Hyperliquid price is facing rising pressure as a major token unlock collides with a weakening multi-month downtrend.
Summary
- HYPE trades near $35 after weeks of declining volume and fading derivatives activity.
- A $351M cliff unlock for insiders arrives as the token sits inside a vulnerable descending channel.
- Key support at $33–35 is weakening, raising the risk of a slide toward the $28–30 zone.
Hyperliquid traded at $35.24 at press time, down 1.7% over the past day and extending a slide that has pulled the token 27% down over the past month. It now sits 41% below its September peak of $59.
Spot volume fell 36% to $271 million in the past 24 hours, while derivatives activity on CoinGlass showed a similar tone. Hyperliquid (HYPE) futures volume slipped to $1.12 billion, down nearly 30%, and open interest eased to $1.43 billion, down 5%.
The drop in both metrics points to traders reducing exposure rather than building new positions, a sign the market is cautious heading into tomorrow’s major supply event.
A heavy unlock that dwarfs HYPE buybacks
According to Tokenomist data, 9.92 million HYPE, worth roughly $351.5 million, will unlock on Nov. 29. These tokens, which make up 2.66% of the circulating supply, belong to early insiders and core contributors whose allocations were locked for a year during the Token Generation Event in November 2024.
Hyperliquid itself recently unstaked 2.6 million tokens, a move many traders see as preparation for potential liquidity needs around the event, though the team has not confirmed any intention. Only 37% of the total supply has been unlocked so far.
The unlock is a one-time cliff event, and the influx’s size outweighs the platform’s daily buybacks. Hyperliquid’s Assistance Fund has been one of the most active buyers of its own token this year, using trading fees to repurchase over $600 million worth of HYPE.
Daily buybacks have reached $2-$5 million, which helps support prices in normal conditions, but the scale of tomorrow’s release is several magnitudes larger. The short-term imbalance could create pressure even with the AF’s aggressive program.
Hyperliquid price technical analysis
The chart shows price drifting inside a descending channel that has been in place since August. Each rally has topped out below the previous one, forming a clear series of lower highs. Lows are sliding in the same fashion, creating a controlled downtrend rather than a collapse.
The upper boundary of the channel continues to cap every attempt at recovery, while the lower band shows diminishing demand with each test.
Price is now hovering near a mid-channel support area around $33–35, a level that has repeatedly absorbed selling but is weakening with every pass. A daily close beneath it would leave the lower channel region near $28–30 as the next possible landing zone.
Momentum tells a similar story. The relative strength index has been stuck under the midpoint for most of the past three months and is forming its own set of lower highs. Each push towards neutral territory has quickly faded, and recent rebounds have been shallow.
The bullish case rests on the lower channel holding and the unlock being absorbed more smoothly than expected, which could give traders room to attempt a recovery toward the upper band. In a bearish scenario, a soft market meets a large supply injection, breaks the $33–35 shelf, and drifts into the $28–30 zone before any real base forms.
