Hyperliquid review: fees, memecoins and safety

In short

• Perp fees start at 0.015% maker / 0.045% taker; spot starts at 0.040% maker / 0.070% taker, both tiered on 14-day rolling volume.
• Around 180 live perpetual markets, including DOGE, kPEPE, kBONK, kSHIB, WIF, POPCAT, FARTCOIN, SPX, TRUMP, PUMP and MEME.
• A fully on-chain order book on Hyperliquid’s own L1 — you trade from your wallet, and maker rebates land directly in it.
• The terms of use exclude US persons, Ontario residents and sanctioned territories; onboarding is via an EVM wallet or email, with deposits from Arbitrum, Ethereum, Solana, Bitcoin and several other chains.

Overview

Hyperliquid runs a genuine order book on its own layer-1 chain, which is what separates it from AMM-based "perp DEXs". Orders, cancels, fills and liquidations are all on-chain, yet the experience is close to a centralised exchange — and the fee schedule is competitive with one: 0.015% maker and 0.045% taker on perps at tier 0, against 0.02%/0.06% at the offshore CEXs we review. Because you trade from your own wallet, there is no exchange balance to withdraw and no account to be frozen.

Memecoin coverage is the reason it belongs in this comparison. The perp book carries close to 180 live markets, including DOGE, WIF, POPCAT, FARTCOIN, SPX, TRUMP, PUMP, MEME and the k-prefixed contracts (kPEPE, kBONK, kSHIB, kFLOKI) that quote a thousand tokens per unit. Fee tiers are computed on 14-day rolling volume, perps and spot volume combine toward the tier, spot volume counts double in the weighted calculation, and maker rebates at higher tiers are paid straight to the trading wallet.

Two constraints deserve equal billing with the execution quality. First, jurisdiction: the terms of use define US persons — and residents of Ontario, Canada and of sanctioned territories — as ineligible to use the interface. Second, the risk profile. This is leverage on assets that routinely move 30% in a day, on a venue where the liquidation engine is a smart contract, so a bad entry is resolved mechanically and without appeal. Hyperliquid spot has grown past its native HIP-1 tickers: bridged assets now carry the volume, including bridged Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, PUMP and Fartcoin. Read the ticker carefully — a bare name like PEPE on the spot book is a Hyperliquid-native token, not the Ethereum coin, while the bridged version carries a U prefix.

Memecoin coverage

Perpetuals: around 180 live markets, including DOGE, WIF, POPCAT, FARTCOIN, SPX, TRUMP, PUMP, MEME plus kPEPE, kBONK, kSHIB and kFLOKI.

The k-prefix means one contract represents 1,000 tokens, which keeps tick sizes usable on sub-cent coins. Read the market spec before sizing a position.

Spot: bridged markets exist for some memecoins, UPUMP and UFART among them, alongside native HIP-1 tokens like PURR and HFUN. The U prefix marks the bridged asset; a bare ticker of the same name is a separate Hyperliquid-native token.

Deposits arrive from Arbitrum, Ethereum, Solana, Bitcoin and several other supported chains, so collateral can come from wherever your memecoin profits already sit.

Brand-new launches have no perp market. A coin needs listing before it trades here, so launch-stage exposure still means buying the token on-chain.

Key facts

What it costs

• Tier 0 perps cost 0.015% maker and 0.045% taker — cheaper than the offshore CEXs in this comparison, and paid on notional rather than on margin.
• Tier 0 spot costs 0.040% maker and 0.070% taker.
• Fee tiers use 14-day rolling volume across perps and spot combined; spot volume is weighted double when computing the tier.
• Higher maker tiers earn rebates that are credited directly to your trading wallet rather than accruing as an exchange credit.
• Funding payments on perpetuals are separate from trading fees and are typically the dominant cost on a memecoin position held for days.
• Bridging collateral in and out costs network fees on the source chain; batching deposits is cheaper than topping up repeatedly.

How to buy on Hyperliquid

1. 1

   Check the terms before you connect

   Hyperliquid’s terms of use exclude US persons, Ontario residents and sanctioned territories, and the interface geofences by IP. Read them and confirm you are eligible; using a VPN to get around it breaches the terms.

2. 2

   Connect a wallet, or create one with email

   Any EVM wallet works, and email onboarding provisions one for you. Use a dedicated trading wallet rather than the one holding your long-term positions.

3. 3

   Deposit collateral

   Bridge USDC from Arbitrum, or use one of the other supported deposit routes (Ethereum, Solana, Bitcoin and others). Test with a small amount before moving size.

4. 4

   Find the market and read the spec

   Search the ticker in the perps list. Remember the k-prefix means 1,000 tokens per contract, and check the maximum leverage and funding rate on that specific market.

5. 5

   Set leverage and a stop before you enter

   Decide the liquidation distance first and size the position to it. On a memecoin perp, 10x means a 10% move against you ends the trade.

6. 6

   Withdraw profits back to self-custody

   Bridge realised gains out rather than leaving them as trading collateral, and keep long-term holdings behind a hardware wallet.

Safety and risks

• Perpetual futures on memecoins liquidate quickly and permanently. Position sizing, not conviction, is what keeps an account alive.
• Funding payments accrue every hour a crowded position is open; the fee schedule is rarely the expensive part of a bad trade.
• Self-custody means you are the security perimeter: seed phrase offline, a dedicated trading wallet, and no signing from unbookmarked sites.
• Bridge and smart-contract risk are real. Deposit through the official interface only, and treat any "Hyperliquid support" DM as a scam.
• If your jurisdiction is restricted, the exposure is legal as well as financial — do not route around it.

Nothing here is financial advice. Memecoins are high-risk and can go to zero; only risk what you can afford to lose.

Alternatives to Hyperliquid

• Aster — Another on-chain perp venue with 0% maker fees on USDT perpetuals and its own extreme-leverage mode.
• Bitunix — A custodial CEX alternative with a wider memecoin perp list, if self-custody trading is not what you want.
• Axiom — Routes its perpetuals to Hyperliquid while adding Solana spot discovery tools in the same interface.
• Ledger — If self-custody is the appeal, a hardware wallet is where the positions you are not trading should live.

Coins to research next

• Dogecoin
• Pepe
• Dogwifhat
• Fartcoin
• SPX6900

Frequently asked questions