Perpetual futuresโderivatives with no expiry dateโhave long been one of crypto's killer products, but until recently, they were only available for crypto assets like BTC and ETH. Hyperliquid's Improvement Proposal 3 (HIP-3) changed that (see our detailed report Hyperliquid Breaks the Mold). Launched in October 2025, the network update enabled permissionless deployment of perpetual futures markets on Hyperliquid's infrastructure, immediately opening the door to equities, commodities, indices, and pre-IPO stocksโall tradeable 24/7, settled in stablecoins, on a fully onchain order book. In March 2026, the first S&P 500 perpetual product ever created landed on Hyperliquid, when S&P Dow Jones Indices licensed the index to an HIP-3 deployer.1
The traction has been remarkable. HIP-3 markets hit peak open interest of $3.2 billion in June 2026, with roughly $200 billion in cumulative volume since inception.2
Remarkably, none of these markets are run by Hyperliquid itself. HIP-3 is a permissionless framework: Any qualified builder can deploy their own perpetual decentralized exchange (DEX) on Hyperliquid's infrastructure. This Hyperliquid platform is less like a stock exchange and more like Amazon Web Servicesโopen infrastructure that lets builders create the products, with the HYPE token capturing value from every trade it hosts.
Key Takeaway: Hyperliquidโs HIP-3 brought commodities, indices, and pre-IPO stocks to the platform. The HYPE token captures value from every trade across these markets.
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