HYPE Whales Move $400M in Days: Is a Sell-Off Coming or Something Bigger?

Hyperliquid ($HYPE) whales are making massive on-chain moves even as the token trades well below its recent all-time high.

Wallets have staked and unstaked hundreds of millions of dollars worth of $HYPE in the past few days.

Yesterday, blockchain tracker Lookonchain reported that one whale staked 2.93 million $HYPE, worth about $172 million. The tokens came from 19 wallets believed to belong to the same entity, which deposited them into Hyperliquid over the past 24 hours.

According to the data, the whale accumulated the 2.93 million $HYPE about nine months ago at an average price of $44 per token. At current prices, the position is sitting on an unrealized profit of roughly $44.5 million.

Lookonchain also flagged another major transaction. A separate whale received 557,902 $HYPE, valued at around $32.87 million, from institutional trading firm FalconX. The tokens were then deposited into Hyperliquid for staking.

$170M Unstaking Raises Questions

Meanwhile, OnChain Lens reported that a single entity unstaked 2.92 million $HYPE, worth about $170.1 million, from two wallets. The tokens had remained staked for roughly eight months, and both wallets now hold no $HYPE in the staking contract.

The tracker later identified another large staking transaction involving 1.49 million $HYPE, worth about $88.2 million. The tokens were spread across eight wallets.

On-chain data shows those wallets acquired their $HYPE through Bybit around nine months ago. They held the tokens until the recent staking activity.

ETF Seeding Theory Gains Traction

The large unstaking activity sparked speculation that major holders were preparing to sell. However, Hyperliquid community member Grenderen.hl offered a different explanation.

According to him, the activity could be linked to ETF seeding rather than liquidation. Custodians need liquid tokens for ETF operations, making staked $HYPE unsuitable.

Grenderen pointed to a similar event in April. Around $88 million worth of $HYPE was unstaked on the same day Grayscale updated a filing and switched custody to Anchorage.

$400M Set to Leave Staking

Crypto commentator Jussy estimated that about $400 million worth of $HYPE is scheduled to leave staking over the next seven days.

The analyst said more than 5 million $HYPE, worth roughly $320 million, is tied to wallets linked to Multicoin, Paradigm, and Selini Capital.

Multicoin has said its unstaking is part of a wallet rotation, not a sale. Paradigm and Selini Capital have not made similar statements.

Jussy also noted that $HYPE previously fell 15% after unstaking announcements triggered market panic. At that time, around 3.2 million $HYPE entered the unstaking queue, including about 2 million $HYPE linked to Multicoin’s wallet rotation.

The analyst added that if the remaining tokens are sold gradually, Hyperliquid’s reported $1.4 million in daily buybacks could help absorb some of the selling pressure.

$HYPE Stays Below Its Peak

According to CoinMarketCap data, $HYPE traded at $57.65, down 1.44% over the past 24 hours. The token has fallen about 9% over the past month and remains roughly 25% below its all-time high of $76, reached about a month ago.

The recent wave of whale staking and unstaking has left traders divided. Some see the activity as a sign of potential selling pressure, while others believe it is strategic institutional positioning.