While Bitcoin bleeds and Solana hits its lowest price since 2023 — one token just printed a new all-time high.
HYPE reached an all-time high of $74.67 on Tuesday and is trading above Solana's price, which has fallen to its lowest level since late 2023. HYPE has gained roughly 24% over the past month, while Solana has fallen nearly 14% over the same period.
The price flip is more than symbolic — it's a signal.
Hyperliquid's share of the global perpetual futures market reached a record 6.63% in May. Monthly trading volume for perpetual products built on its HIP-3 framework exceeded $62 billion. HYPE ETFs absorbed 1.04% of market cap in their first 10 days — the strongest crypto ETF debut on record by that metric.
Peter Pan, research partner at VC firm 1kx, put it best:
"There is officially a new contender for the #2 spot behind BTC." Pan said the last projects he saw generate a similar combination of consensus, market conviction, and price action were Ethereum in 2017, BNB in 2021, and Solana in 2023.
And Arthur Hayes is doubling down:
Arthur Hayes has publicly bet $100,000 that HYPE will overtake SOL in market cap by year-end, calling for HYPE to reach $150 by August 2026. The price flip and the underlying revenue and ETF inflows are starting to make that target less of an outlier.
By market cap, Solana is still ahead at $42 billion vs HYPE's $16 billion. But the gap is closing fast — and narratives shift before market caps do.
In 2023, nobody believed SOL would reach $200. In 2026, nobody believed HYPE would pass SOL in price.
What's your HYPE target for year-end? 👇
#Hyperliquid #HYPE #Solana #SOL #CryptoAltcoin