HYPE Surges 36% in Week as Hyperliquid Slashes February Token Unlock by 90%
HYPE, the native token of the Hyperliquid derivatives platform, rallied more than 36% over the past week after the protocol sharply reduced its February team token unlock, easing near-term supply pressure and reinforcing bullish market sentiment.
Hyperliquid cut its monthly team unlock from roughly 1.2 million HYPE to about 140,000 tokens for February — a reduction of nearly 90%. The move significantly lowers short-term dilution for existing holders and comes as HYPE trades in the mid-$30 range, valuing the project at more than $8 billion.
HYPE team unlocks so far:
— steven.hl (@stevenyuntcap) January 29, 2026
Dec unlock: 2.6M HYPE (re-locked 850K)
Jan unlock: 1.2M HYPE
Feb unlock: 140K HYPE
It’s unclear why the unlocks are trending to zero over time. My best guess is that the team is re-locking most of their unlocks after taking some profits.
Hyperliquid https://t.co/y4PnrOtNQ2
Supply Reduction Supports Price Momentum
Token unlock schedules remain a key driver of price performance for high-valuation crypto assets, particularly those with large portions of supply still locked. By reducing the February release, Hyperliquid effectively delayed new supply entering the market at a time of elevated trading activity and strong protocol usage.
Most of HYPE’s total supply remains locked, meaning future decisions around unlock pacing — alongside protocol revenue generation — will continue to play an outsized role in shaping investor expectations. The February cut, however, provides immediate relief and has been interpreted as a signal of supply discipline.
Technical Breakout Accelerates Gains
The supply adjustment coincided with a decisive technical breakout. HYPE cleared key resistance at $28.50, triggering algorithmic buying and forcing short sellers to cover positions, amplifying the upside move.
Source: coinmarketcap
Momentum indicators support the strength of the rally. The seven-day relative strength index stands at 65, indicating bullish conditions without signaling overbought extremes. Meanwhile, the MACD has posted a bullish crossover, with the MACD line at 1.35 moving above its 0.28 signal line — a classic trend-confirmation signal.
Turnover reached 7.43%, suggesting sufficient liquidity to support continued price discovery, provided the former resistance level near $28.50 holds as support.
Visibility and Narrative Discipline in Volatile Markets
Sharp price moves — both up and down — tend to reshape how crypto projects are perceived by investors and the media.
Outset PR’s analysis of media trends through the lens of Outset Data Pulse shows that investor engagement and media traffic tend to rise during periods of strong momentum, but can fade quickly if projects fail to articulate how short-term developments connect to long-term fundamentals. In environments where liquidity rotates rapidly and sentiment shifts, inconsistent messaging can undermine credibility even amid positive price performance.
Outset PR is a data-driven crypto PR agency that works with Web3 projects to align token economics, protocol metrics, and public communication into a coherent narrative framework. This approach helps teams remain interpretable to investors across market cycles, particularly when volatility amplifies scrutiny and attention becomes increasingly selective.
Fundamentals Remain Central to Sustainability
Hyperliquid’s valuation is underpinned by strong derivatives activity and a buyback-and-burn mechanism designed to link protocol usage with token value. These structural features have helped sustain demand for HYPE even as broader crypto markets have faced periods of volatility.
Still, the durability of the recent rally will depend on whether reduced unlocks persist and whether protocol revenues continue to justify the token’s elevated market capitalization. With most supply still locked, future unlock decisions remain a critical variable for longer-term price stability.
For now, the sharp cut to February emissions has reshaped the near-term supply outlook, giving HYPE room to extend gains as long as momentum and participation remain intact.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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