Hyperliquid Price Prediction: Team Hands 3.75 Million HYPE to a Single Large Investor

Hyperliquid (HYPE) traded at around $88.26 late on Friday evening, October 2, 2026 (according to CoinGecko). That is a good 10 percent below the record high of $97.96 set on September 23. Into this situation comes news that unsettled many holders at first: the team behind Hyperliquid is unstaking 3.75 million HYPE in order to sell them. For the Hyperliquid price prediction, what counts is how that sale is executed, because that decides whether it reaches the market price at all.

What is known about the sale

Hyperliquid Labs has unstaked 3.75 million HYPE, worth around $329 million at the price when the move was announced. Co-founder iliensinc explained in the project's Discord that the tokens are covered by an over-the-counter agreement with a single institutional buyer and will not be sold on the open market, FinanceFeeds reports. Unstaking takes seven days, so the tokens become available around October 7.

Against a circulating supply of around 222 million HYPE (CoinGecko), the package amounts to roughly 1.7 percent of the freely tradable tokens. Who the buyer is, what price they pay and whether they have to hold the tokens for a period has not been published. That is the open flank: a large buyer free to resell at once acts differently from one bound by a lock-up.

Hyperliquid price prediction: the levels on the chart

Measured over a year, HYPE is one of the strongest large assets, with a gain of around 75 percent over twelve months (CoinGecko). The price sits above its 50-day average (around $82) and well above its 200-day average (around $63), both calculated from CoinMarketCap daily closing prices.

Just under $98 is the level on the upside, the record high of September 23. On a closing basis the highest value was $97.20 on September 22. HYPE has not reached a new peak since.

Around $86 is the first level on the downside. HYPE closed there on September 29, and that was also the daily low in the 24 hours to Friday evening ($86.16). If that zone holds, the setback since the record is a breather.

Around $82 and $77 are the levels below it. The 50-day average runs at $82, and the lows of September 13 and 15, from which the climb to the record started, sat around $77.

Why an over-the-counter sale works differently

A sale through an exchange meets the order book and pushes the price down as long as there are not enough buyers. An over-the-counter deal runs between two parties, and the price is agreed beforehand. For the market price that is neutral at first, because no token passes through the market. It can even lend support when a large investor buys close to the market price and shows in doing so that he believes in the value. It becomes a burden only if the buyer resells quickly.

The unlocks in October

The sale falls in a month in which further HYPE becomes free. For early October, data providers name an unlock worth around $856 million, U.Today reported on September 30. How many of those tokens can really come to market is disputed. The published figures diverge widely, and we have worked through the reasons in our count of the HYPE holdings.

One fixed mechanism works against the additional supply: Hyperliquid continuously buys back HYPE with a share of its trading fees. The more that is traded on the platform, the larger that counterweight. Anyone who wants to use Hyperliquid should know the rules for users in the EU, since the platform holds no MiCA authorisation; alternatives are set out in our comparison of perp DEXs.

Hyperliquid: How to proceed now

First: keep an eye on October 7. By then the 3.75 million HYPE have left staking, and the blockchain shows whether they move to an exchange or stay where they are. Second: watch the zone around $86, since a closing price below it would open the path to the 50-day average at $82. Third: match the position size to the swings, because there are around 12 percent between the record and that zone.

Whether an entry at the current price is worthwhile is assessed by our analysis Is Hyperliquid a Good Buy at Current Prices?. Crypto assets swing sharply and a total loss is possible. This article places news and price levels in context.

(As of October 2, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)