Hyperliquid’s SPACEX-USDH perpetual contract suffered a violent flash crash Thursday afternoon, plunging from a high of $2,277 to a low of $1,254, a collapse of nearly 45%, in a single 30-minute window before partially recovering to around $2,169. The move liquidated 405 users across 1,393 positions, wiping out $1.51 million in notional value, according to Hyperliquid data.
What makes the episode particularly striking is the concentration of the volume. Over the past 24 hours, the contract has moved quietly, generating just $4.87 million in total trading volume on an open interest base of less than $2.9 million. Then one candle absorbed what was probably most of that total figure and the market had no depth or liquidity to absorb it.
The median liquidated position held just $31 margin, indicating a retail user base taking 3x leverage with minimal cushion.
Hyperliquid SPACEX-USDH is a crypto perpetual contract for the market valuation of SpaceX. Because the company is private, people can’t buy its shares before its planned IPO. To get around this problem, Hyperliquide created a synthetic perpetual contract that allows investors to bet on what they think the company will be worth.
Traders do not buy actual shares of Elon Musk’s rocket company and do not obtain any ownership or shareholder rights.
Unlike perpetual Bitcoin or Ethereum futures contracts, which anchor themselves to deep and liquid spot markets, the SPACEX contract has no public price benchmark, with SpaceX shares trading only on private secondary markets reserved for accredited investors.
At the time of settlement, the mark price of $2,132 was still more than $220 above the oracle price of $1,908, implying that the contract remained high-priced even after the carnage.
SpaceX is targeting an IPO in June.
UPDATE (May 28, 2026, 5:31 p.m. UTC): Adds additional context.
