Papertrade vs Hyperliquid
Pick Papertrade if you are experienced traders outside the US who want very high leverage on BTC or ETH with no funding and no fee on losing trades, and who accept a young protocol with an unresolved price-manipulation risk. Pick Hyperliquid if you are perps traders outside the US who want onchain order-book trading from their own wallet, with fees that drop by volume and HYPE staking.
Checked 2026-10-17 · both venues' fee pagesPapertrade is a synthetic perpetuals exchange on HyperEVM offering BTC and ETH with up to 1000x leverage. Every trade is a swap against a single liquidity pool at Hyperliquid's order-book mid price, with no funding, spread or fee on position size. The protocol takes its cut only from winning closes.
Hyperliquid is a layer-1 blockchain whose HyperCore layer runs fully onchain perpetual futures and spot order books, with a HyperEVM smart-contract layer alongside. It targets active perps traders who want order-book trading from a self-custodied wallet.
Our take
Papertrade runs on Hyperliquid's chain but is a different product: one-click synthetic BTC and ETH perps up to 1000x, priced at Hyperliquid's mid and settled against a single pool. Hyperliquid is the order book itself, with hundreds of markets, a 0.045% taker base fee and funding. Papertrade charges nothing on losing trades and takes its cut from winners, so it costs less when you lose and more when you win.
Choose Papertrade if
You want 1000x on BTC or ETH with no funding, no slippage and no fee on losing trades, and you accept a protocol that launched in October 2026.
Choose Hyperliquid if
You want a full order book with many markets, limit orders, cross margin and fees you can calculate in advance, and you live outside the US.
Key differences
- Fees: Hyperliquid charges 0.045% taker and 0.015% maker on position size, plus funding. Papertrade charges nothing on size and no funding; winning closes keep about 86% of the gain on a 1% BTC move.
- Worked example, $10,000 BTC position and a 1% move: Hyperliquid costs about $9 in taker fees whether you win or lose. Papertrade costs about $14 out of a $100 win and $0 on a $100 loss.
- Markets and leverage: Papertrade lists only BTC and ETH, up to 1000x. Hyperliquid lists hundreds of perps, with lower per-market caps.
- Liquidation: Papertrade forfeits the whole position margin when the bust price is touched. Hyperliquid closes against your remaining margin.
- Geo: Hyperliquid's terms bar US persons. Papertrade had published no terms or restricted-country list as of 2026-10-17.
- Risk: Papertrade pays winners from a pool that can run short, so profits can wait in a payout queue, and its docs call price manipulation an unresolved risk. Hyperliquid has a longer record, including the JELLY and POPCAT manipulation incidents.
How to choose
- Scalping small moves: Hyperliquid. Papertrade's haircut takes the largest share of small wins.
- Holding a high-leverage BTC or ETH position for a bigger move: Papertrade avoids funding and fees on size.
- Need altcoins, limit orders or cross margin: Hyperliquid.
- US resident: Hyperliquid is off limits; Papertrade has not said either way.
Editorial view based on the fee and policy data on this page. Updated 2026-10-17.
Side by side
| Papertrade | Hyperliquid | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Perp DEX | Perp DEX |
| Status | live | live |
| Chains | Hyperliquid | Hyperliquid |
| Platforms | web | web |
| Custody | Self-custody | Self-custody |
| KYC | none | none |
| Platform fee, round trip | — | 0.09% |
| $1,000 round trip | — | $0.90 |
| Sign-up perk | — | 4% discount on fees for the first $25M of volume |
| Perps taker / maker | — | 0.045% / 0.015% |
| United States | Unverified | Not available |
| United Kingdom | Unverified | Unverified |
| European Union | Unverified | Unverified |
| Launched | 2026-10-10 | 2023-02 |
| Reported incidents | 1 | 4 |
Features
| Feature | Papertrade | Hyperliquid |
|---|---|---|
| perps | ✓ | ✓ |
| 1000x leverage | ✓ | — |
| no funding | ✓ | — |
| no slippage | ✓ | — |
| session keys | ✓ | — |
| isolated margin | ✓ | — |
| staking | ✓ | — |
| spot | — | ✓ |
| order book | — | ✓ |
| limit orders | — | ✓ |
| vaults | — | ✓ |
| staking discounts | — | ✓ |
| builder codes | — | ✓ |
| HIP-3 builder-deployed perps | — | ✓ |
| outcome markets | — | ✓ |
| HyperEVM | — | ✓ |
| API | — | ✓ |
"—" means the feature was not in the sources we checked, not proof it's missing.
Papertrade: watch out for
- Only BTC and ETH were listed as of 2026-10-17.
- Liquidation forfeits the whole position margin. At 1000x it fires after about a 0.052% move, when a manual close would still return nearly half the margin.
- Winning payouts can be delayed in a queue if the pool is short of USDC.
Hyperliquid: watch out for
- The Terms bar US and Ontario residents and prohibit VPN use to get around that.
- The HLP vault has absorbed manipulation losses, including a reported $4.9M on POPCAT in November 2025.
- Validators delisted the JELLY market and settled it at a fixed price in March 2025, an intervention critics questioned.
FAQ
Which is better, Papertrade or Hyperliquid?
Papertrade runs on Hyperliquid's chain but is a different product: one-click synthetic BTC and ETH perps up to 1000x, priced at Hyperliquid's mid and settled against a single pool. Hyperliquid is the order book itself, with hundreds of markets, a 0.045% taker base fee and funding. Papertrade charges nothing on losing trades and takes its cut from winners, so it costs less when you lose and more when you win.
Is Papertrade better than Hyperliquid?
Pick Papertrade if you are experienced traders outside the US who want very high leverage on BTC or ETH with no funding and no fee on losing trades, and who accept a young protocol with an unresolved price-manipulation risk. Pick Hyperliquid if you are perps traders outside the US who want onchain order-book trading from their own wallet, with fees that drop by volume and HYPE staking.
Which is cheaper, Papertrade or Hyperliquid?
We could not compare published fees for both.
Can I use Papertrade or Hyperliquid in the US?
Papertrade: unverified. Hyperliquid: not available. Based on each venue's own terms.
Sources
Last checked . Fees and terms change often; the venue's own page wins if it disagrees with ours.
- Papertrade Docs: What is Papertrade? — checked 2026-10-17
- Papertrade Docs: FAQ — checked 2026-10-17
- Papertrade Docs: Asymmetric impact PnL — checked 2026-10-17
- Papertrade Docs: Liquidations — checked 2026-10-17
- Papertrade Docs: Deposits and withdrawals — checked 2026-10-17
- Papertrade Docs: The LP and the payout queue — checked 2026-10-17
- Hyperliquid Docs: Fees — checked 2026-10-16
- Hyperliquid Docs: Referrals — checked 2026-10-16
- Hyperliquid Docs: Builder codes — checked 2026-10-16
- Hyperliquid Terms of Use (last updated June 15, 2026) — checked 2026-10-16
- Hyperliquid Docs: About Hyperliquid — checked 2026-10-16
- Hyperliquid Docs: Core contributors — checked 2026-10-16