Getting Started On Hyperliquid

Getting started on Hyperliquid requires just three things: an EVM-compatible wallet, some USDC, and a small amount of ETH on Arbitrum for gas. The most popular wallets are Rabby (DeFi-native, shows HyperEVM balances natively) and MetaMask (widely supported). You can also sign up with just an email address — Hyperliquid uses Privy for embedded wallets, so no browser extension or seed phrase is needed.

You will need USDC on the Arbitrum network to deposit. If your funds are on another chain, you can bridge to Arbitrum using Across Protocol, deBridge, Jumper Exchange, or other cross-chain bridges. The minimum deposit on Hyperliquid is 5 USDC — deposits below this amount are permanently lost and cannot be recovered.

Go to app.hyperliquid.xyz and click "Connect" to link your wallet. A popup will ask you to approve the connection. Next, click "Enable Trading" and sign the gasless transaction in your wallet — this authorizes your trading session.

Click "Deposit," enter the USDC amount (minimum 5 USDC), and confirm the wallet transaction. You will need a small amount of ETH on Arbitrum to cover the deposit gas fee. Deposits typically arrive in under 1 minute. Your USDC balance will appear in the trading interface and you are ready to trade.

Before you trade, apply a referral code for a 4% fee discount on your first $25 million in volume. Go to app.hyperliquid.xyz/referrals or use a referral link directly. This is free money — there is no reason not to use one.

The Hyperliquid interface looks like a centralized exchange: TradingView chart, real-time order book, order entry panel, and positions display. Select a market from the asset list (BTC, ETH, SOL, and 150+ others), choose Long or Short, and set your order parameters.

For your first trade, start with a limit order rather than a market order. Limit orders cost 0.015% in fees (maker) versus 0.045% (taker) for market orders — roughly 3x cheaper. Set your price, size, and leverage. If you are new to leverage trading, start with 2x–5x until you understand the mechanics.

After your order fills, you will see the position in your positions panel with entry price, unrealized P&L, and estimated liquidation price. You can add take-profit and stop-loss orders to manage risk automatically.

Hyperliquid offers two margin modes. Cross margin (the default) shares your entire account balance as collateral across all positions — more capital-efficient, but all funds are at risk if any position is liquidated. Isolated margin allocates specific collateral to each individual position — if that position is liquidated, you only lose the margin assigned to it.

If you are new, use isolated margin for leveraged trades. This limits your downside to the specific margin you assign, rather than risking your entire account on a single bad trade. You can switch between modes in the order entry panel.

Beyond basic market and limit orders, Hyperliquid supports stop-market (becomes a market order when the trigger price is hit), stop-limit (places a limit order after the stop triggers), take-profit and stop-loss (automatically close positions at target or maximum loss), scale orders (multiple limits across a price range), and TWAP (splits large orders into 30-second sub-orders).

Execution modifiers include GTC (good till cancel — order stays until filled or canceled), IOC (immediate or cancel — fills what it can immediately, cancels the rest), Post Only (ensures the order only adds liquidity as a maker), and Reduce Only (ensures the order only reduces an existing position).

Fees add up quickly for active traders. There are three ways to reduce them on Hyperliquid. First, use a referral code for a 4% discount on your first $25 million in volume. Second, stake HYPE for tiered fee discounts — as little as 10 HYPE staked gives you a 5% discount, scaling up to 40% at 500,000 HYPE. Third, use limit orders whenever possible to pay maker fees (0.015%) instead of taker fees (0.045%).

Staking HYPE is straightforward: transfer HYPE from your spot balance to your staking balance, select a validator, and delegate. Staking rewards accrue at approximately 2.3% APY and compound automatically. The unstaking timeline is 1 day to undelegate from a validator plus 7 days to transfer back to spot — plan accordingly.

Click "Withdraw," enter the USDC amount, and confirm. Withdrawals cost a flat $1 USDC regardless of amount, take about 3–4 minutes, and arrive in your wallet on the Arbitrum network. You do not need ETH on Arbitrum for withdrawals — the fee is deducted from your USDC balance. Only USDC can be withdrawn through the native bridge; convert other assets to USDC first.

Do not deposit less than 5 USDC — amounts below this are permanently lost. Do not start with high leverage (20x, 50x) until you understand the mechanics; begin with 2x–5x. Do not use cross margin until you understand that your entire account is at risk. Do not ignore funding rates — hourly funding payments can cost hundreds of dollars per day on large positions during volatile markets.

Always set stop losses before entering a trade. Use a dedicated wallet for trading rather than your main holdings wallet. And critically, there is no official Hyperliquid mobile app — any app in the App Store or Play Store claiming to be official Hyperliquid is a scam. The only safe access is through app.hyperliquid.xyz in your browser.