31 million against $684.2 thousand for shorts, for a $4.0 million total. That means roughly 82.9% of forced closures were long-side losses. The imbalance was already visible over 12 hours, when longs accounted for $1.25 million versus $38.8 thousand for shorts.
Shorter windows show the same direction but less absolute stress: the 4-hour window recorded $32.0 thousand in long liquidations versus $1.3 thousand in shorts, while the 1-hour window showed $30.1 thousand against just $100.5. The largest recorded long events clustered around $85.926, $84.841 and $86.037, while the largest short events were at $87.869 and $87.125. This places the current price close to a zone where additional downside can pressure longs, while a sharp recovery into the upper liquidation band could trigger short covering.
Accounts remain long, but active flow is less bullish
The positioning split adds a useful contradiction. Overall, 64.5% of accounts are long, yet only 51.5% of active taker flow is long. Binance accounts are 61.9% long, compared with 57.8% for takers. Bybit has the most crowded account structure at 73.4% long, but Gate takers are 57.8% short even though 64.7% of Gate accounts are long.
This account-versus-taker divergence suggests that many traders are still holding long positions, while aggressive execution is no longer confirming that conviction. It also explains why negative aggregate funding can coexist with positive prints on major venues: passive positioning remains long-heavy, but active traders are selling into the market or hedging those longs.
Verdict: The near-term bias stays negative while HYPE remains below $87.869, with $85.926 and $84.841 as the most relevant liquidation reference points. The risk is concentrated around the $3.23 billion OI base: a break below $84.841 with OI holding near that level would favor another long flush, while a sustained recovery above $87.869 accompanied by OI expansion from $3.23 billion would invalidate the bearish funding view. Data as of 08:18 Beijing time on Sep 30, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit and other major venues.