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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 is a layer one with the order book built in: books, margin and matching run fully on chain in one consensus order, 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 consensus batch 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, which the docs say is burned.
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 deployer stakes 200k HYPE against a dollar 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
You are reading v1.0.1-beta, an older version of HyperBooks.Read the latest version, v1.0.6-beta

Common misconceptions

Foundation

Twelve common claims about Hyperliquid that the official docs or on-chain measurement contradict, each with what is true and where it is explained.

Hyperliquid moves faster than its documentation, so some official pages are out of date. Each heading below is a claim you may meet; the paragraph under it says what is true and where it is explained.

“Hyperliquid is an L2 or a rollup”

Section titled ““Hyperliquid is an L2 or a rollup””

True: it is a layer one blockchain, ordered and finalised by its own consensus, HyperBFT, run by validators staking HYPE. The Arbitrum USDC bridge is, per the docs, legacy and deprecated: validators handle its withdrawals, it holds under 10 per cent of HyperCore USDC, and USDC is minted natively through Circle’s CCTP (why its own chain).

“The HyperEVM is a separate chain”

Section titled ““The HyperEVM is a separate chain””

True: the docs say plainly it is not; HyperCore and the HyperEVM share HyperBFT and one state. Wallets list the HyperEVM as its own network (chain id 999) and assets cross through a system address, which looks like a bridge. Some exchanges accept HYPE from HyperCore but not from the HyperEVM (two environments).

“One HyperEVM transaction can trade on HyperCore atomically”

Section titled ““One HyperEVM transaction can trade on HyperCore atomically””

True: CoreWriter only emits a log. HyperCore acts after the EVM block is built, when precompile reads are already stale, and cannot undo the EVM transaction (one transaction).

“A CoreWriter action that did nothing would have reverted”

Section titled ““A CoreWriter action that did nothing would have reverted””

True: CoreWriter never reverts. A refused action leaves status 1, gas spent, a log emitted and funds unmoved; observed refusals include “Invalid number of decimals” and “Insufficient USDC or HYPE balance for token transfer gas”. Only HyperCore state afterwards tells you (footguns).

“Orders sent from the HyperEVM wait several seconds”

Section titled ““Orders sent from the HyperEVM wait several seconds””

True: only vault transfers wait. On mainnet 52 orders landed 0.35 to 0.51 s after their EVM block, while vault transfers waited 4.05 to 4.10 s. The official docs still list orders as delayed a few seconds too (timing).

“The HyperEVM cannot write to HyperCore on mainnet yet”

Section titled ““The HyperEVM cannot write to HyperCore on mainnet yet””

True: it can, and does. CoreWriter is live on mainnet: one measurement found 5,455 CoreWriter actions in 73,914 mainnet blocks, including filled orders. Only the official HyperEVM overview still says write system contracts are not live on mainnet (checked 2026-11-03) (chain vs docs).

“Outcome markets are free to trade”

Section titled ““Outcome markets are free to trade””

True: outcome trades pay fees when closing or settling, never when opening, at spot rates scaled by the deployer’s fee scale, with no maker rebates. Across 7,256 mainnet fills every buy was billed 0 and every sell charged, as the official fees page says. Only the HIP-4 page still calls outcome fees zero (fees).

“HIP-4 is testnet only”

Section titled ““HIP-4 is testnet only””

True: HIP-4 runs on mainnet, permissionless deployment included. It started with a protocol-run daily BTC market on 2026-05-02. Since 2026-08-29, deployers have built markets from validator-approved templates (18 templates on 2026-09-14, 28 on 2026-11-03). On 2026-11-03, 4 deployer venues listed 316 outcomes. The official HIP-4 deployer actions page still carries a “Testnet-only” label, which is out of date (HIP-4).

“HIP-3 means anyone can list a perp at no cost”

Section titled ““HIP-3 means anyone can list a perp at no cost””

True: a perp dex needs 500,000 HYPE staked for at least 183 days, slashable by validator vote (up to 100 per cent for the worst cases) and burned if slashed. One mainnet address had deployed two dexes on 2026-11-03, although the docs say one per deployer; its first 3 assets skip the Dutch auction that later ones go through. HIP-4 outcome deployers pay no deploy gas but need the same 500,000 HYPE (deployer economics).

“All volume dashboards measure the same thing”

Section titled ““All volume dashboards measure the same thing””

True: each match writes two fill rows, and trackers sum both, halve the sum, count each trade once or count only fee-paying fills. On one outcome archive, halving gave about $29.27M and counting trades once about $46M (measuring Hyperliquid).

“Open interest from the API is in dollars”

Section titled ““Open interest from the API is in dollars””

True: openInterest is in base units (coins or contracts); multiply by the mark price (open interest).

“There is a HIP-5”

Section titled ““There is a HIP-5””

True: the official HIP list ends at HIP-4; social media mentions of a HIP-5 are speculation (what a HIP is).

For every measured contradiction, see Where the chain and the docs disagree. For the names these claims get wrong, see Naming and style guide.