HYPE Rockets 70% YTD as SpaceX Pre-IPO Lands on Hyperliquid

HYPE is up 70% year-to-date, climbing from $24.17 on January 1 to trade at $45.17 at press time. The rally has outperformed leading digital assets — Bitcoin is down 13%, Ethereum down 30%, and Solana down 33% since the year began.

The outperformance traces back to Hyperliquid’s emergence as the default 24/7 venue for tokenized real-world assets at the peak of the Iran–Israel–USA conflict in Q1. 

The recent launch of SPCX-USDC — a synthetic pre-IPO perpetual contract tracking SpaceX’s implied valuation — on Trade.xyz has added fresh fuel to the rally.

HYPE has rallied 7%over the past 24 hours, making it the top major gainer of the day.

SpaceX Pre-IPO Lands on Hyperliquid

Elon Musk-led SpaceX is gearing up for what’s expected to be a historic public market debut. The space company confidentially filed an IPO with the SEC on April 1 and plans to disclose its prospectus this week.

Ahead of the listing, traders already have a way to take exposure on-chain. Trade.xyz, building on Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 framework, launched SPCX-USDC early Monday. 

The contract launched with a reference price of $150 and an initial market cap of $1.78 trillion, based on SpaceX’s reported fully diluted share count of 11.87 billion. 

On the hourly chart, SPCX peaked at an intraday high of $230 before pulling back to trade near $210 at press time.  This puts it 40% above its launch reference, and signals strong demand for pre-IPO exposure to the asset. 

HYPE Smart Buyers Hold the Edge

HYPE has been a major beneficiary of the SPCX launch and its strong post-listing performance. The token is up nearly 10% over the past 24 hours, with trading volume climbing 80% in the same window. 

For context, HYPE briefly touched a seven-month high of $47 in early Asian hours today before pulling back under the $45 zone.

While this pullback is a sign of supply overhang at the key price level, the token’s technical setup suggests a likely breach of that level.

On the daily chart, HYPE’s Smart Money Index (SMI), which has climbed steadily since March alongside price. As of this writing, it stands at 29.98.

Smart money refers to capital controlled by institutional investors or experienced traders who understand market trends and timing more deeply. 

The SMI tracks the behavior of these investors by analyzing intraday price movements.  Specifically, it measures selling in the morning (when retail traders dominate) versus buying in the afternoon (when institutions are more active). 

A rising SMI indicates late-session buying consistently outpacing morning selling, a signal that informed holders are accumulating HYPE rather than distributing it. 

HYPE Price Clears Ichimoku Cloud

Moreover, HYPE’s steady uptrend has pushed its price well above the Ichimoku Cloud. At press time, the altcoin trades above the Leading Spans A and B of this key indicator, which currently form dynamic support levels at $42.74. and $40.88, respectively.

The Ichimoku Cloud tracks an asset’s market momentum and identifies potential support/resistance levels. When it trades above this cloud, the market is in an uptrend.

In this scenario, the cloud acts as a dynamic support zone, strengthening the likelihood of continued upward movement as long as the price remains above it. 

This means that as long as HYPE’s price holds above $42.74. and $40.88, the bullish structure remains intact, and any pullback toward the cloud would more likely attract buyers. 

Derivatives Traders Pile Into Longs

HYPE’s spot rally is being matched by aggressive positioning in the derivatives market. According to Coinglass, open interest in HYPE futures has climbed 27% since May 12, rising from $1.58 billion to $2.01 billion over the past seven days. 

Open interest measures the total notional value of outstanding futures contracts that have not been closed or settled. 

When it rises alongside price, new capital enters the market, and traders open fresh long positions rather than close existing shorts. This shows that HYPE’s recent rally is being driven by genuine accumulation.

HYPE’s long/short ratio adds further confirmation. Taker buy/sell volume flipped bullish on May 18, with the ratio climbing above 1.04 after spending most of the previous two weeks in negative territory. 

This flip suggests buyers have taken control, and the surge in open interest indicates that this control is being expressed through new long positions rather than short covering.

HYPE Price Prediction

HYPE is trading at $45.17 after being rejected from an intraday high of $47.01. If buy-side pressure intensifies, the token could attempt to push back above the $45.62 resistance.

A daily close above this zone would confirm the breakout and could trigger a revisit to the seven-month high of $47.01. 

On the downside, failure to break past $45.62 with conviction could see HYPE fall towards support at $44.51.

If profit-taking spikes at this level, the bears could pull prices lower to $39.90.

About the Author

Abiodun Oladokun

Abiodun Oladokun is a Research Analyst at CCN, where he covers cryptocurrency markets with a focus on on-chain analysis, technical assessments, and emerging trends across decentralized finance (DeFi), real-world assets (RWA), artificial intelligence (AI), decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), Layer 2s, and meme coins.

Prior to CCN, he served as a Senior On-Chain Analyst at BeInCrypto, producing market reports spanning diverse crypto sectors.

Before that, he conducted technical analysis and market assessments of various altcoins at AMBCrypto, where he also contributed long-form quarterly research papers on DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, and scaling architectures, leveraging on-chain platforms including Messari, Santiment, DefiLlama, and Dune Analytics.

He began his crypto career as a research analyst at SixthSense DAO, developing blockchain forensic tools to trace the history of stolen assets.

Abiodun is a lawyer called to the Nigerian Bar and the founder of Ilé Ijó, a Lagos-based electronic dance music collective.

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