Perpetual futures contracts linked to South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix suffered a sudden crash on Hyperliquid shortly before the company’s shares came under pressure in their home market. The company, whose American depositary receipts began trading on Nasdaq earlier this month, endured a difficult day across both crypto and traditional markets.
According to Hyperliquid data, perpetual contracts tracking the Seoul-listed stock plunged 20% between 02:00 and 02:01 GMT+3, falling to $900. The price recovered above $1,000 in the following minute and was last trading at $1,092. The contract is settled in USDC, a US dollar-pegged stablecoin.
South Korea’s stock market opened lower about an hour later, with chipmakers once again leading the decline. SK Hynix shares ended the session down 15% at 1.55 million won, equivalent to roughly $1,762.
Samsung Electronics and automaker Hyundai Motor were also among the companies that recorded losses. The Kospi index closed the day 11% lower.
SK Hynix ADRs, with 10 depositary receipts representing one ordinary share, fell 4.5% in US premarket trading to $136.51.
Meanwhile, Hyperliquid’s native HYPE token declined by 8%.
Hyperliquid gains popularity
Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange focused on perpetual contracts, has recently emerged as one of the preferred platforms for traders seeking exposure to traditional assets. The trend accelerated after the war involving Iran began in late February.
The exchange had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication.
Sudden price crashes on crypto exchanges often occur during the gap between the US market close and the opening of markets in China, South Korea and other parts of Asia. Trading volumes tend to remain low during these hours, leaving the market without enough opposing orders to absorb large trades and keep prices stable.
SK Hynix suffers a sharp decline
SK Hynix, one of the world’s largest suppliers of high-bandwidth memory chips used in Nvidia’s artificial intelligence processors, has struggled throughout the month. The stock has lost nearly 48% since reaching a record high of 1.947 million won on June 26.
Investor appetite for AI-related stocks has also weakened on Wall Street. Nvidia shares fell 5% on Monday.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Nvidia could provide around $250 billion in financial guarantees for a data center project backed by OpenAI.
Crypto derivatives markets are increasingly offering early signals about price movements in Nasdaq-listed companies, rather than covering only assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. The signal proved accurate in this case, although there is no guarantee that the same pattern will hold every time.
