Hyperliquid launched pre-market trading for Plasma’s XPL token, which is now trading at approximately $0.40, implying a fully diluted valuation of $4 billion.
This is 8x its initial public sale valuation of $500 million, where 10% of the 1 billion XPL token supply was sold at $0.05 per token in July 2025. Hyperliquid’s “hyperps” contracts allow up to 3x leveraged positions, contributing to high volatility and trading volume of $49 million with $33 million in open interest shortly after listing.
Pre-launch markets are inherently volatile due to low liquidity and speculative fervor. Hyperliquid’s XPL-USD hyperps saw $49 million in trading volume and $33 million in open interest shortly after listing, indicating strong market activity but also potential for sharp price swings.
The pre-launch market, backed by Hyperliquid and Binance, amplifies Plasma’s exposure. The $373 million token sale and Binance’s $250 million USDT yield program (filled in an hour) highlight strong institutional and retail interest, potentially driving adoption of Plasma’s stablecoin-focused blockchain.
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Plasma’s fee-free USDT transfers and Bitcoin-anchored security position it as a competitive Layer-1 for stablecoin transactions. Pre-market trading success could accelerate institutional adoption, with 40% of XPL’s supply allocated to strategic growth initiatives like DeFi incentives and exchange integrations.
Market makers like Wintermute and Flow Traders are reportedly providing liquidity for XPL, which could stabilize trading but also lead to short-term arbitrage-driven volatility, with potential 20–35% price swings in the first 30–60 days post-launch. Hyperliquid’s decentralized order book and absence of clearance fees on liquidations enhance transparency and fairness.
The 3x leverage on XPL hyperps amplifies both gains and losses. A trader with a $175,000 unrealized profit on a leveraged long position demonstrates the upside, but liquidations are a significant risk if the market turns. The XPL public sale required accredited investor status for U.S. participants, with tokens locked for 12 months.
Hyperliquid’s hyperps, which use a moving average of their own mark price for funding rates instead of external oracles, reduce manipulation risks and set a precedent for innovative pre-launch derivatives. This could influence other DeFi platforms to adopt similar mechanisms.
Hyperliquid’s low-fee, on-chain order book model, combined with Plasma’s stablecoin focus, challenges centralized exchanges (CEXs) like Binance, potentially shifting market share to DeFi platforms.
How Leverage Positions Work in XPL Hyperps
Hyperps are Hyperliquid-specific perpetual contracts that don’t rely on external spot or index oracle prices. Instead, funding rates are calculated based on a moving average of the contract’s own mark price, reducing manipulation risks. Traders can take up to 3x leverage, meaning a $1,000 deposit can control a $3,000 position.
This amplifies potential profits or losses based on price movements. For example, a 10% price increase on a 3x leveraged long position yields a 30% gain (minus fees and funding costs). Paid every eight hours, funding rates balance long and short positions. If longs dominate (as seen with XPL’s 1,200% APY funding), they pay shorts, incentivizing contrarian positions.
Traders must maintain sufficient collateral (margin) to support their leveraged positions. The maintenance margin for XPL hyperps, with 3x max leverage, is 16.7% of the position value (half the initial margin). If a trader’s account equity falls below the maintenance margin due to adverse price movements.
Hyperliquid attempts to close the position via market orders on the order book. If unsuccessful and equity drops below two-thirds of the maintenance margin, a backstop liquidation occurs through the community-owned HLP vault, with profits going to the community rather than the exchange.
Liquidations use a mark price combining external CEX prices and Hyperliquid’s book state, ensuring robustness. Traders can monitor estimated liquidation prices, though these may vary due to funding payments or cross-margin interactions. Hyperliquid recommends using isolated margin for high-risk hyperps like XPL to limit losses to the allocated collateral.
A trader deposits $1,000 and opens a 3x leveraged long position on XPL at $0.40, controlling $3,000 worth of XPL. If XPL rises to $0.48 (20% increase), the position’s value increases to $3,600, yielding a $600 profit (60% return on the $1,000 deposit, minus funding costs).
Conversely, a 20% drop to $0.32 reduces the position to $2,400, incurring a $600 loss, potentially triggering liquidation if collateral is insufficient. The 8x valuation surge reflects hype around Plasma’s stablecoin-focused blockchain, but technical indicators like Bollinger Band breaks suggest potential corrections.
The market’s success enhances Plasma’s visibility and adoption, potentially reshaping the stablecoin and DeFi landscape. Traders must manage leverage carefully, using isolated margin and stop-losses to mitigate liquidation risks, while long-term investors may focus on Plasma’s fundamentals and strategic growth initiatives.