HYPE Smashes All-Time High Above $70. This Week’s Large Unlock Turns Out to Be a ‘Fake Out,’ Where Is the Next Target for Bulls

TradingKey - HYPE price continues to surge to new highs, dealing a fatal blow to bears, though technical indicators suggest a potential pullback.

On June 1, Hyperliquid ( HYPE) investors ignored this week's massive token unlock, pushing its price above the $70 mark. Today, HYPE surged over 4%, hitting a peak of $73.73 and setting a new all-time high. The fact that prices rose despite bearish sentiment has dealt a crushing blow to short sellers.

According to Tokenomist data, HYPE is scheduled to unlock approximately 9.9 million tokens on June 5, with an estimated value exceeding $700 million. Token unlocks increase circulating supply, implying higher potential selling pressure, which typically triggers price declines—a key reason why a large number of bears flocked to HYPE. However, HYPE's price rose today instead of falling, leading to the liquidation of $18 million in short positions, representing 90% of the total.

This anomalous behavior in HYPE, where bearish news became a springboard for gains, is due to the significant support provided by its tokenomics. Ongoing tensions in the Middle East have caused heavy volatility in traditional commodity markets; however, a surge of speculative capital and quantitative funds—unable to trade during weekends or nights—poured into Hyperliquid, driving daily trading volumes frequently above $1.5 billion to $3 billion. Under the HYPE protocol, 97% of platform fee revenue is automatically converted into HYPE for buybacks and burning, which directly absorbs the floating supply released from on-chain unlocks.

After HYPE broke through $60 in late May, its price continued to set new highs, completely igniting bullish market sentiment, with BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes among the most vocal. On May 30, Hayes proclaimed on X that "HYPE price will hit $150," implying a further upside of over 110% from current levels. Additionally, Hayes today challenged former Multicoin Capital co-founder Kyle Samani to a $100,000 charitable wager, betting that HYPE will outperform the top 10 cryptocurrencies by the end of the year.

Despite HYPE's resilient performance—gaining 76% over the past 30 days—bears have not conceded. loracle.hl still holds a short position of over 840,000 HYPE tokens worth approximately $60 million; Loracle holds over 1.5 million HYPE tokens worth over $100 million; and NBA star Klay Thompson also joined the HYPE short-selling ranks over the weekend.

Currently, HYPE is consolidating at highs near $72-$73, but the 4-hour RSI has shown a certain degree of bearish divergence. If the broader market pulls back collectively due to a sell-off triggered by the upcoming non-farm payroll data, HYPE may see a technical retracement after hitting $80, potentially retesting the previous breakout support level at $60.

HYPE price chart, source: TradingView