Research shared by Delphi Digital on Feb 23 shows that Hyperliquid is slowly evolving beyond its original role as a decentralized perpetuals trading platform. The network first gained attention by offering liquid markets for crypto derivatives, but recent activity signals a wider ambition.
Trading demand is now spreading into assets outside digital currencies. Data shows capital moving toward commodities and traditional finance instruments. Late December saw traditional finance assets making up about five percent of total platform volume.
By mid-February, that share climbed close to 18%, largely driven by commodity trading. Silver became the surprise leader in this shift. Market behavior on the platform shows unusual concentration.
While global bullion markets usually trade gold more than silver, Hyperliquid recorded roughly three-quarters of commodity volume coming from silver.
Trading turnover for silver reached over nine billion dollars during a two-week period in late January. During the same window, gold generated about $2.7 billion, which was far below silver’s activity. Indices and equity token markets together also trailed silver trading.
The platform is also attracting larger position sizes. Rising contract size suggests more confident or institutional-style participants are entering. Instead of traders simply spreading small bets across many assets, capital appears to be rotating into selected traditional markets.
Hyperliquid Enables Community Asset Listings Through HIP-3
The earlier HIP-3 upgrade, launched in 2025, allowed community-driven asset listings. Traders can introduce new perpetual contracts by staking HYPE tokens. This removed centralized listing bottlenecks and opened liquidity for niche assets.
Some privacy-focused tokens showed strong adoption. Assets such as ZEC maintained daily volume above sixty million dollars on average. Many smaller altcoins that struggled to find centralized exchange liquidity also gained trading activity through the network.
This approach supports what developers call the long tail market model. Instead of focusing only on top cryptocurrencies, the venue allows hundreds of specialized instruments to coexist.
HIP-4 Pushes Prime Brokerage Style Trading
The upcoming HIP-4 design introduces prediction markets into the same trading environment. The idea is simple: all positions share one collateral pool. Under this system, traders can hold different contract types using a single margin account.
Binary outcome bets, range-based positions, and capped payoff options are all settled through unified risk logic. Maximum potential loss must be posted upfront, meaning leverage and liquidation risk are largely removed.
The vision resembles a prime brokerage structure where spot assets, derivatives, and outcome markets sit inside one portfolio balance. Portfolio margin testing is currently in early stages, and no mainnet launch date has been announced.
Developers emphasize that the infrastructure is already built to support expansion. Instead of launching separate exchanges for new asset classes, the network aims to plug new markets directly into existing rails.
Read More: Hyperliquid (HYPE) Signals Accumulation as Bulls Prepare for Potential Rally