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HYPE price remained under pressure on October 24 as BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes questioned Hyperliquid’s investment prospects.
Hayes argued that Ethereum (ETH) and Zcash (ZEC) could deliver stronger returns despite Hyperliquid’s established trading business. His comments came from an October 16 interview that attracted renewed attention on October 23.
The warning followed Hayes’ earlier bullish forecast and subsequent decision to sell his HYPE holdings.
HYPE Price Faces Arthur Hayes’ Shift From Bullish Forecast
Hayes does not expect HYPE to crash. His warning is about opportunity cost. In a recent clip, he called perp DEXs, Zcash and Hyperliquid some of crypto’s most crowded consensus trades.
The danger, Hayes said, “is not that you lose money per se on Hyperliquid, it’s that you severely underperform other assets.”
He added that he does not think “the risk return is there for a new unit of fiat to invest in Hyperliquid” when buyers could pick ETH, Zcash or another fresh narrative.
That framing matters for anyone holding Hyperliquid crypto today. A token can keep climbing and still lose out if other assets climb faster. Hayes said much the same in September, telling The Rollup that the same capital might earn more in Ethena.
HYPE is trading at $78.79, up 2.54% over the past 24 hours, after bouncing from a low near $76.15.
On the 1-hour chart, resistance sits at $79.00 to $79.50, then $80.00 to $80.50, with a bigger wall at $81.50 to $82.64. Support rests at $78.00 to $78.30 and deeper at $76.15 to $77.00.
RSI readings between 51 and 67 show improving buying pressure, and the MACD histogram has turned positive.
A strong move above $79.50 could carry the HYPE price toward $80.50 and then $81.50. A rejection at that level and a drop below $78 would put $77 and the $76.15 low back in play.
From a $150 HYPE Price Target to Selling: What Changed for Arthur Hayes?
Earlier this year, Hayes was one of HYPE’s loudest backers. In a March podcast, he discussed Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 markets, which allow users to trade assets such as oil over the weekend.
By spring, he was calling for HYPE to reach $150 by August 2026, and in May he named HYPE, NEAR and ZEC as his “holy trinity.”
Then he sold. In early June, Hayes said he had exited his full HYPE position, along with his NEAR holdings, to take profits. He cited rising energy prices, upcoming AI-related IPOs and political uncertainty around AI.
In a later interview, he warned that centralized crypto exchanges and traditional finance venues could chip away at Hyperliquid’s market share.
By late August, Ethereum was his top pick. He said ETH could rise three to five times fairly quickly, while expectations around Hyperliquid had already climbed after its strong run.
Arthur Hayes Warns of Rising Competition Among Perpetual DEX Platforms
The core of Hayes’ bearish view is simple. Perp DEXs now look alike. “Everybody’s launching a perp dex with some sort of real world asset attached to it,” he said.
He gave Hyperliquid’s team full credit. “Jeff crushed it. They proved the market’s there,” Hayes said, referring to founder Jeff Yan.
But that success drew rivals. Hyperliquid now competes with centralized exchanges, TradFi exchanges and other DEXs at once.
“They all offer the same product. They all charge the same amount of money. And so now you have a perfectly competitive market,” he said.
In that setting, he argued, marketing and tokenomics become the only ways to stand out, which makes for a hard business.
Why Arthur Hayes Believes HYPE Could Underperform Ethereum and Zcash
Hayes thinks the better trade lies with assets the crowd has given up on. “I think Ethereum’s gonna be the best performing mega cap,” he said.
ETH has still not topped its 2021 all-time high, and Hayes called it “the most hated” major asset, with good reason. Once it starts moving, he expects sidelined traders to pile back in.
On October 15, he also backed long positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum while discussing a possible tech-sector downturn and bailout. His interest in Zcash has been more conditional, tied to further technical progress.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Cryptocurrency investments carry substantial volatility and potential losses. Readers should conduct independent research before making investment decisions.
