Hyperliquid's HYPE Jumps 13% as NYSE Owner ICE Moves to Bring Its Perpetual Futures to the US

HYPE, the token behind the Hyperliquid exchange, jumped about 13% on Thursday to roughly $91 after Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, announced a deal to bring Hyperliquid-based perpetual futures to the United States.

The token climbed from a daily open of $80.69 to a high of $92.10 on KuCoin, leaving it about 7% below the record near $98 it set in September. Hyperliquid’s token now trades at around a $22.4 billion market capitalization.

ICE and Trade[XYZ], a company that runs markets for real-world assets on Hyperliquid, signed a definitive agreement that makes ICE the exclusive operator of Trade[XYZ]'s regulated markets, and ICE is taking a strategic stake in the company.

ICE will build a dedicated retail market and clearing structure for the product, which still needs regulatory approvals and has no launch date.

Perpetual futures are derivatives with no expiry date that let traders take leveraged positions, meaning bets amplified with borrowed money. Trade[XYZ] already offers eligible users outside the U.S. around-the-clock perpetuals on stocks, equity indices, commodities and currencies, while Hyperliquid provides the underlying infrastructure.

Stan Druckenmiller, the macro investor who ran the Duquesne Capital hedge fund for about 30 years and said it never had a losing year, publicly backed the deal as an investor in Trade[XYZ]. “I am excited to be an investor in trade(xyz) as they partner with ICE to bring 24/7 perpetual futures on Hyperliquid to the United States,” Druckenmiller wrote on X. “As a market participant, I am looking forward to using their innovative product to enhance my investment process.

The U.S. markets are meant to comply with know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering rules, which require identity checks, and ICE will seek approvals to support leveraged trading.

Verified customers would connect through futures commission merchants, the brokers that handle customer futures accounts, and ICE plans to distribute the product through its joint venture with OKX, which has its own approvals pending. ICE bought into OKX at a $25 billion valuation in March.

ICE Chair and CEO Jeffrey Sprecher described the perpetuals as “additive to our futures markets, not a replacement for them.” ICE says more than 99% of its participation today is institutional, so retail traders are a new business, and it will run the unit separately from its institutional futures and clearing franchise.