Can Washington advocacy help HYPE recover from its 2026 losses?

Hyperliquid price rebounded 6% on Friday shortly after the decentralized perpetual futures exchange revealed the launch of a new advocacy group in Washington. This fresh catalyst has investors questioning whether HYPE can finally recover from its losses throughout the year.

According to data from crypto.news, Hyperliquid (HYPE) price rebounded over 6% on Friday morning during Asian trading hours before settling around $29.23 at the time of writing. 

HYPE’s price saw a notable uptick following the launch of the Hyperliquid Policy Center in Washington, D.C. This new advocacy and research nonprofit is dedicated to securing regulatory clarity for decentralized finance, specifically targeting on-chain derivatives and perpetual futures.

To jumpstart the initiative, the Hyper Foundation, the ecosystem’s independent growth arm, committed 1 million HYPE tokens, valued at approximately $29 million, as reported earlier by crypto.news.

As Hyperliquid takes on a leading role in framing the regulatory landscape for the decentralized industry, it is likely to benefit from the exposure and visibility, which could support long term adoption.

However, the impact of such a strategic move on HYPE’s long-term price action may be undercut as the project’s on-chain stats still point to weakness.

Data from DeFiLlama show that the total value locked in the network has dropped from $4.7 billion recorded on to $4.2 billion at the time of writing. At the same time, the weekly revenue generated by DeFi protocols on the network has slumped 55% to $11.83 million since Feb. 9.

Such a drop in TVL and revenue can be interpreted as a fundamental erosion of network utility and engagement, which inevitably dampens investor demand.

Looking ahead, another major headwind for Hyperliquid price is a 9.92 million token unlock set for March 6. 

At press time, the upcoming unlock was worth around $291 million and represented 2.72% of the total circulating supply. Token unlocks can drive prices lower, especially if there’s not enough demand from new buyers to absorb the liquidity.

The latest recovery also follows a difficult period where the token fell over 25% from its yearly high of $37.84.

On the daily chart, Hyperliquid price has been trading under a descending trendline that has served as a dynamic resistance level since early February, suggesting that bears continue to dominate the market by capping any recovery attempts by bulls.

The ongoing bearish market, driven by Bitcoin’s failure to retain key support levels, has also added to investor caution and hurt HYPE price.

The Aroon indicator largely remains in support of a continuation of the bearish trend, with the Aroon Down at 92.86%, which means selling pressure still stands at an extreme level. 

Meanwhile, the Relative Strength Index metric has formed a falling channel slipping below neutral territory, a sign that momentum remains weak.

For now, the key support for Hyperliquid price lies at $28, which aligns with the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level, where bulls could lodge a defense and spark a healthy correction. However, a breach below this level could embolden bears to push for lower prices toward $21, the next key support level on the Fibonacci extension.