Hyperliquid’s HYPE token, one of crypto’s best-performing assets this year, tumbled following its record run as longtime bull Arthur Hayes revealed he had sold his entire position just days after predicting much higher prices.
“I just dumped my entire HYPE and NEAR position,” Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and chief investment officer at family office Maelstrom, wrote on X.
The selloff pulled HYPE back to $67 from record highs near $75, though the token remains up more than 70% since mid-May.
Hayes said the decision reflected growing caution about broader markets rather than a change in his view of Hyperliquid. He pointed to rising energy prices tied to the Iran conflict, several high-profile AI IPOs expected in the coming months and his belief that financial markets could peak between now and September.
“Time to take profit,” he wrote.
The abrupt exit caused backlash in crypto circles because Hayes had been among Hyperliquid’s most vocal supporters. Just days earlier, he reiterated a $150 price target for HYPE and, in a March essay, laid out a roadmap for how the token could reach that level.
Arthur Cheong, founder of crypto investment firm DeFiance Capital, described the move as “the epitome of a guy that over-trades his position” in an X post.
Others questioned why investors continue to treat Hayes’ market calls as actionable signals.
Crypto trader TraderSZ, who has more than 683,000 followers on X, noted that Hayes had recently argued HYPE could be among the year’s best-performing assets before announcing the sale.
One of crypto’s biggest winners
Hyperliquid and its token, HYPE, have been standout performers over the past few weeks as the broader crypto market remained under pressure.
As bitcoin fell back to near its 2026 lows at $60,000, HYPE notched fresh all-time highs and remains up 166% year-to-date even with Thursday’s decline.
The project operates a blockchain-based onchain perpetual futures exchange, allowing users to trade cryptocurrencies and other assets through a transparent order book rather than relying on a centralized venue.
The platform has rapidly gained market share, clearing around $40 billion in weekly perp volume and $1 billion in spot assets, and has emerged as one of the closely monitored venues for weekend commodity prices and pre-IPO stocks.
HYPE rally got overheated
But the 100% gain in a month put the move overextended from the project’s fundamentals, noted Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research.
In a report earlier this week, Thieled said Hyperliquid remained “one of the most impressive businesses in crypto,” citing its roughly 77% gross margins, fully onchain trading infrastructure and token buyback program funded by protocol revenue.
At recent highs near $75, HYPE traded at roughly 25 times projected fee revenue, near the richest levels seen over the past year, according to Thielen. Meanwhile, protocol revenue remains well below its peak, and a large token unlock scheduled for June could introduce additional selling pressure.
“We have been vocal HYPE bulls,” Thielen wrote. “But at current prices, the risk-reward has shifted.”
The long-term bull case is still compelling, he said. If trading activity recovers toward previous highs and new products attract more users, HYPE could eventually justify significantly higher prices.