Hyperliquid Launches Priority Fees on Mainnet, Introducing HYPE-Denominated Auction System for Order Execution
Summary
Hyperliquid has activated priority fees on mainnet in alpha mode, introducing a two-tier auction system that allows traders to pay HYPE tokens for faster order execution and earlier access to incoming market data
The system creates two distinct priority layers. Gossip priority, paid via a Dutch auction denominated in HYPE, grants winning bidders earlier visibility of incoming transaction data before it is executed by the L1 — a meaningful edge in high-frequency trading environments. Order priority, charged as a fraction of filled notional converted to HYPE from a user’s undelegated staking balance, determines execution ordering within the mempool. Both fee types are burned, making the system deflationary for HYPE supply.
The maximum order priority rate was reduced from 20 basis points to 8 basis points before mainnet launch, following user feedback during testnet — a concession that narrows the cost advantage available to the most aggressive participants and limits the degree to which well-capitalized traders can crowd out smaller market makers. Order priority currently applies only to IOC (immediate-or-cancel) orders on HIP-3 assets.
The gossip auction runs five independent Dutch auctions on a synchronized three-minute cycle, with a minimum bid of 0.1 HYPE per slot. Each auction resets to ten times the previous winning price, creating a dynamic cost floor that scales with demand.
Separately, Hyperliquid raised the vault creation gas fee from 100 USDC to 10,000 USDC and announced that legacy HyperCore vaults will be feature-frozen for two years as the protocol migrates vault infrastructure to tokenized smart contracts on HyperEVM via precompiles and CoreWriter.