How the Hyperliquid referral discount works, exactly
Verified against Hyperliquid docs: Referrals and Hyperliquid docs: Fees · by Hyperliquid Academy
The exact terms
Stated plainly, because a lot of pages on this topic are imprecise.
| Term | Value |
|---|---|
| Discount on your trading fees | 4% |
| Volume covered | Your first $25M |
| When it can be applied | Before your first trade, never after |
| Applies to vaults or sub-accounts | No |
| Stacks with staking and volume tiers | Yes, multiplicatively |
| What the referrer receives | 10% of your fees after your discount, for your first $1B of volume |
| Volume needed to create your own code | $10,000 |
Why “before your first trade” is the whole story
A referral code binds to a wallet that has not yet traded. After the first fill, that address can never carry one. There is no appeal, no support ticket, and no workaround.
This single rule is why every guide including this one puts the referral step first in the sequence. It is not a marketing flourish. It is the only step in the onboarding process that expires.
If you already trade on Hyperliquid
The discount is not available on that address any more. What is still available: staking discounts, volume tiers, and moving activity toward maker orders. A fresh wallet is a different account, with a different volume history and different tier, so starting one purely to capture 4% is rarely worth the fragmentation.
What 4% is actually worth
Four percent of a fee sounds small, and on a single trade it is. The useful way to see it is annualised against your own volume.
Cost of a $10,000 taker order as each discount is added
- Base rate, no discounts $4.50 0.045% Tier 0, nothing staked
- With referral code $4.32 0.0432% 4% off, applies from trade one
- Referral + Silver staking $3.67 0.03672% Over 1,000 HYPE staked and linked
- Referral + Diamond staking $2.59 0.02592% Over 500,000 HYPE staked
- Everything, at the top volume tier $1.38 0.01382% Over $7B of 14-day volume as well
The reason to take it seriously is not the size of the number but the price of getting it: nothing. It requires no capital, no volume history, no token, and no lock-up. Every other lever on the fee schedule costs you something. This one costs a click, made in the right order.
The disclosure
We publish a referral code and we earn from it. Specifically: 10% of the trading fees paid by people who sign up through our link, after their own discount, for their first $1B of volume.
That is an incentive to get you to click, so hold this page to a standard: every number above is the number in the referral documentation, we have said what the discount does not cover, and we have told you the cap rather than calling it permanent. If you find a figure here that disagrees with the source, the source is right and we want to hear about it.
Creating your own code
If you trade enough to have generated $10,000 of volume, you can create a code of your own on the referrals screen. Rewards accrue across quote assets, become claimable above a dollar, and arrive in your spot balance.
Worth knowing: your own trading does not earn you referral rewards, and manufacturing referrals through wallets you control is prohibited. It is a real programme, not a loophole.
Frequently asked questions
Is the discount permanent?
No, and be careful with sites that say it is. It covers your first $25M of trading volume. For most traders that is effectively the whole time they will use the venue, but the cap is real and it is not a lifetime arrangement.
Can I add a code after I have traded?
No. The code attaches only to a wallet that has not traded. There is no support process to add one afterwards.
Does it apply to my vault deposits?
No. Vaults and sub-accounts are treated as independent accounts by the clearinghouse, so a discount on your main account does not reach them.
Does it stack with staking and volume discounts?
Yes, and the three multiply. The referral discount is applied to whatever rate your tier and staking already produced.
What does the referrer get?
10% of the fees the referred trader pays, after that trader's own discount, for the referred trader's first $1B of volume. Rewards are claimable above one dollar and land in the referrer's spot balance.
Sources
- Hyperliquid docs: Referralshyperliquid.gitbook.io
- Hyperliquid docs: Feeshyperliquid.gitbook.io
We link the primary source for every number on this page. If a figure here disagrees with the official documentation, the documentation is right and we want to know.