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LearnStart here4 pages
How these docs workFoundationHow the site is organised by what you came to do, how every page runs from first principles to engineering detail, and where every fact comes from.Hyperliquid in five minutesFoundationHyperliquid is a set of financial primitives and protocols that combine into one financial system. Build a financial system from nothing, and each Hyperliquid protocol takes its place in it.The house of finance, layer by layerFoundationHyperliquid drawn as a house: one consensus, two engines joined by two bridges, an accounts layer, six financial pillars, a distribution layer that pays others to build, and Hyperliquid itself on top.Traditional finance, pillar by pillarFoundationEvery part of Hyperliquid has a traditional finance counterpart, and each analogy breaks in a specific place that shows what is actually new.
LearnFirst principles5 pages
Why Hyperliquid runs on its own chainFoundationHyperliquid built its own chain so that order books, margin and matching run fully on chain, in one consensus order, fast enough to trade on and with no off-chain book.One chain, two execution environmentsFoundationHyperCore holds the markets as native state and the HyperEVM runs contracts; one HyperBFT consensus orders both, joined by precompiles and CoreWriter.What an on-chain order book actually meansFoundationEvery order, cancel and fill is a transaction ordered by consensus and executed by every node, so the book is public chain state, not a private database.Ordering, finality and fairnessPractitionerHyperBFT gives every honest node one ordered list of committed rounds, a committed block is final, and each block runs cancels before GTC and IOC orders.HYPE: what the token doesFoundationHYPE pays HyperEVM gas, secures consensus, discounts fees, bonds deployers, backs borrowing, and is what the Assistance Fund converts fees into and burns.
LearnConsensus and validators4 pages
HyperBFTPractitionerHyperBFT is Hyperliquid's HotStuff-derived proof-of-stake consensus: stake-weighted validators commit rounds that every honest node executes in the same order.Validators and delegationPractitionerValidators run HyperBFT, ranked by stake; delegators choose them, pay commission, earn nothing while one is jailed and face no automatic slashing yet.Staking HYPE, rewards and the unstaking queueFoundationStaked HYPE is delegated to validators for compounding rewards and fee discounts; getting it back to spot takes a 7-day queue on mainnet.Running a nodeExpertA non-validating node follows consensus and writes every committed transaction, fill, order status, book change and HyperEVM block to local disk.
LearnHyperCore8 pages
HyperCore overviewFoundationHyperCore is where Hyperliquid's order books, margin, clearing and settlement run as native protocol state, applied by every validator in one order.The clearinghouse: one margin enginePractitionerHyperCore's clearinghouse holds balances and positions and checks margin on every trade; in standard mode each perp dex has its own balance and cross margin.The order book and matchingPractitionerEach HyperCore asset has one on-chain book matched in price-time priority, with cancels and post-only orders sequenced ahead of orders that take liquidity.Oracles, mark prices and robust price indicesPractitionerValidators publish perp oracle prices every 3 seconds; the mark price used for margin and liquidation is a median that no single book or venue can move.Quote assets: USDC, USDH, aligned and permissionlessPractitionerAny token can become a HyperCore quote asset if its issuer stakes 200k HYPE against a peg and liquidity standard; aligned issuers also share reserve yield.Vaults: HLP, protocol vaults, user vaultsFoundationA vault pools depositors' USDC into one HyperCore account run by one strategy; HLP is the protocol vault that makes markets and performs liquidations.Multi-sig accountsPractitionerHyperCore can make any account a native k-of-n multi-sig with no smart contract, but CoreWriter stops working for it and its HyperEVM side keeps the old key.API servers and how state reaches youPractitionerAPI servers follow a node, keep a local copy of HyperCore state, answer reads from it, and reply to a transaction only once it executes in a committed block.
LearnResearch5 pages
What one HyperEVM transaction can and cannot doExpertOne HyperEVM transaction can read HyperCore and emit a perp order and an outcome operation, but it only enqueues them, so the legs are not atomic.Options on the borrow rateExpertA research track priced the HyperCore USDC borrow rate with HIP-4 scalar bands, listed them on somebody else's perp, and found owning the perp does not pay.Composable creditExpertA research track tokenised HyperCore lending positions as HyperEVM ERC20s, proved a contract can supply on testnet, and found the vault must be a queue, not a wrapper.Collateral underwritingExpertA research track found the protocol refuses a deployer stake posted by somebody else, and rebuilt underwriting as two-of-two co-custody of the deployer's own bond.Where the chain and the docs disagreeExpertEvery place where measured behaviour on Hyperliquid contradicts the official docs: what the docs say, what was measured, the sample and the covering page.
LearnFor the press4 pages
Start here: press and analystsFoundationFor people writing about Hyperliquid: what it is, how to measure and name it correctly, and the stories behind the numbers.Measuring Hyperliquid: volume, open interest, usersFoundationPublic Hyperliquid figures disagree mostly because each counts the same fills differently; a number means something only with its rows and units.Common misconceptionsFoundationTwelve common claims about Hyperliquid that the official docs or on-chain measurement contradict, each with what is true and where it is explained.Naming and style guideFoundationWrite HyperCore, HyperEVM, HyperBFT, CoreWriter and HIP-1 to HIP-4 exactly, never shorten HyperCore to one word, and do not cite a HIP-5, because none exists.
LearnWhat Hyperliquid is and how it works
Start here
First principles
Consensus and validators
HyperCore
Research
For the press
TradeMarkets, margin and risk
Start here
Trading fundamentals
Perpetuals
Spot
Outcome markets
Accounts and credit
Advanced trading
Incentives
BuildApps, bots and contracts
Start here
Build on HyperCore
Build on the HyperEVM
DeployLaunch and run markets
Start here
The HIPs
Deploy markets
ReferenceEvery number, action and term
Look up
Protocol tables

The house of finance, layer by layer

Foundation

Hyperliquid drawn as a house: one consensus, two engines joined by two bridges, an accounts layer, six financial pillars, a distribution layer that pays others to build, and Hyperliquid itself on top.

Hyperliquid calls itself the house of all finance, and it’s built like one. The name covers several things at once: a consensus, a matching engine, a contract platform, financial pillars, a system that pays others to bring users in, and an app. The house separates them, so you can read it from the ground up and see what rests on what.

HyperBFT consensus HyperCore order books, margin, matching precompiles CoreWriter HyperEVM EVM contracts, same chain Accounts and risk margin modes, sub-accounts, multi-sig, API wallets 01 Spot currency HIP-1, HIP-2 02 Perps futures, swaps HIP-3 03 Outcomes options, insurance HIP-4 04 Lending money markets borrow, earn 05 Vaults funds HLP 06 Staking regulatory capital HYPE Builder codes fee share for apps Referrals fee share for referrers Fee tiers volume lowers fees Deployers new markets, shared fees Hyperliquid the interface layer and everything else within the stack 01 Consensus 02 Execution 03 Accounts 04 Primitives 05 Distribution 06 Interface HyperBFT consensus HyperCore matching engine read write HyperEVM EVM contracts Accounts and risk margin modes, sub-accounts, multi-sig, API wallets 01 Spot currency HIP-1, HIP-2 02 Perps futures, swaps HIP-3 03 Outcomes options, insurance HIP-4 04 Lending money markets borrow, earn 05 Vaults funds HLP 06 Staking regulatory capital HYPE Builder codes fee share for apps Referrals fee share for referrers Fee tiers volume lowers fees Deployers new markets, shared fees Hyperliquid the interface layer and everything else within the stack Consensus Execution Accounts Primitives Distribution Interface

The foundation: one order for every transaction

Section titled “The foundation: one order for every transaction”

Every floor above depends on a single ordering of transactions. HyperBFT is derived from HotStuff. Validators produce blocks in proportion to staked HYPE, and a round commits once validators holding more than 2/3 of stake sign it.

Two engines on one chain: HyperCore and the HyperEVM

Section titled “Two engines on one chain: HyperCore and the HyperEVM”
  • HyperCore is the matching engine: order books, margin and settlement written into the protocol. It is custom built, which makes it fast and means EVM tooling cannot use it natively.
  • The HyperEVM is the connector: an Ethereum-compatible environment on the same consensus, gas paid in HYPE. It also hosts tokens and apps that never touch a book.
  • Two bridges join them. Read precompiles from 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000800 return HyperCore state. CoreWriter at 0x3333333333333333333333333333333333333333 sends HyperCore actions, processed after the HyperEVM block; a refused action never reverts the sender. Assets cross by transfer to a system address (transfers).

Accounts: you become a customer

Section titled “Accounts: you become a customer”

It works like opening a bank account. Your address is the account, and every pillar above is a balance or position it holds.

  • Account modes. Standard keeps spot and each perp dex separate, with cross margin per dex. Unified keeps one balance per asset. Portfolio margin margins spot and perps across all dexes together and borrows against HYPE or BTC.
  • The clearinghouse holds balances and positions and checks margin when an order opens and when it fills.
  • Sub-accounts, native multi-sig and API wallets complete the floor.

Six pillars of a financial system

Section titled “Six pillars of a financial system”

Each pillar is part of any financial system, built here as HyperCore state. Say you hold USDC: you can trade it on spot, post it as perp margin, buy an outcome, lend it, deposit it in a vault, or stake HYPE, all from the same account.

Pillar What it is Standard Traditional name Where the comparison breaks
Spot Native tokens on order books, optionally seeded by Hyperliquidity HIP-1, HIP-2 currency exchange Anyone can list by winning an auction
Perps Perpetual futures, from validators or builder-deployed dexes HIP-3 futures, swaps No expiry; funding every hour
Outcomes Fully collateralised contracts that pay on an event HIP-4 options, insurance No leverage, no liquidations
Lending Supply quote assets to earn, borrow against HYPE or BTC none money markets A lending position is not tokenised
Vaults Pooled accounts, trader-led or protocol-run (HLP) none funds HLP charges no fees or profit share
Staking HYPE delegated to validators; deployer bonds none regulatory capital Slashed stake is burned, not paid out

Distribution: paying others to bring people in

Section titled “Distribution: paying others to bring people in”

Hyperliquid does not set out to be every front end or create every market. It pays the people who do.

  • Builder codes: an app adds its own fee to orders it routes, up to what the user approves.
  • Deployers: HIP-3 and HIP-4 deployers add markets and set a fee share (economics). A deployer need not be a front end; some run from automated infrastructure.
  • Referrals: 10 per cent of referred users’ fees, less their discount.
  • Fee tiers: more volume, lower fees, and rebates for makers.

The roof: Hyperliquid itself

Section titled “The roof: Hyperliquid itself”

The interface layer, and everything else within the stack: the Hyperliquid app, other front ends, bots trading through the API, and automated systems that deploy and run markets with no interface at all.

The numbers

Section titled “The numbers”
Floor Parameter Value
HyperBFT commit quorum more than 2/3 of stake
HyperBFT validator epoch 100,000 rounds, about 90 minutes on mainnet
HyperCore order throughput about 200,000 orders per second
HyperEVM small blocks every 1 s, 3M gas limit
HyperEVM big blocks every 60 s, 30M gas limit
Bridges read precompiles 0x800 to 0x814 assigned on both networks
Bridges CoreWriter gas about 25,000 burned per call; about 47,000 for a basic call
Accounts sub-accounts 10 after $100,000 of volume, 1 more per additional $100M, maximum 50
Distribution builder fee cap 0.1% on perps, 1% on spot
Distribution referral reward 10% of referred fees, less their discount, for a user’s first $1B of volume
Distribution fee tier volume 14d weighted volume = 14d perps volume + 2 * 14d spot volume
Distribution HIP-3 deployer fee share 0 to 300%
Distribution HIP-4 deployer fee scale 0 to 10

Three things the picture hides

Section titled “Three things the picture hides”
  • Margin is not one pool by default. In Standard mode each perp dex has its own balance and cross margin. HIP-3 deployers publish their own oracle prices.
  • Pillars are not sealed. HLP also makes markets, performs liquidations and supplies USDC to lending.
  • Legacy HyperCore vaults support neither HIP-3 nor spot. The docs direct new vault designs to the HyperEVM.

For why the house needed its own chain, see Why Hyperliquid runs on its own chain. For the two engines in depth, see One chain, two execution environments.