Hyperliquid Vault Glossary
Short, precise definitions of every term used in Hyperliquid vault analytics. For longer answers see the FAQ.
A
- APR
- Annualised return from a vault over a trailing window (typically 30 or 90 days). Does not compound; does not include tail risk. Always read alongside max drawdown.
- APY
- Compounded annual return. Slightly higher than APR for the same underlying rate. Hyperliquid vault returns are usually quoted as APR.
B
- Backtest
- Applying a strategy retroactively to historical data to estimate how it would have performed. Always subject to overfitting — a strong backtest is not a prediction. Use paper trading instead for live-data validation.
D
- Drawdown
- The percentage drop from a vault's peak equity to a subsequent trough. The most honest single risk number — APR hides volatility, drawdown exposes it.
- Max drawdownMax DD
- The worst drawdown in a vault's entire history. If max drawdown is 40%, assume you could see that again and size your deposit accordingly.
E
- Entry signal
- A VaultVision-computed buy-window indicator based on recent drawdown, TVL flow, and momentum. Not financial advice; a timing heuristic.
F
- FARTCOIN incident
- April 2026 HLP loss (~$1.5M) in a similar pattern to JELLY — a thin-liquidity perp used to dump inventory on HLP. See HLP mechanics post.
- Funding rate
- Periodic payment between long and short traders on a perp, anchoring the perp price to spot. HLP earns funding on its market-making inventory.
H
- HLPHyperliquidity Provider
- Hyperliquid's protocol-owned market-making vault. Backstops liquidations, quotes on-book liquidity, and accrues a share of trading fees. No operator fee. 4-day deposit lockup. See live HLP page.
- HyperCore
- Hyperliquid's native L1 chain where vaults, perp trading, and order books live. Separate from HyperEVM.
- HyperEVM
- Hyperliquid's EVM-compatible execution layer for general DeFi protocols. HyperEVM TVL is separate from Hyperliquid vault TVL.
- Hyperliquid
- A perpetual futures DEX running on its own L1. Vaults on Hyperliquid hold USDC and trade perp or spot markets natively. Hyperliquid also has an EVM layer (HyperEVM) for general-purpose DeFi.
J
- JELLY incident
- March 2025 attack where a toxic position was forced onto HLP via a low-liquidity perp market, costing HLP ~$12M. The defining HLP tail-risk event.
L
- Leader vault
- A Hyperliquid vault run by a single trader. The leader deposits at least 5% of the vault themselves, charges 10–20% performance fee on profits, and has a 30-day lockup on their own capital.
- Liquidation
- The forced close of a leveraged position when its collateral falls below the maintenance margin. HLP takes the other side of many HL liquidations.
- Lockup
- The minimum time between a deposit and when those USDC can be withdrawn. 1 day on most leader vaults, 4 days on HLP. The clock resets on every new deposit.
M
- Mark-to-market
- Valuing an open position at its current market price rather than entry price. Hyperliquid vault TVL includes mark-to-market unrealised PnL.
O
- On-chain
- Data or actions recorded directly on a blockchain. Hyperliquid vault balances, deposits, and positions are all on-chain on HyperCore.
- Open interestOI
- The total notional size of all open perp positions on Hyperliquid. Includes leverage; not the same as TVL.
P
- Paper trading
- Running a hypothetical portfolio without real capital. VaultVision's paper trading tool tests allocations against live vault data before depositing USDC.
- Performance fee
- A percentage of profits the leader takes from a vault, usually 10–20%. HLP has zero performance fee; all leader vaults have one.
- PerpPerpetual future
- A futures contract with no expiry, held indefinitely. The vast majority of Hyperliquid trading is on perps.
- PnL
- Profit and loss. A vault's PnL is the change in equity from trading, excluding new deposits and withdrawals.
R
- Risk band
- The category a vault falls into based on its risk score: conservative (0–40), balanced (41–69), or aggressive (70–100).
- Risk score
- VaultVision's 0–100 risk metric combining drawdown, TVL stability, leader track record, strategy concentration, and volatility. Lower = safer. Full formula: risk score methodology.
S
- Sharpe ratio
- Excess return divided by return volatility. Higher = better risk-adjusted return. A crypto Sharpe above 2 over 90 days is strong, but Sharpe understates tail risk.
- Slippage
- The price difference between the quoted execution and the actual fill. Larger on illiquid markets; matters more when withdrawing from a vault that holds illiquid positions.
- Sortino ratio
- Like Sharpe but only penalises downside volatility. Often more honest for asymmetric strategies.
- Spot
- Buying or selling an asset at its current price for immediate settlement. Hyperliquid has a spot market alongside its perp markets.
T
- TVLTotal Value Locked
- The USDC equity held at a vault's address, marked to market. Hyperliquid-wide vault TVL sums TVL across all active vaults. Separate from HyperEVM TVL and from open interest. See live TVL.
V
- Vault
- An on-chain USDC pool on Hyperliquid run by a leader (trader) or the protocol. Depositors share pro-rata PnL. Leader vaults charge a performance fee; the protocol vault HLP does not.
W
- Whale
- A wallet making a deposit or withdrawal above a size threshold — typically ≥$100K on VaultVision. Whale flow moves small-vault TVL meaningfully.
- Whale flow
- The net deposit/withdrawal activity from whale-sized wallets into a vault, tracked as a time series on VaultVision.