Analysis: HYPE has broken through $50 for the first time in eight months, driven by a combination of short squeeze and ETF capital inflow

According to a post by Santiment on social media, a large number of traders have bet on the decline of HYPE in the past few days, and significant negative spikes in funding rate data have appeared across trading platforms. However, the price of HYPE continues to rise, forming a classic short squeeze that forces bearish traders to automatically buy back their positions, further driving up the price. Currently, the total value of HYPE's open contracts remains at a very high level of over $1.92 billion.

Although the market generally believes that liquidations will lead to the collapse of open contracts, HYPE remains one of the hottest assets in the crypto market, with new traders continuously entering, keeping the open contracts at a high level.

The main catalyst for this round of increase is the growing enthusiasm for Hyperliquid-related ETF products. In May 2026, companies like Bitwise and 21Shares launched HYPE-linked ETFs, providing traditional investors with a channel to gain exposure to the asset without the need to directly use crypto wallets or decentralized exchanges. Market analysis suggests that the launch of these ETFs marks Hyperliquid's transition from a niche DeFi platform to an institutionally recognized crypto ecosystem.