Hyperliquid FAQ: Fees, Safety, Staking and Trading

Hyperliquid is an onchain exchange for perpetual futures and spot trading. It runs on its own L1 with a fully onchain order book, so orders, matching and settlement are transparent and verifiable, and trades settle in under a second.

No. Hyperliquid is non-custodial: you trade from your own wallet, so there is no account approval process in the usual sense. Access restrictions may still apply depending on your jurisdiction, and you are responsible for compliance there.

An EVM-compatible wallet or email login, and USDC on Arbitrum for collateral. Open the app, connect, deposit, pick a market and place an order — the whole flow takes a few minutes.

Perps use a maker/taker schedule with low baseline rates and rebates at higher volume tiers; staking HYPE improves your tier further. Funding settles hourly. Spot has its own lower schedule, and withdrawals carry a small fixed bridge fee.

Up to 40× on major perpetuals, with lower maximums on smaller-cap markets. Skilled traders rarely need more than 3–5×; liquidation price is always shown before you confirm.

Yes. Spot pairs trade on a separate, simpler fee schedule with no funding payments, which makes spot the cheaper venue for exposure you plan to hold.

HYPE is the network token. Staking delegates it to validators to secure the L1, earns staking rewards and improves your trading-fee tier. Undelegated tokens become available after a short unbonding period.

Vaults are pooled trading accounts. You can deposit into another trader's strategy and share the profit and loss, or run your own vault. The protocol also operates HLP, its market-making vault.

The protocol is non-custodial with published audits and an identifiable validator set, so balances can be verified onchain. The largest practical risk for users is phishing — always use a bookmarked domain and never sign transactions you do not understand.

Order placement, cancellation and matching happen in well under a second on the Hyperliquid L1. Execution speed is comparable to a centralised exchange while remaining onchain.

Yes. The app is fully responsive: charts, order book and order entry work on a phone browser with the same wallet connection.

Hourly funding keeps the perpetual price closer to spot and makes the cost of holding a crowded position more visible. For multi-day positions the total cost is comparable, but intraday it matters more.

Still deciding? Compare venues in our best perpetual DEX ranking, or open the app and start small.