The daily trading volume of perpetual oil contracts (CL-USDC) on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid surged from $21 million to $1.2 billion, pushing Ethereum out of its second-place position in popularity on the platform.

Source: Bloomberg/Hyperliquid.

The open interest for this asset reached $183 million. The trading spike occurred amid sharp price fluctuations and high volatility in commodity markets, leading the platform to forcibly close short positions worth approximately $75 million within a single day.

Despite widespread liquidations, some major players continue to bet on a price drop. According to Lookonchain, within five hours, one whale transferred 9.5 million USDC to Hyperliquid to open a short position on oil with 20x leverage.

Whale 0x985f deposited 9.5M $USDC into HyperLiquid in the past 5 hours to short #oil with 20x leverage.

Positions:
94,512 xyz:CL($8.17M)
68,974 xyz:BRENTOIL($6.15M)

He also shorted multiple tokens, including $HYPE, $PUMP, $XPL, $APT, and $ASTER.https://t.co/5uPPCRKVOl pic.twitter.com/Zuptrv07se

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 10, 2026

His positions include 94,512 contracts of xyz:CL worth $8.17 million and 68,974 contracts of xyz:BRENTOIL worth $6.15 million. In addition to commodities, this trader also opened short positions on several crypto assets, including HYPE, PUMP, XPL, APT, and ASTER tokens.

The perpetual derivative CL-USDC tracks the price of a barrel of WTI crude oil, using the stablecoin USDC for margin and settlement.

The decentralized platform offers traders 24/7 access to the commodity market, allowing users to open positions on weekends when traditional global exchanges are closed. Previously, a similar surge in popularity on Hyperliquid was seen with contracts for gold and silver.

According to Bloomberg, an improved global risk appetite contributed to a sharp shift in market sentiment. WTI crude oil fell below $86 per barrel after trading above $119 earlier in the day. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index rose by 1% after a drop of more than 1.5%.

The cryptocurrency market also reacted positively. At the time of writing, digital gold returned to the $70,000 mark, while Ethereum held above $2,000.

Analysts at SignalPlus noted the impact of macroeconomic factors, suggesting that during periods of high commodity volatility, Bitcoin will continue to serve as a store of value.

Experts at Bitrue anticipate a resurgence of investor interest in risk assets if oil prices stabilize.

It’s worth noting that on March 9, analyst Darkfost described the rise in oil prices as an unfavorable factor for the leading cryptocurrency.