In the first quarter, perpetual futures for oil and precious metals accounted for over 67% of trading volume for HIP-3 contracts on the Hyperliquid exchange, according to a report by Sygnum Bank.

💡Sygnum Bank's Digital Nugget: Are traditional assets finding a home on decentralised rails?

We are now witnessing a shift in the form of crypto exchanges (both centralised and decentralised) offering exposure to traditional assets, with volumes now reaching impressive levels
 pic.twitter.com/zSE2Hh103g

— Sygnum Bank (@sygnumofficial) March 26, 2026

Previously, most activity (90%) in user markets was concentrated in indices, but this share has now dropped to 17%.

Record Activity

Analysts attribute this trend shift to investors moving from altcoins to traditional assets amid geopolitical instability. The conflict in the Middle East has disrupted logistics in the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world's oil passes.

The subsequent price increase triggered a surge in oil derivatives trading. Experts emphasize that traditional exchanges do not operate at night or on weekends, even though significant news events often occur during these times. In this context, 24/7 on-chain contracts have become the only means for real-time risk hedging.

Source: Sygnum. 

Since January, trading volumes for HIP-3 on weekends have increased ninefold. Consequently, Hyperliquid's daily turnover reached a record $5.4 billion in March, according to reports.

Source: Sygnum. 

Support for HYPE 

New “micro-markets” have evolved into full-fledged trading platforms, according to Sygnum. They generate additional commission income for the exchange, accelerate the buyback of tokens, and support the price of the native HYPE coin.

Since the beginning of the year, the asset has appreciated by 62%. In contrast, Bitcoin has lost 20%, and Ethereum has dropped by 29%.

Hourly chart of HYPE/USDT on Bybit. Source: TradingView. 

HYPE has also entered the top 15 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, currently valued at $214.8 million.

Source: CoinGecko. 

Sygnum's Forecast

Analysts note a growing interest in commodity markets: in March, Binance launched trading for WTI oil and natural gas contracts through the Binance Wallet service.

Traditional exchanges are also increasingly exploring the segment of tokenized securities. Last week, the SEC approved a joint pilot project by Nasdaq and Kraken for trading digitized high-liquidity stocks.

Simultaneously, the Intercontinental Exchange — the parent company of the NYSE — invested in OKX. Users of the platform will be able to trade tokenized securities and derivatives listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Sygnum believes that TradFi will continue its gradual shift to on-chain, although this demand is currently largely met by specialized decentralized platforms like Hyperliquid.

“If altcoins remain merely proxy instruments for Bitcoin amid low liquidity, cryptocurrency users may shift to traditional assets with a better risk-return ratio,” experts noted.

A broad shift towards risk would require de-escalation in the Middle East and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. However, the current environment only accelerates the adoption of tokenized RWA by both TradFi and the crypto market.

Recall that in March, the NYSE partnered with Securitize to launch trading of digitized stocks.

Asset manager Franklin Templeton announced a partnership with Ondo Finance. The company will issue tokenized versions of its ETFs, which will be available directly through crypto wallets.