Hyperliquid Slides 4% on Unlocks and Wipeout

Hyperliquid's 4% slide over the past 24 hours is not a fresh shock but the continuation of a structural downtrend driven by token unlock overhang, a clear technical breakdown, and a leverage flush that liquidated $115 million on its own platform.

Hyperliquid Grinds Lower as Token Unlocks and a Leverage Wipeout Keep Buyers on the Sidelines

Technical Structure Turned Bearish After Support Broke

HYPE traded from approximately $29.32 to $28.02 over the 24-hour window, a decline of 4.31% that extends a brutal week that has seen the token shed roughly 20% of its value. The path was a controlled grind lower rather than a single crash candle, with price oscillating in the high $28 to low $29 zone throughout the session.

A detailed technical review notes that since October, HYPE has formed a sequence of lower highs and lower lows on the daily chart, with the most recent local low at $29.15 broken on December 9. That break re-confirmed the downtrend and defined $30.35 to $35.36 as a key supply zone where sellers dominate. The same analysis uses Fibonacci levels from $50.16 to $29.15 to project the next bearish target around $24.19, backed by negative Chaikin Money Flow indicating net capital outflows and a strong trend reading on the DMI.

A separate Cointelegraph price review confirms HYPE closed below support at $29.37 on Tuesday. While lower levels have attracted some buyers and the RSI is starting to show a possible bullish divergence, the article points out that bulls need to reclaim the 20-day EMA near $32.53 to flip momentum. The past 24 hours show HYPE trading just under that broken support area and sliding, fitting the pattern of rallies being sold rather than defended.

Token Unlocks and Fading Whale Interest Create Supply Overhang

A recurring monthly unlock of 10 million HYPE at the end of each month hangs over the market. The AMBCrypto analysis explicitly flags this schedule and notes that the long-term impact on selling pressure is not fully understood yet, leaving traders cautious. Even when HYPE attempts to bounce, the awareness that fresh supply is coming encourages profit-taking rather than accumulation.

A research piece on DEX tokens shows that from November 1 to December 5, whale activity in decentralized exchange tokens was heavily concentrated in HYPE. The token led with approximately $16.6 billion of large buy volume and several single transactions above $120 million, far exceeding competing DEX tokens. That buying helped HYPE bounce roughly 24% from $29.15 to $36.17 at the start of December. But the same research notes that November was the peak for big whale trades and that activity softened in early December. The strong smart-money bid that supported HYPE earlier is no longer intensifying, making it easier for price to slide once token unlock fears and macro de-risking appear.

A $115 Million Liquidation Event Hit Hyperliquid Directly

The broader crypto market has been in a short-term risk-off phase, with total market cap falling from about $3.16 trillion to $3.07 trillion over 24 hours (roughly 2.83%) and the Fear & Greed Index sitting at 29 ("Fear"). The Altcoin Season Index at 18 signals "Bitcoin Season," meaning capital is cautious and skewed toward BTC rather than chasing higher-beta names like HYPE.

More damaging for HYPE specifically, multiple reports describe a sharp leverage reset on December 11, with over $514 million in positions liquidated across the market in 24 hours. Longs accounted for approximately $376 million, nearly three times short liquidations. Hyperliquid, Binance, and Bybit together made up about 72% of all forced unwinds, with Hyperliquid itself seeing around $115.8 million liquidated and 83% of that from long positions. When your own exchange is at the center of a long-side wipeout, it hits sentiment for the associated token. Traders pull back from leverage, liquidity thins, and any remaining sell pressure from unlock concerns or technical levels has more impact on spot price.

Perp DEX Sector Underperformance Adds to the Narrative Drag

A Blockworks market note on perp DEX tokens says a "Perp Index" of derivatives DEX names lagged the broader market, dropping about 5.1% after a "spike and fade" pattern across dYdX, GMX, and HYPE. It adds that HYPE continues to struggle as new builder codes alter frontend user relationships and the market anticipates a TGE, complicating how fees and incentives are perceived by builders and users. That structural friction is not a one-day event, but it helps explain why even on days when BTC and ETFs see inflows, HYPE underperforms and remains stuck in a downtrend.

A Cryptonews sector piece noted that while BTC broke below $91,000 and most sectors dropped between 2% and 5%, HYPE briefly outperformed with a 2.95% gain at one intraday snapshot. That fits shorter-horizon technicals showing HYPE can still bounce on the hourly chart even as the daily trend points down. But the net 24-hour move still ends around negative 4%, showing those rally attempts are being sold into, exactly what happens when higher-timeframe structure is bearish and leverage is being reduced across the board.

A Textbook Downtrend Continuation, Not a New Shock

HYPE's past 24 hours are not about a hack, listing change, or governance crisis. They represent a fairly textbook continuation of a larger downtrend where token unlock overhang, fading whale accumulation, a loss of key support, sector underperformance, and a sizable leverage flush on Hyperliquid itself all encourage traders to fade bounces. The grind lower inside a bearish technical structure looks set to continue until something shifts the supply-demand equation.