Hyperliquid Breakthrough Driven by RWA Futures Wave, Oil Trading Volume Surpasses $1 Billion USD

Hyperliquid (HYPE) price increased about 3% at the time of writing on Friday, extending the 6% recovery from the previous session, bringing the weekly gain to nearly 20%. The main driver is the rising demand for Real-World Asset (RWA) futures contracts on this Perp DEX platform, causing open interest (OI) on the platform to surge to $1.3 billion.

Hyperliquid’s upward momentum is likely to continue as demand for 24/7 trading platforms with institutional-grade standards grows. The geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are significantly impacting the energy markets, especially oil prices, further boosting investor interest in derivatives and trading platforms like Hyperliquid.

Expansion of Hyperliquid adoption driven by oil price volatility

Despite efforts by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to cool oil price increases, escalating tensions in the Middle East continue to pressure the market as supply through the Strait of Hormuz remains restricted. Amidst volatile crude oil prices, trading activity has surged, attracting both retail and institutional investors to Hyperliquid — a decentralized trading platform operating 24/7.

Seizing this trend, Hyperliquid has expanded into Real-World Asset (RWA) futures contracts through Hyperliquid-3 Proposal (HIP-3), allowing users to deploy perpetual contracts with margin requirements up to 1 million HYPE tokens.

Notably, the open interest (OI) of HIP-3 — a measure of the notional value of open contracts, mainly linked to RWA assets — hit $1.33 billion on Friday. The sharp OI increases toward the weekend indicate that trading flows are shifting to Hyperliquid as traditional markets close.

Daily HIP-3 open trading volume data | Source: Hyperscreener Additionally, crude oil trading volume on this DEX exploded to $1.17 billion within 24 hours, reinforcing the view that current trading activity is primarily driven by oil market volatility.

HIP-3 market data | Source: Hyperscreener Alongside rising demand, Hyperliquid continues to establish itself as one of the top revenue-generating protocols in DeFi (excluding stablecoins), recording $54.39 million in revenue over the past 30 days — surpassing Pump.fun and the Tron ecosystem.

Revenue-based protocols | Source: DeFiLlama

Technical outlook: Can Hyperliquid break above $40?

Hyperliquid maintained its bullish momentum on Friday after closing firmly above the resistance level of $35.47 — a price that has repeatedly hindered market recovery efforts since November. Breaking through this key resistance has shifted the short-term trend to a clear bullish stance. HYPE’s upward move is supported as the price moves away from the 50, 100, and 200-day exponential moving averages (EMA), all trending upward, with the potential for a golden cross in the near future.

On the upside, the psychological resistance at $40 is the nearest hurdle for bulls. If HYPE can close above this level sustainably, the rally could extend to $48.91 — the previous market ceiling in October.

Daily HYPE/USDT chart | Source: TradingView Technical indicators continue to support a positive outlook. MACD remains above the signal line, with the histogram expanding, indicating buying momentum. Meanwhile, RSI at 67, nearing overbought territory, still reflects strong market growth.

On the downside, the support level at $35.47, now converted from resistance, is the closest support zone. Below that, the 200-day EMA at $32.06 could serve as an important cushion. If selling pressure increases, the 100-day EMA around $30.83 will be the next support level to watch.