Hyperliquid (HYPE) Falls 5% – Could Whales Trigger Even Bigger Sell-off?

Unlike major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Ripple (XRP), HYPE – the native token of the popular decentralized exchange – has had a fairly successful year, rising over 100% during this period.

Earlier this month, it hit a new all-time high of nearly $100, but the bears stepped in and the asset is now worth around $90 (per CoinGecko). At the same time, recent whale activity suggests another correction may be underway.

Dumping HYPE

According to analytics platform Lookonchain, some large investors have started to dump their HYPE bags. One of them, known as 0xc745, deposited over $16 million worth of cryptocurrency into OKX and Bybit. It is not guaranteed that this market participant has sold its position, but such transfers are often interpreted as a preliminary step to this action.

Lookonchain too revealed that a wallet linked to Hypersphere Ventures sold 62,869 HYPE (worth approximately $5.78 million) purchased a month ago, making a profit of $2.13 million. Earlier this month, another whale filed nearly $50 million in cryptocurrency for Kraken.

For his part, X has recently had BSCN disclosed that Multicoin has sent 4.23 million HYPE worth nearly $300 million to Coinbase since the end of July.

“Presumably the transfers were made with the intention of selling, although this is not confirmed,” the team explained.

This activity is widely considered bearish for the price for two main reasons. First, offloading increases the amount of HYPE coins available on the market, which, combined with non-increasing demand, should lead to lower prices.

Second, whales are considered experienced investors who rarely rely on instinct and instead make decisions based on information that most market participants do not have. That said, their massive sell-off could trigger industry-wide panic and prompt smaller players to cash in as well.

User X Sjuul | AltCryptoGems note The decline in HYPE from its all-time high, suggesting that a further fall to the mid-70s is a plausible scenario. At the same time, he sees this as “a good opportunity to go long,” arguing that the asset remains one of the strongest coins and a “must-have” in any crypto portfolio.

The bullish element

In contrast to whale activity, recent HYPE exchange netflow suggests the price could be preparing for further upside.

Over the past few days, outflows have far outpaced inflows, meaning investors have abandoned centralized platforms in favor of self-custody solutions. This, in turn, reduces immediate selling pressure and could pave the way for future upside.