In recent weeks, the discussion around Hyperliquid has clearly changed.
On the surface, it's a decline in market share, an increase in competitors, and a crowded derivatives space, leading to the natural question: has it already peaked?
Let's go back to the first phase.
From 2023 to mid-2025, Hyperliquid was almost the ruler of perpetual DEXs. Incentive rewards, new contract launches, pre-listing trading, strong UI/UX, low fees, and stability combined to 'force' liquidity to concentrate in one place, with market share once soaring to 80%. That was a phase with almost no competitors.
The turning point came after May 2025.
Hyperliquid proactively shifted from B2C to B2B, positioning itself as the 'AWS of liquidity'. It no longer pursued making all products itself, but instead handed over the infrastructure to developers, allowing others to build the frontend and market using HIP-3 and Builder Codes.
The problem is that this choice is not friendly in the short term.
Infrastructure takes time to be adopted, while competitors maintain vertical integration, launching products faster and with more aggressive incentives. Coupled with the 'employment-type liquidity' brought by the incentive season, trading volumes are naturally diverted, and market share quickly declines.
However, if you only look at market share, you might miss the real signal.
HIP-3 has already started to emerge in some atypical markets, such as perpetual stocks, stablecoin-exclusive terminals, and niche asset speculation. These are not aimed at short-term volume grabs, but rather at expanding 'what can be traded'.
The real key is the synergy effect.
Once the frontend connects to Hyperliquid, it can simultaneously distribute all HIP-3 markets, developers will be motivated to join, and liquidity will re-aggregate.
So this feels more like a rhythm switch.
In the short term, it looks like a tide receding, but in the long term, the structure is still converging towards centralization. Whether it succeeds depends on time, not on the market share curve of the next month. $HYPE
