Hyperliquid price is rallying against the market tide as institutional adoption and improving chart structure attract fresh buyers.

Hyperliquid was trading around $34.96 at press time, up 6% in the past 24 hours, even as the crypto market sold off sharply. Bitcoin briefly slipped below $72,000, and most large-cap tokens traded lower.

Hyperliquid (HYPE), however, has moved in the opposite direction. The token is up 1.5% over the past seven days and has gained 29% over the last month, standing out during a period of heavy market pressure.

Derivatives data points to cooling leverage rather than panic buying. Open interest fell 2.42% to $1.55 billion, while trading volume decreased 31% to $4.06 billion, according to CoinGlass data.

This often indicates that traders are lowering their exposure rather than chasing gains, which can keep the price stable during volatile sessions. 

Why is Hyperliquid price rising?

Several developments have raised short-term demand. On Feb. 4, Ripple announced that Ripple Prime, its institutional brokerage platform, had added support for Hyperliquid.

The integration allows institutions to access on-chain perpetuals and derivatives on Hyperliquid while managing risk alongside traditional assets such as FX and fixed income.

The news was met with a positive market response, lifting HYPE even as selling pressure persisted across the crypto market. While the integration does not directly benefit XRP or rely on the XRP Ledger, it will boost HYPE which is at the centre of perps trading activity.

Another development followed the same day. Hyperion DeFi Inc. (NASDAQ: HYPD), a publicly traded digital asset treasury focused on Hyperliquid, said it plans to use its HYPE holdings as options collateral.

The company said it isn’t engaging in directional bets. Instead, the strategy focuses on earning income from options premiums and fees, together with staking rewards. Hyperion is working with Rysk protocol to launch an on-chain options vault directly on Hyperliquid.

Over time, the vault could be opened to other institutional HYPE holders. By putting more tokens into structured products and reducing the liquid supply, this strategy might support the token’s price.

Another protocol update that has garnered attention is HIP-4. The plan introduces fully collateralized “outcomes” trading for products that resemble options and prediction markets. The feature is designed to appeal to traders who prefer defined risk during volatile periods.

HIP-4 comes after previous improvements that enabled permissionless markets for crypto, equities, and commodities. With over $1 billion in open interest, nearly $5 billion in daily volume, and a massive rise in weekly transactions since those updates, Hyperliquid has seen strong network growth.

An upcoming token unlock on Feb. 6, releasing about 9.92 million HYPE worth roughly $300 million, has so far failed to unsettle buyers. Previous unlocks were absorbed without sharp pullbacks, which has helped calm concerns.

Hyperliquid price technical analysis

After months of steady decline, HYPE has shifted structure. A distinct shift in trend behavior is visible as the price recovered the mid-Bollinger Band and remained above it. The recent pullback formed the first higher low since November, flipping the structure from bearish to neutral-bullish.

Price has pushed above the upper Bollinger Band with strong closes rather than thin wicks. Volatility bands have turned upward, and the 20-day moving average now acts as support instead of resistance. The relative strength index has moved into the 60–70 range, holding above its signal line.

HYPE also cleared the $32–$33 resistance zone and has stayed above it, suggesting acceptance at higher levels. Overhead supply looks limited until the $40 area.

Holding above $32 keeps momentum intact and allows a move toward $38–$42 if market conditions stabilize. A drop back below $32 could pull the price toward $27–$28, where trend support would be tested.

Cardano continues to trade in a massive drawdown even after rebounding from the $0.30 lows. However, fresh on-chain data shows whales are back to aggressively buying ADA alongside other altcoins.

Large holders have stacked another significant volume in recent weeks, signaling renewed conviction despite broader market pressure.

This accumulation, combined with tightening supply and improving technical setups, is once again fueling speculation of a stronger recovery push toward higher levels.

With interest creeping in, can it sustain a bullish sentiment for Cardano’s price?

According to data from Ali Martinez, a popular analyst on X, whales have bought 210 million Cardano tokens over the past three weeks. This level of accumulation signals strong interest from large holders.

210 million Cardano $ADA bought by whales in the past three weeks! pic.twitter.com/Mqq4xdQGSK

— Ali Charts (@alicharts) January 17, 2026

In one of the latest buys, a whale deposited $7.9 million USDC into the Hyperliquid exchange, buying 6.46 million ADA for a position worth about $2.50 million.

Whale activity is an indicator of informed money, suggesting the Cardano token price could be gearing up for a rally.

ADA Volumes Increase In The Derivatives Market

Cardano is seeing increased volume in the derivatives market, with traders now watching what comes next for its price.

Data from Coinglass shows that Cardano has increased 10,654% in futures volume on the Bitmex exchange, reaching $40.04 million.

Cardano’s derivatives have benefited from a surprisingly high boost.

The BitMEX futures have expanded by an extraordinary 10,654% to a whopping $40 million, in conjunction with a looming listing of $ADA futures by @CMEGroup. The institutional appetite is evidently waking up. A… pic.twitter.com/QmNDacBvpQ

Advertisement

— Mentor (@CardanoMentor) January 17, 2026

This indicates a surge in activity in the derivatives market, given that Bitmex is a major derivatives exchange.

Can ADA Rally To $1?

Cardano’s price is currently consolidating near the $0.39–$0.40 region, holding above the short-term support zone at $0.33–$0.35, which buyers have defended following the recent sell-off.

This stabilization followed a sharp decline from the October highs, with demand stepping in near $0.33, a historically significant support level. The bounce from this area suggests selling pressure is easing, although bullish conviction remains cautious.

ADA is trading around the 20-day EMA (~$0.39) but remains below the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) near $0.48, which continues to act as a key overhead resistance. The downward slope of the 50-day SMA suggests the broader trend remains bearish unless ADA can reclaim and hold above this level.

Cardano’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) is hovering around 52, sitting near the neutral zone. This reflects modest momentum recovery without signs of overbought conditions, meaning price has room to move higher if buying strength increases.

From the 1-day ADA/USD chart perspective, Cardano could attempt a move toward the $0.45–$0.48 resistance zone, where the downtrend line and the 50-day SMA converge. A clean breakout above this area would be the first meaningful signal of a trend shift and could open the door for a move toward $0.60 in the medium term.

For ADA to realistically target $1, the price would need a sustained trend reversal, including a break above its resistance around $0.54.

Conversely, failure to break above the downtrend resistance could trigger another pullback, with $0.35 as initial support, followed by the $0.33 demand zone if selling pressure returns.

Related News:

Best Wallet – Diversify Your Crypto Portfolio

Advertisement

• Easy to Use, Feature-Driven Crypto Wallet
• Get Early Access to Upcoming Token ICOs
• Multi-Chain, Multi-Wallet, Non-Custodial
• Now On App Store, Google Play
• Stake To Earn Native Token $BEST
• 250,000+ Monthly Active Users

Crypto prices today are in the red as forced liquidations and weak demand pushed major tokens lower.

At press time, total crypto market capitalization was down 4.4% to $2.35 trillion. Bitcoin fell 5.5% in the past 24 hours to $73,103. Almost all top 100 altcoins were in the red.

Solana briefly slipped below $90, a level last seen in 2024, and was trading at $91, down 7.6%. Uniswap declined 3% to $3.78, while Pump.fun dropped 6% to $0.002271.

Alternative’s Fear and Greed Index fell two points to 12, remaining in the extreme fear range. The average relative strength index across the market was at 40, showing weak short-term momentum.

In addition, total open interest fell 4% to $106 billion, indicating continued deleveraging. 

Liquidations put pressure on crypto prices

Much of the selling pressure came from forced liquidations in leveraged futures and perpetual contracts. Traders holding highly leveraged long positions faced margin calls, leading exchanges to automatically close those positions. This added to the selling and contributed to cascading losses.

According to CoinGlass data, long positions accounted for $520 million of the $650 million in total liquidations, which rose by 22% over the previous day. Since late January 2026, cumulative liquidations have now reached about $7 billion, contributing to a market capitalization drop of roughly $500 billion in the same period.

Open interest is now at multi-month lows in several markets, indicating that over-leveraged positions are being cleared.

Other pressures are coming from risk-averse behavior across financial markets. Crypto has moved alongside declines in technology stocks, mostly AI-related shares. Hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve, including expectations for higher interest rates for longer, have reduced liquidity and made speculative assets less attractive.

Institutional flows have weakened as well. Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have seen outflows in recent weeks, while a negative Coinbase premiums and selling by large holders has added steady pressure.

Short-term outlook and analyst views

The short-term outlook for crypto is cautious. Bitcoin has broken support in the $75,000–$78,000 range, and many analysts are watching $70,000 as the next test level. If the price falls below that, it could move toward $65,000–$68,000 if selling intensifies.

On the upside, a hold above $72,000–$74,000 could allow a relief rally toward $82,000–$88,000 by late February. Liquidity is thin, and market swings could be sharp if macroeconomic news or Fed updates influence sentiment.

Polymarket odds now show an 82% probability of Bitcoin falling below $70,000. Analysts at Citi noted that slowing spot ETF inflows and regulatory uncertainty could push Bitcoin toward that level. In a February 4 report, Citi highlighted that the average entry price for spot ETF investors is $81,600.

Compared with gold, which has gained amid geopolitical concerns, Bitcoin is more sensitive to liquidity and risk appetite. According to Citi, delays in the U.S. CLARITY crypto bill and shrinking liquidity from the Federal Reserve are also adding pressure.

As of now, traders are watching closely to see whether oversold conditions and historical February trends will create opportunities for short-term relief.

Zama’s highly anticipated $ZAMA token has made headlines as the first production-scale use of Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) on the Ethereum mainnet.

However, the token is currently trading at $0.035, marking a 30% decrease from its initial coin offering (ICO) price).

Zama’s auction format was notable for its confidentiality features. The token sale raised $118.5 million through a sealed-bid Dutch auction, using Zama’s technology to protect the privacy of participants’ bids.

Zama’s focus on FHE is part of a broader strategy to enable confidential smart contracts on Ethereum. This technology enables computation on encrypted data without first decrypting it, enhancing privacy for blockchain applications.

This article was generated with the assistance of AI workflows.

The creator of Incognito Market, the online black market that used crypto as its economic heart, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after some blockchain sleuthing led US authorities straight to the platform’s steward.

The Justice Department said on Wednesday that a Manhattan court gave Rui-Siang Lin three decades behind bars for owning and operating Incognito, which sold $105 million worth of illicit narcotics between its launch in October 2020 and its closure in March 2024.

Lin, who pleaded guilty to his role in December 2024, was sentenced for conspiring to distribute narcotics, money laundering, and conspiring to sell misbranded medication.

Incognito allowed users to buy and sell drugs using Bitcoin (BTC) and Monero (XMR) while taking a 5% cut, and Lin’s undoing ultimately came after the FBI traced the platform’s crypto to an account in Lin’s name at a crypto exchange.

“Today’s sentence puts traffickers on notice: you cannot hide in the shadows of the Internet,” said Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton. “Our larger message is simple: the internet, ‘decentralization,’ ‘blockchain’ — any technology — is not a license to operate a narcotics distribution business.”

In addition to prison time, Lin was sentenced to five years of supervised release and ordered to pay more than $105 million in forfeiture.

Crypto tracing led FBI right to Lin

In March 2024, the Justice Department said Lin closed Incognito and stole at least $1 million that its users had deposited in their accounts on the platform.

Lin, known online as “Pharoah,” then attempted to blackmail Incognito’s users, demanding that buyers and vendors pay him or he would publicly share their user history and crypto addresses.

Months later, in May 2024, authorities arrested Lin, a Taiwanese national, at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport after the FBI tied him to Incognito partly by tracing the platform’s crypto transfers to a crypto exchange account in Lin’s name.

The FBI said a crypto wallet that Lin controlled received funds from a known wallet of Incognito’s, and those funds were then sent to Lin’s exchange account.

Related: AI-enabled scams rose 500% in 2025 as crypto theft goes ‘industrial’

The agency said it traced at least four transfers showing Lin’s crypto wallet sent Bitcoin originally from Incognito to a “swapping service” to exchange it for XMR, which was then deposited to the exchange account.

The exchange gave the FBI a photo of Lin’s Taiwanese driver’s license used to open the account, along with an email address and phone number, and the agency tied the email and number to an account at the web domain registrar Namecheap.