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Hyperliquid Spot Trading (2026): Quote Assets, Fees
Rates and rules verified against Hyperliquid's official docs on 2026-09-15. Perp fees are on the fees page; this page covers what is different about spot.
Hyperliquid's spot market is the same on-chain order book as its perps, with the same account, but it has its own fee schedule, its own rules for what can be a quote asset, and a few behaviours — lot sizes, balance modes — that surprise people coming from perps. Everything below is from the docs.
Spot fees: a separate, higher schedule
"There are separate fee schedules for perps vs spot. Perps and spot volume will be counted together to determine your fee tier, and spot volume will count double toward your fee tier." One tier applies "across all assets, including perps, HIP-3 perps, and spot", assessed daily on rolling 14-day weighted volume. Base-rate spot tiers:
| Tier | 14d weighted volume ($) | Taker | Maker |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | — | 0.070% | 0.040% |
| 1 | >5M | 0.060% | 0.030% |
| 2 | >25M | 0.050% | 0.020% |
| 3 | >100M | 0.040% | 0.010% |
| 4 | >500M | 0.035% | 0.000% |
| 5 | >2B | 0.030% | 0.000% |
| 6 | >7B | 0.025% | 0.000% |
HYPE staking discounts of 5% to 40% apply to spot exactly as to perps (the docs' Diamond column shows 0.0420% / 0.0240% at tier 0), and the same maker-rebate tiers exist. Two spot-specific multipliers: "spot pairs between two spot quote assets have 80% lower taker fees, maker rebates, and user volume contribution", and aligned quote assets "benefit from 20% lower taker fees, 50% better maker rebates, and 20% more volume contribution toward fee tiers".
USDC and the other quote assets
"USDC is natively minted on the Hyperliquid L1"; the legacy Arbitrum bridge, audited by Zellic, "holds less than 10% of the USDC supply on HyperCore". Beyond USDC, "becoming a spot quote asset is permissionless" but expensive: the token needs specific decimals, zero deployer fee share, and "200k HYPE staked" by the deployer, committed for three years and slashable by validator vote if the peg and liquidity conditions lapse — QUOTE/USDC must hold "100k USDC size on both sides within the price range from 0.998 to 1.002" and "1M USDC size on both sides within 0.99 and 1.01", and HYPE/QUOTE "50k QUOTE size on both sides within a spread of 0.5%". "USDC and USDT are not subject to the staking requirement due to their longstanding track record and established scale."
Aligned stablecoins
An "aligned quote asset" is a stablecoin whose issuer shares yield with the protocol. Under AQAv1 the deployer stakes 800k more HYPE (1M in total), "50% of the AQA rate flows to the protocol", and users get the 20% / 50% / 20% fee, rebate and volume benefits above. AQAv2 extends alignment to stablecoins not exclusive to Hyperliquid, with deployers sharing "approximately 90% of cost-adjusted reserve yield revenue on their Hyperliquid supply", and "will be a requirement for quote assets to be listed against HIP-4 and validator-operated perp markets on a future network upgrade"; it carries "no trading fee or volume contribution benefit". Off-chain conditions — 1:1 backing, par redemption, native minting on HyperEVM — are enforced by validator vote.
Balances: spot, perps and your account mode
Whether spot holdings back perp positions depends on the account abstraction mode. In the unified account, the docs' recommendation for most users, "USDC balance is the single source for validator-operated perps, XYZ perps, and spot trading against USDC as a quote asset" — the spot and perps USDC are one balance. In standard mode they are "separate perp and spot balances". Under portfolio margin, spot HYPE and BTC count as collateral at 0.65 and 0.5 LTV. The margin-modes page has the rest. Onboarding assets deposited via the Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and other networks arrive as spot tokens that "you will have to sell ... for USDC, USDT, or whichever quote asset is used for the assets you're interested in trading".
Leftovers you cannot sell
"Each spot deployer sets the minimum lot size for trading." The support FAQ's examples: JEFF has a minimum lot of 1, XAUT of 0.01, and RUB can only be sold "in units of 0.00001". A balance below the lot size cannot be sold on the book; the docs suggest transferring to the HyperEVM and swapping there, or bridging out.
FAQ
Why is spot more expensive than perps?
The docs publish separate schedules and do not give a reason. At the base tier spot is 0.070% taker against 0.045% on perps; spot volume counting double toward the shared tier softens the difference for active traders.
Do I need a separate spot account?
No. Spot and perps share the address; in the unified account they even share the USDC balance. In standard mode you move USDC between the two balances yourself.
Can any token be a quote asset?
Permissionlessly, yes — with 200k HYPE staked for three years under slashing conditions, or 1M HYPE for an aligned stablecoin. USDC and USDT are exempt.
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