HYPE soars 17% as ICE, Druckenmiller invest in tradeXYZ for US expansion

Hyperliquid (HYPE) jumps 17% on Thursday as Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) announced it will partner with trade[XYZ] to bring Hyperliquid-based perpetual futures markets to the US, expanding efforts to introduce on-chain derivatives trading within a regulated framework. Billionaire investor Stan Druckenmiller will also join as an investor in trade[XYZ].

ICE plans to bring Hyperliquid perps to US markets

In an announcement on Thursday, ICE stated that it has reached a definitive agreement with trade[XYZ] to bring the latter's perpetual markets to US customers, subject to regulatory approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Under the agreement, ICE will exclusively operate trade[XYZ]’s regulated markets and make a strategic investment in the company. The proposed venue will provide retail traders with 24/7 access to perpetual contracts for crypto, equities, stock indices, commodities and foreign exchange.

ICE stated that the new business would operate separately from its existing institutional futures and clearing operations. The structure is intended to expand its retail trading business without exposing its institutional customers to the trading or counterparty risks associated with the new venue.

The companies also plan to distribute the products through existing brokers and trading platforms, including ICE’s joint venture with crypto exchange OKX. Access through that partnership will depend on separate regulatory approvals.

“We intend to find retail traders where they want to be, through the partners, brokers, and platforms they already use. We see these perp markets as additive to our futures markets, not a replacement for them,” said Jeffrey C. Sprecher, Chairman and CEO of ICE.

The announcement also follows an X post from billionaire investor Stan Druckenmiller, who said he had invested in trade[XYZ].

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk also shared interest in the move, reposting Druckenmiller announcement.

The ICE agreement follows a previous announcement from Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken.

Payward announced plans to use Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 infrastructure to introduce perpetual futures markets for US customers, with the proposed deployment subject to regulatory approval.

Under the arrangement, Bitnomial, Payward’s regulated exchange and clearing organization, would create and administer the markets and handle clearing and settlement. NinjaTrader Clearing would carry customer accounts.

The initiative is expected to use HIP-3*, a proposed extension that enables market deployers to restrict access through on-chain allowlists. Hyperliquid has said the feature is optional, meaning existing HIP-3 markets would continue operating unchanged.

Meanwhile, Hyperliquid has cumulatively bought back and burned roughly 49.87 million HYPE, representing roughly 5% of its maximum supply of 1 billion tokens and valued at about $3.89 billion at current prices.

In the past 24 hours, the protocol reportedly burned another 19,700 HYPE worth approximately $1.59 million. Estimated protocol fees reached $1.69 million over the same period, while cumulative protocol revenue stood at approximately $1.38 billion.

Hyperliquid technical outlook: HYPE eyes new all-time high above $97.9

HYPE is nearing its all-time high resistance at $97.9 after jumping more than 17% on Thursday. A break above the resistance could push the token to $100.9, a level measured by the height of the descending triangle and projected upward from the breakout point.

The latest move comes after the token cleared the $85 horizontal level and the 20-day and 50-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs) around $82. These levels will now serve as support if HYPE fails to set a new record high.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Stochastic Oscillator (Stoch) are in overbought territory at 69 and 88, respectively, signaling the rally is becoming stretched and may slow down.