Hyperliquid runs a fully on-chain order book, yet its fee schedule looks more like a top-tier centralized exchange than a typical DEX — no gas per trade, no AMM spread, just maker/taker rates that decline with volume. Here's the complete picture.
The base schedule
At the entry tier, perpetuals cost roughly 0.01% maker / 0.035% taker (spot trades carry higher rates). Two things stand out against the CEX landscape: the taker rate undercuts the base tiers of Bybit (0.055%) and Binance (0.05%), and there's no separate "regular vs VIP application" system — everything is automatic.
How the tiers work
Fee tiers are computed from your rolling 14-day volume across all markets. As volume grows, both rates step down, with maker fees approaching zero at higher tiers and, at the top of the ladder, flipping into maker rebates — the exchange pays you to rest orders. There's no paperwork: the discount applies the moment your trailing volume qualifies.
On top of volume tiers, staking HYPE (the native token) applies a further percentage discount to your fees. For active traders the combination compounds meaningfully.
Funding: hourly, not 8-hourly
Hyperliquid settles funding every hour rather than the CEX-standard 8 hours. The rate per interval is correspondingly smaller, but don't confuse the cadence with the cost — compare annualized. Hourly settlement smooths carry costs and makes short-hold positions cheaper to time, and it's one reason cross-venue funding arbitrage often involves Hyperliquid on one leg. You can watch its current rates against other venues on our live funding page.
Worked example
Take a $10,000 perp round trip as a taker at base tier:
- Entry fee: $10,000 × 0.035% = $3.50
- Exit fee (flat price): another $3.50 — about $7 total, or 0.07% of notional
- The same round trip at Bybit's base 0.055% taker: $11
- As a maker on Hyperliquid instead: $10,000 × 0.01% × 2 = $2
Small numbers per trade; decisive at scale. A strategy doing $1M of monthly taker volume pays ~$350/month here versus ~$550 at a 0.055% venue — and the gap widens as tiers kick in. Run your own sizes through the fee calculator, which compares the identical trade across ten venues.
What fees don't capture
Two caveats for fairness. First, slippage: for very large orders in majors, deeper CEX books can beat a lower fee schedule — total execution cost is fees plus impact. Second, spot fees on Hyperliquid are higher than its perp fees; the headline rates you see quoted are the perp schedule.
Verdict
For active perp traders — especially maker-heavy or high-frequency styles — Hyperliquid's schedule is among the most competitive anywhere, with the bonus of self-custody and no KYC. Verify the current schedule on the exchange before trading (tiers and staking discounts evolve), and remember that leverage multiplies the *relative* weight of fees on your margin, as we cover in How Leverage Changes Your Trading Costs.