Datawallet

Hyperliquid

Papertrade

<p><a href="https://x.com/papertrade_xyz" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@papertrade_xyz</a>, a new perpetuals exchange built on <a href="https://x.com/HyperliquidX" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@HyperliquidX</a>, has generated $8.5 million in protocol fees over the past week, according to the figures circulating on-chain. The platform launched only days ago on October 10 and has now accumulated $64.3 million in total fees. On that measure it is ahead of established DeFi names such as <a href="https://x.com/Aave" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@Aave</a> and <a href="https://x.com/morpho" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@morpho</a> for fee generation over the period.</p>
<h2 id="how-papertrade-works">How Papertrade works</h2>
<p>Papertrade is not a conventional order-book exchange. <a href="https://www.datawallet.com/crypto/papertrade-explained" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Datawallet reports</a> that the exchange has neither an order book nor a price oracle of its own, and that entries and exits use the midpoint of the best bid and offer on Hyperliquid's order book. Trades execute at that price without slippage and there is no funding rate.</p>
<p>Users do not trade against each other. According to <a href="https://hyperliquidguide.com/ecosystem/papertrade-hyperevm-synthetic-perps" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Hyperliquid Guide</a>, Papertrade fills traders at the Hyperliquid midpoint but settles against its own pool. The same source says the protocol went live on HyperEVM at 14:00 UTC on October 10, 2026, offering BTC and ETH perps with up to 1000x leverage.</p>
<h2 id="where-the-fees-come-from">Where the fees come from</h2>
<p>Despite the zero-fee marketing, the protocol does earn revenue. Losing trades pay nothing beyond the loss itself, while for winners an impact haircut first reduces the raw gain. <a href="https://www.datawallet.com/crypto/papertrade-explained" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Datawallet</a> says a 2% fee then applies to the remaining profit, split equally between PAPER stakers and the developers. <a href="https://www.btcc.com/en-CA/academy/crypto-platform/what-is-papertrade" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BTCC's guide</a> adds that PAPER is minted based on users' realized trading losses, with no pre-mine.</p>
<p>The model carries notable risks. Datawallet says one wallet took roughly $1.28 million on launch day by nudging Hyperliquid's ETH price, that no audit report has been published, and that a 2-of-3 team multisig can pause markets and change fees. Because pricing depends on a single venue, a single resting order can move the midpoint Papertrade uses.</p>
<p>For context, Hyperliquid's own perps business generated $19.93 million in fees over seven days, according to <a href="https://defillama.com/protocol/hyperliquid-perps" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">DefiLlama</a>. Papertrade's reported weekly figure would therefore be significant relative to the exchange whose prices it relies on, though the two measure different things and DefiLlama's methodology should be checked before comparing them directly.</p>
<p>Fee totals for new protocols can shift quickly as early trading activity fades, and fees paid by users on a pool-based model are not equivalent to net profit for the protocol. Readers should verify current figures on a dashboard such as DefiLlama before drawing conclusions.</p>
<p><strong>Sources:</strong></p>
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://www.datawallet.com/crypto/papertrade-explained" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Datawallet: Papertrade Explained</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://hyperliquidguide.com/ecosystem/papertrade-hyperevm-synthetic-perps" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Hyperliquid Guide: papertrade on HyperEVM</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://defillama.com/protocol/hyperliquid-perps" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">DefiLlama: Hyperliquid Perps Fees, Revenue &amp; Volume</a></li>
</ul>

This brand-new perps DEX has made $8.5 MILLION this week.

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