Hyperliquid's SpaceX Pre-market Contract Flash Crash 45%, Resulting in Over $1.5 Million in Liquidation Losses for 405 Retail Traders

On May 29, the SPACEX-USDH perpetual contract on the Hyperliquid platform faced a severe flash crash this Thursday, plummeting nearly 45% from a high of $2,277 to a low of $1,254 in just 30 minutes before partially rebounding to around $2,169. The sharp drop led to the liquidation of 405 users holding 1,393 positions, totaling $1.51 million in liquidated funds. Data shows the contract recorded only $4.87 million in trading volume over the past 24 hours, with open interest below $2.9 million—indicating extremely low market depth. A single large sell order instantly drained available liquidity, triggering the cascading price decline. The liquidated accounts were dominated by retail investors, with a median margin of roughly $31 and average leverage around 3x. SPACEX-USDH is a crypto perpetual contract launched by Hyperliquid that allows users to bet on SpaceX’s pre-IPO valuation changes, though it does not represent actual equity shares or grant any shareholder rights. Since SpaceX remains unlisted, the contract has no publicly anchored spot price. Unlike perpetual contracts for assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH)—which are supported by deep, liquid spot markets—this contract’s price relies on limited private secondary market valuations, making it far more susceptible to extreme volatility. Reports suggest SpaceX is targeting an IPO launch this June.