HYPE, the native token of the Hyperliquid exchange, climbed to a new all-time high near $83.6 on August 23 before sellers pulled the price back, and the chart now turns on a single question: can the market keep the old peak beneath price?

Above a record high there are no historical price levels to lean on, which is why the prior peak tends to become the market's main reference point once price slips back below it. That level acted as a ceiling on the way up. If it holds as a floor, the pullback reads as ordinary profit-taking after a sharp advance. If price slips back below it and stays there, the breakout loses much of its force.

Support below the breakout

The first clear level under the current range sits at $76, the 0.236 Fibonacci retracement. That is the nearest point where buyers could show that demand remains intact. A break lower would shift attention to the $71–$72 area. The 0.382 retracement lies near $71.2, close to an earlier horizontal support zone, which gives that range more weight than a single technical indicator would carry on its own.

Hyperliquid's fee spike

Traders were not the only ones active during HYPE's run. Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange that runs perpetual futures on its own Layer 1 blockchain, generated roughly $6.2 million in fees on Aug. 23. DefiLlama currently reports about $5.86 million in application fees over the past 24 hours, alongside around $7.1 billion in perpetual-futures volume — figures that place it among the largest on-chain venues for derivatives trading.

Fees matter because they measure actual use of the exchange. They do not prove that HYPE should rise, nor do they equal a payment to token holders. They show that the platform's core product — trading — is drawing substantial demand while the token approaches new highs.

Hyperliquid's ability to keep trading during volatile conditions has been part of its appeal. Its earlier response to a market dislocation — most visibly in March 2025, when a large JELLY position turned against the exchange's liquidity vault and validators voted to delist the token — showed why traders and liquidity providers have continued to treat the venue as more than a niche perpetuals exchange.

Derivatives dominate the tape

The same data also explains why the pullback can move quickly. At the time of writing, CoinGlass showed roughly $4.4 billion in HYPE futures volume over 24 hours, compared with about $300 million in spot trading. Open interest — the total value of futures contracts not yet closed — stood near $3.5 billion.

In other words, most of the day's action came through leveraged contracts rather than simple spot purchases. That can accelerate gains when momentum is strong, and it also leaves more traders vulnerable if the breakout floor gives way and long positions begin to close. How open interest behaves through that test is part of what traders watch: contracts closing as price falls point to leverage coming out of the market, while open interest that holds steady as price drops can indicate new short positions entering.

The next test for buyers

There is no need to turn every pullback into a bearish signal. HYPE remains close to its record, and Hyperliquid's fee generation gives the move a stronger basis than pure hype. Even so, the next move depends on whether buyers can defend the prior high before the derivatives market decides the level for them.

This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.