HIP-3 is Hyperliquid's permissionless system for deploying perpetual futures markets. Anyone who stakes 500,000 HYPE can become a deployer, launch their own perp DEX on Hyperliquid's L1, and earn 50% of the trading fees their markets generate.
The result is an open marketplace of competing venues — each with its own asset selection, collateral type, fee structure, and product philosophy — all settling on Hyperliquid's L1 with the same wallet layer and onchain execution environment.
Before HIP-3, a single team decided which perpetual markets exist. HIP-3 turns market listing into an open competition. That changes how users discover assets, compare trading venues, and choose where to trade.
The market listing problem
On centralized exchanges like Binance, a listings team decides what gets a perpetual market. Demand for an asset does not guarantee a listing — you need the exchange to agree.
Decentralized exchanges have experimented with different approaches:
- dYdX — governance proposals and token holder votes determine new markets.
- GMX — a curated whitelist controlled by the team and community.
- Hyperliquid native perps — the core team selects high-quality markets. This produces excellent liquidity but limits coverage to mainstream assets.
The gap is obvious: traders want perpetuals on Pre-IPO stocks, commodities, forex pairs, and long-tail crypto — but no single listing team can or will cover all of them. HIP-3 fills that gap by making market deployment permissionless.
How HIP-3 works
The mechanics are straightforward:
- Stake HYPE — a deployer locks 500,000 HYPE (roughly $10M+) as a security bond. This stake can be slashed if the deployer operates maliciously.
- Deploy a DEX — the deployer creates a perpetual venue on Hyperliquid's L1, choosing which assets to list, what collateral to accept, and how to structure fees.
- Set up oracles — each market needs a price oracle. Deployers can use standard feeds or build custom oracle systems (like Trade XYZ's 3-price Relayer Oracle or Ventuals' Optimistic Oracle for Pre-IPO valuations).
- Earn fees — the deployer receives 50% of all trading fees generated by their markets. The other 50% goes to the Hyperliquid protocol.
All trading happens natively on Hyperliquid's L1 blockchain. Users interact with the same wallet connection and settlement layer, but each HIP-3 DEX keeps its own liquidity, collateral, and fee settings.
The coin format
Every HIP-3 market is identified by a dex:coin pair. For example:
xyz:TSLA— Tesla perpetual on Trade XYZhyna:BTC— Bitcoin perpetual on HyENAvntl:OPENAI— OpenAI Pre-IPO perpetual on Ventuals
This format matters because the same asset (like TSLA) can exist on multiple HIP-3 DEXes with different collateral, fees, and liquidity. The DEX prefix tells you exactly which venue you are trading on.
The HIP-3 DEX ecosystem
There are currently six active HIP-3 DEXes, each with a distinct strategy:
| DEX | Collateral | Assets | Positioning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trade XYZ | USDC | 54 | Full-spectrum traditional assets — stocks, indices, commodities, FX, crypto |
| HyENA | USDe | 23 | Crypto perpetuals with passive USDe yield on your margin |
| Kinetiq Markets | USDH | 19 | Crowdfunded staking via Launch Protocol, Exchange-as-a-Service |
| Dreamcash | USDT | 14 | Mobile-first, low-barrier entry for CEX migrants |
| Ventuals | USDH | 13 | Pre-IPO markets (OpenAI, SpaceX) with Optimistic Oracle |
| Felix Exchange | USDH | 13 | Extension of Felix's USDH lending and feUSD stablecoin ecosystem |
Most assets are exclusive
A critical pattern in HIP-3: the majority of assets are listed by only one DEX. BTC perpetuals only exist on HyENA. OpenAI Pre-IPO only exists on Ventuals. S&P 500 index only exists on Trade XYZ.
A handful of popular assets — TSLA, GOLD, major indices — are available on multiple DEXes. For these overlapping markets, traders can compare fees, liquidity, and collateral to pick the best venue.
This means that your choice of DEX is often determined by what you want to trade, not just by price or fees.
Collateral: your first decision
Before you trade on HIP-3, you need to pick a collateral type — or let the asset you want dictate it. Each HIP-3 DEX accepts exactly one form of margin:
USDC — Trade XYZ
The most widely held stablecoin. If you are coming from a CEX and already hold USDC, Trade XYZ is the most frictionless entry point. No yield on idle margin, but the deepest asset coverage on HIP-3.
USDH — Kinetiq, Ventuals, Felix
The main stablecoin used across the Hyperliquid ecosystem. Three HIP-3 DEXes accept USDH, giving you the widest range of venues from a single collateral. USDH also qualifies for Hyperliquid's "aligned quote" fee discount — roughly 20% lower taker fees at the default fee tier shown on Hyperhub.
USDe — HyENA
Ethena's synthetic dollar. The unique advantage: USDe can earn yield while sitting in your margin account. You earn passive income on top of your trading P&L. The trade-off is concentration risk — if USDe depegs, your margin is directly affected.
USDT — Dreamcash
The world's most liquid stablecoin and the default on every CEX. Dreamcash is the path of least resistance for traders who hold USDT and do not want to swap. No fee discounts, but maximum familiarity.
DEXes that use USDH or USDe benefit from Hyperliquid's "aligned quote asset" incentive — lower taker fees and higher maker rebates. This is a structural cost advantage worth considering when choosing a DEX.
What HIP-3 means for traders
HIP-3 expands what is possible on Hyperliquid in several concrete ways:
More assets — over 130 perpetual markets spanning US stocks, global indices, commodities, forex, Pre-IPO companies, and crypto. Before HIP-3, Hyperliquid had roughly 30 native perp markets.
Collateral choice — you are no longer locked into a single margin type. Different HIP-3 DEXes serve different stablecoin preferences, each with distinct risk-reward profiles.
Competitive fees — deployers and DEXes compete for volume. Growth Mode offers up to 90% fee reduction on non-crypto, non-gold assets. Aligned collateral gets structural discounts. This competition drives costs down over time.
Specialized experiences — some DEXes optimize for specific niches. Ventuals builds oracle infrastructure for Pre-IPO valuations. HyENA integrates yield generation. Felix extends a lending ecosystem. This specialization means each DEX can be best-in-class for its focus area.
The downside of choice is complexity. Unlike a single exchange where you just pick an asset and trade, HIP-3 requires you to understand DEX differences — collateral, fees, oracle quality, and liquidity. Hyperhub exists to make that comparison easy.
How to navigate HIP-3
Hyperhub is built to solve the discovery problem that HIP-3 creates. Here is how to use it:
- Find an asset — go to Markets and search or filter by category (stocks, crypto, commodities, etc.) and collateral type.
- Compare DEXes — for assets available on multiple DEXes, the asset detail page shows a side-by-side comparison of fees, leverage, and liquidity.
- Choose a DEX — use the DEX Selection Guide for personalized recommendations based on what you want to trade and what collateral you hold.
- Trade — click any Trade button to jump directly to the Hyperliquid trading interface for that specific DEX and asset.
Getting started
If you are new to HIP-3, here is a practical starting path:
- Decide what to trade — stocks and commodities → Trade XYZ. Crypto → HyENA. Pre-IPO → Ventuals.
- Check your collateral — holding USDC? Go with Trade XYZ. Holding USDH? You have three DEXes to choose from. Holding USDT? Dreamcash is your option.
- Start small — use isolated margin and conservative leverage until you understand how that DEX's markets behave.
- Explore further — read the DEX Guide for detailed profiles of all six HIP-3 DEXes, or the Fees & Margin Guide to optimize your trading costs.
Trade TSLA perpetual on Hyperliquid