Quick-reference definitions of terms you’ll meet on Hyperliquid, HyperEVM, and DeFi in general. Each entry is 200-400 words — read for the definition, follow the deep-dive links if you want the full story.
Tip: if you’re brand new, start with What is Hyperliquid? and Intro to HyperEVM before diving in.
Perps & Hyperliquid
- Perpetual Future (Perp) — a futures contract with no expiry, kept aligned to spot via funding.
- Leverage — using borrowed exposure to multiply position size (and risk).
- Long Position — a bet that price goes up.
- Short Position — a bet that price goes down.
- Order Book — the live ledger of buy and sell orders that defines price.
- Maker and Taker — who adds liquidity vs who removes it, and why fees differ.
- Slippage — the gap between expected price and fill price.
- Oracle Price — the off-chain reference price the protocol uses for liquidations and funding.
- Builder Code — Hyperliquid’s opt-in fee share for builders integrating with the exchange.
HyperEVM & DeFi
- HyperCore — Hyperliquid’s exchange engine; the other half of the L1, alongside HyperEVM.
- HYPE Token — Hyperliquid’s native token. What it is, what it does on HyperEVM.
- DEX (Decentralized Exchange) — trading venue without a central operator. How it differs from a CEX.
- AMM (Automated Market Maker) — algorithmic price discovery instead of an order book.
- Liquidity Pool — paired assets that back an AMM. What providers earn and risk.
Security & Wallets
- Seed Phrase — the 12 or 24 words that fully restore your wallet. Treat like nuclear codes.
- Private Key — the raw cryptographic secret. Anyone with it controls the wallet.
- Token Approval — the contract permission slip that drainers exploit. How approvals work and how they go wrong.