Arthur Hayes has exited all positions in Hyperliquid (HYPE) and NEAR Protocol as of June 4, walking away from the long calls he first laid out at Consensus Miami earlier this year. The move surprises given Hayes had previously targeted a $150 HYPE price by August 2026 — and the token had already delivered 130% year-to-date returns before hitting resistance at $59–$60.
Five factors behind the exit
Hayes laid out a handful of macro and geopolitical triggers for the decision, naming five specifically: higher energy prices tied to the Iran conflict and inventory restocking; a wave of three mega AI IPOs that he says will absorb institutional capital; the possibility of a Trump anti-AI pivot ahead of the midterms; anticipated market highs through September; and his own profit-taking after a strong run. The list reads less like a conviction break on HYPE or NEAR fundamentals and more like a portfolio-level risk adjustment — something Hayes himself described as tactical management rather than a loss of faith in either project.
Resistance rejects the rally
The timing aligns with technical pressure. HYPE had rallied into the $59–$60 zone, an area that crypto analyst Ali Martinez flagged as carrying an overbought RSI and a TD Sequential sell signal. Hayes had been a vocal HYPE bull, but the price stalled at that level. Hyperliquid's Q1 2026 report underscores why the token had been so hot: $215 million in gross revenue and 71.5 percentage points of alpha over Bitcoin. That kind of outperformance doesn't go unnoticed — and neither does the profit-taking that follows.
ETF filings keep the story alive
Institutional appetite for HYPE hasn't cooled. Four separate HYPE ETF filings — from Grayscale, VanEck, 21Shares, and Bitwise — have been submitted, a signal that asset managers see a product market worth fighting for even as one of crypto's most prominent traders takes chips off the table. Whether those funds launch before the potential macro headwinds Hayes flagged becomes the open question. For now, HYPE sits at the resistance level where Hayes decided his bet had run its course.
