- On April 20, the price of Hyperliquid (HYPE) fell by about 5% during intraday trading, sparking fear in the community.
- This decline comes amid heavy liquidation in the cryptocurrency market after the Kelp DAO hack, where hackers seized $290 million.
- Despite the decline in HYPE tokens, the cryptocurrency market is showing resilience as Bitcoin (BTC) still holds a position above $76,000.
On April 20, the price of Hyperliquid (HYPE) suffered a decline of about 5.5% on the daily chart following turmoil in the DeFi sector due to the Kelp DAO hack.
At the time of writing this article, Hyperliquid is currently trading at around $40.87 with a market capitalization of $10.44 billion. Daily trading volume jumped by about 107% and currently hovers around $389.02 million, according to CoinMarketCap.
The DeFi sector takes a major hit after the KelpDAO hack
Once again, the decentralized finance sector faced turmoil over the weekend, when hackers stole nearly $290 million from KelpDAO, a popular liquid staking protocol.
On April 18 and 19, attackers exploited a vulnerability in the cross-chain KelpDAO bridge, which was powered by LayerZero, to create fake rsETH tokens worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
They then used these fake tokens as collateral on major lending platforms like Aave to borrow real Ethereum. This incident is now considered one of the largest DeFi hacks of 2026. Kilbdaw The system was quickly shut down to stop further damage, but news spread quickly and scared many users across the ecosystem.
This hacking incident sparked a major panic across DeFi. Following this hack, users began withdrawing their funds from the DeFi sector, causing a $13 billion drop in Total Value Locked (TVL) across the entire DeFi sector within 48 hours.
One of the leading lending platforms, Aave, saw more than $8 billion withdrawn in just one day. Its TVL value fell from $26.4 billion to about $18 to $20 after the incident. Other protocols like Morpho, Sky, and even some of Solana’s own protocols that were not directly involved also experienced significant outflows. Many platforms were forced to freeze certain markets to avoid larger losses from bad loans.
Excessive Liquid is falling slightly as momentum declines after the recent rally
According to TradingView, the daily and 4-hour charts show that HYPE is forming a rising wedge pattern. This setup is considered a bullish continuation pattern as long as the price remains within the ascending channel.
According to the current price chart, there is no clear reversal on the charts yet. The RSI on the 14-day time frame is currently in the neutral zone at around 47. The RSI has declined from overbought levels above 70 during the recent rally. This indicates that the token is not significantly overbought or oversold at current levels. This neutral reading leaves room for a significant bounce in the short term if buying interest returns to the market.
On the moving averages, the price is hovering around the short-term simple and exponential moving averages of 5 days, 10 days and 20 days. This falls around $40.90 to $41.30. This provides mixed signals in the near term. However, the token continues to trade comfortably above its 50-day simple moving average, around $39.50, and its 200-day simple moving average, around $35.
According to the current price chart, there are major resistance levels at around $40, which will act as immediate support. If the price drops below these levels, there is strong support at around $38 to $36.
On the flip side, if Hyperliquid can gain upward momentum, there are key resistance levels at around $43.70 to $44. Also, if the cryptocurrency crosses the $45 level, Hyperliquid could target the next major resistance levels at around $50.
However, the current state of the DeFi sector is negatively impacting Hyperliquid.
Despite significant liquidation in the DeFi sector, Bitcoin (BTC) It is still showing a sign of bullish momentum as it holds a position above $76,000.
Read also: Aave Hit By KelpDAO rsETH Hack, Aave Price Slips Below $100
