HYPE fell, nearly $150 million in funds lined up to be withdrawn

Why did HYPE suffer from selling?

On Wednesday, Hyperliquid's HYPE token price fell about 7% to fall below the US$60 mark, as crypto funds queued to withdraw nearly US$150 million worth of tokens to pledge and unlock. The move put pressure on the market-although it is unclear how much of the unlocked supply will be sold, the scale of pending withdrawals is huge compared to spot liquidity. Data from hedge fund and analytics platform Block Liquidity shows that Multicoin Capital holds approximately US$138.78 million in pledged HYPE, of which approximately 83%(or approximately US$116 million) is pending withdrawal. In addition, a wallet associated with Multicoin deposited approximately 167,000 HYPEs (worth approximately $11.2 million) into Galaxy Digital's over-the-counter trading counter, which traders may interpret as a potential sell-off preparation. As of press time, HYPE had recovered some of its losses at $59.19, with 24-hour trading volume exceeding $415.4 million (Source: CoinGecko). The token still fell by about 11% in the past week. The size and timing of the withdrawal queue raise concerns because withdrawals take seven days to process and create a significant supply backlog even before the sale is confirmed.

Why is the withdrawal queue worth paying attention to?

The main problem lies not only in the size of the US dollar withdrawn, but also in the gap between the amount to be unlocked and the depth of the HYPE spot market. Although the average daily trading volume of HYPE perpetual contracts is approximately US$400 million, spot liquidity is much weaker. Data from hedge fund and analytics platform Block Liquidity shows that Multicoin Capital holds approximately US$138.78 million in pledged HYPE, of which approximately 83%(approximately US$116 million) is pending withdrawal. Selini Capital also withdrew approximately 504,000 HYPEs (worth approximately US$31 million), and Galaxy Digital was also listed as one of the institutions that unlocked HYPEs. That means the nearly $150 million withdrawal queue is almost double the volume of recent spot transactions recorded by trackers. Even if the entire amount is not sold, the market must absorb the possibility that the large amount of supply previously pledged may simultaneously become liquid. For traders, this creates short-term supply pressure. Buyers may wait for a clear signal-whether the fund will sell, reconfigure, use tokens for new deployments, or transfer them through over-the-counter trading desks. Selling orders, on the other hand, may try to take the lead before the July 28 unlock window to respond to potential selling pressure in advance.

Investors suggest

HYPE's decline was driven by supply uncertainty rather than confirmed liquidation. The market is responding to large-scale pending withdrawals because the queue size is relatively liquid compared to the spot, and even a partial sell-off can have a significant impact on price movements.

Is the fund ready to sell?

The answer is not clear. Selini Capital's withdrawal appears to be related to the closure of the HIP-3 CASH perpetual contract market operated by DreamCash. According to the HIP-3 rule, 500,000 HYPEs are required to be pledged as a forfeitable security deposit to launch the perpetual contract market deployed by the builder. The margin can be refunded when the market stops operating. DreamCash's USDT-based market has struggled to attract liquidity, especially as USDC becomes increasingly deeply embedded in the Hyperliquid ecosystem. Selini may decide to sell the returned HYPE through an over-the-counter trading counter, but the withdrawal can also be explained by a market closure rather than simply withdrawing from HYPE exposure. Multicoin's positions are more concerned because of their size. The company's pending withdrawals account for the majority of its current queue, and deposits from associated wallets with Coinbase have further exacerbated market concerns. However, managing partner Tushar Jain said on the X platform that the unlocked HYPE is not for sale. In addition, Multicoin recently led a US$1.75 million seed round of financing from Trasia, an Asia-focused, non-custodial trading platform that plans to launch perpetual contracts for Asian stocks. Jain said Trasia is targeting "new users" who are not familiar with Hyperliquid. The investment demonstrates Multicoin's broad interest in the Hyperliquid ecosystem, but does not confirm that the unlocked HYPE will be used for HIP-3 deployments.

What happens next for Hyperliquid?

The next key date is the unlock window on July 28, when the market will closely monitor wallet movements to determine whether there are signs of selling, off-site transfers, redeployment or re-pledge. Until then, HYPE may struggle to fully recover lost ground because traders are unlikely to ignore large-scale supply events in illiquid spot markets. The incident also reveals how Hyperliquid's token mechanism affects market structure. HYPE is not only a trading asset, it is also used in the ecosystem for security margins related to HIP-3 deployments. This makes it possible to appear bearish on the surface even if the reason for withdrawal is operational (such as closing markets or preparing for new markets). For investors, this distinction is crucial. A real fund exit will increase pressure on HYPE and may test spot liquidity. While redeploying tokens to the new HIP-3 market will bring short-term uncertainties, it may support the long-term ecological outlook if it brings new users, new products and transaction volume to Hyperliquid. Currently, the market regards this unlocking as a risk event. HYPE has rebounded from intraday lows but remains below recent highs, and the size of pending withdrawals means that price movements are likely to depend on whether unlocked coins flow into the market or return to the Hyperliquid ecosystem.