Hyperliquid Price Drops 5% as DeFi Hit by Kelp DAO Hack

Hyperliquid Price Drops 5% as DeFi Hit by Kelp DAO Hack
  • On April 20, Hyperliquid (HYPE) price fell by around 5% during intraday trading, sparking fear in the community.
  • The drop comes amid heavy liquidation in the crypto market following the Kelp DAO hack, in which hackers siphoned off $290 million. 
  • Despite the drop in the HYPE tokens, the crypto market is showing resilience as Bitcoin (BTC) still holds a position above $76,000.   

On April 20, the Hyperliquid (HYPE) price suffered a drop of around 5.5% on a daily chart following turmoil in the decentralized finance sector due to the Kelp DAO hack. 

At the time of writing this, Hyperliquid is currently trading at around $40.87 with a market capitalization of $10.44 billion. Its daily trading volume has jumped by around 107% and currently revolves around $389.02 million, according to CoinMarketCap

DeFi Sector Takes a Major Hit After KelpDAO Hack

Once again, the decentralized finance sector is facing turmoil over the weekend, when hackers stole approximately $290 million from KelpDAO, a popular liquid staking protocol. 

On April 18 and 19, attackers exploited a weakness in KelpDAO’s cross-chain bridge, which was powered by LayerZero, to create fake rsETH tokens worth hundreds of millions of dollars. 

They then used these fake tokens as collateral on major lending platforms like Aave to borrow real Ethereum. This incident is now one of the largest DeFi hacks of 2026. KelpDAO quickly paused its system to stop further damage, but the news spread fast and scared many users across the ecosystem. 

This hack incident has sparked a huge panic across decentralized finance. After this hack, users have started pulling out their money from the DeFi sector, causing a $13 billion drop in total value locked (TVL) across the entire DeFi sector within 48 hours. 

One of the leading lending platforms, Aave, has witnessed more than $8 billion withdrawn in just 1 day. Its TVL fell from $26.4 billion to around $18 to $20 after the incident. Other protocols like Morpho, Sky, and even some on Solana that were not directly involved also faced large outflows. Many platforms had to freeze certain markets to avoid bigger losses from bad loans. 

Hyperliquid Drops Slightly as Momentum Cools After Recent Rally

According to TradingView, the daily and 4-hour charts are showing HYPE forming a rising wedge pattern. This setup is considered a bullish continuation pattern as long as the price stays inside the ascending channel. 

As per the current price chart, there is no clear reversal visible on the charts yet. The relative strength index on the 14-day timeframe is currently sitting in the neutral zone at around 47. The RSI has moved down from overbought levels above 70 during the recent high. This suggests that the token is neither heavily overbought nor oversold at present levels. This neutral reading leaves room for a major short-term bounce if buying interest returns to the market. 

Hyperliquid HYPE Tokens Price Chart

On the moving averages, the price is hovering around the short-term 5-day, 10-day, and 20-day simple and exponential moving averages. This sits around $40.90 to $41.30. This provides mixed signals in the near term. However, the token is continuing to trade comfortably above the longer-term 50-day simple moving average, around $39.50, and the 200-day simple moving average, around $35. 

According to the current price chart, there are major resistance levels at around $40, which will work as an immediate support. If the price falls below these levels, then there are strong supports at around $38 to $36. 

On the flip side, if the Hyperliquid manages to gain upward momentum, there are major resistance levels at around $43.70 to $44. Also, if the cryptocurrency breaks above $45, then Hyperliquid could target the next major resistance levels at around $50. 

However, the current state of the DeFi sector is affecting Hyperliquid negatively. 

Despite the major liquidation in the DeFi sector, Bitcoin (BTC) is still showing a sign of bullish momentum as it holds a position above $76,000.

Also Read: Aave Hit by KelpDAO rsETH Hack, AAVE Price Slides Below $100

See more
Rajpalsinh Parmar
Written by Rajpalsinh Parmar
Rajpalsinh is a Crypto Journalist at CryptoNewsZ with over three years of experience covering cryptocurrency, blockchain platforms, and industry developments. He has previously contributed to reputed crypto media platforms, producing SEO-optimized and research-driven content. He specializes in crypto trading bots, blockchain innovations, and industry events, including hackathons. Rajpalsinh focuses on delivering timely news and insights, simplifying complex topics to make them accessible to a broad audience while keeping readers informed about the latest trends in the digital asset ecosystem.