Hyperliquid crude oil perpetual contracts see over $170 million in anomalous orders, suspected of spoofing trading

October 29 — Market monitoring firm Solidus Labs found in its analysis that during the period of severe volatility in international oil prices from March 8 to 10 due to the Iran war, a trader submitted over $170 million in anomalous orders through two accounts on Hyperliquid, allegedly manipulating crude oil perpetual contract prices through "spoofing." The trader frequently placed and canceled large orders on one side of the order book while executing trades on the other side, with the ratio of canceled order value to opposite-side executed trade value at approximately 30:1, profiting about $119,000 within three days. In one trade on March 9, the trader canceled approximately $17 million in sell orders within a short period while executing approximately $425,000 in buy orders. The related activity was mainly concentrated in Brent crude oil perpetual contracts, and also involved WTI crude oil and natural gas contracts.

Solidus believes these behaviors are consistent with the characteristics of spoofing but has not yet been able to confirm manipulative intent. Hyperliquid Labs responded that all orders, cancellations, and trade records on the platform are publicly recorded on the blockchain and are available for review by market participants and regulators. (Bloomberg)