Hyperliquid beginner checklist (2026)

Hyperliquid beginner checklist

How to use this

Twelve items, in the order they actually need doing. Each is a page on this site if you want the detail, and each is on the list because it is something people skip exactly once.

Three of them are irreversible if you get them wrong, and those are marked.

Before you touch the exchange

1. Write the recovery phrase on paper. Not in a screenshot, not in a password manager’s notes field, not in an email to yourself. Whoever reads that phrase owns everything the wallet holds, and there is no recovery from that. Choosing a wallet.

2. Bookmark the real domain and reach it only from the bookmark. Hundreds of lookalike domains exist for this venue specifically. A clone can imitate the interface perfectly. Search results cannot be trusted for this one.

3. Check the exchange is available where you are. Residents of the United States and Ontario, Canada are restricted persons under the terms, and citizens of restricted territories are covered regardless of location. The rules, country by country.

4. Decide how much to fund, and treat it as at risk. The fixed costs of getting money in are what set the practical floor, not any exchange minimum. The arithmetic.

Setting up

5. Apply a referral code before your first trade — this one expires

The 4% fee discount attaches only to a wallet that has never traded. After your first fill it can never be added to that address. It is the only step on this list with a deadline, and the deadline is silent. The exact terms.

6. Connect, and expect four prompts rather than one. Connect the wallet, approve it, accept the Terms and cookie policy — which is itself a signed message — then click Establish Connection and sign once more. None of the four can move your funds. Each prompt, with a screenshot.

7. Deposit on a cheap chain, and send a test first if the route is new. Arbitrum is the usual answer. 0.2 USDC is deducted from the amount, plus source-chain gas. Comparing the routes.

8. Check the money landed where you think it did. USDC on HyperCore sits in either your Perps balance or your Spot balance, and only the Perps balance backs a perpetual position. Moving between them is instant and free. If it has not appeared.

Your first position

9. Set isolated margin and low leverage before you size anything. Isolated ring-fences this position’s collateral. Two or three times is right to start, and it is not timidity: leverage sets the distance to liquidation, not the size of the bet. Why the multiplier is not the exposure.

10. Size from the stop, not from the balance. Notional equals the loss you would accept, divided by the distance to your stop as a percentage. The answer is always smaller than the number you had in mind. Worked through with an example.

11. Attach the stop before you close the tab. A stop set while flat and calm is better placed than one set while a position moves against you. It is a trigger rather than a promise of a price. How triggers actually behave.

12. Withdraw something before you scale up. Send a small amount back out and watch it arrive. Proving the exit works is the cheapest test available, and it is the one nobody runs until they need it to work. The withdrawal sequence.

The three with no undo

Everything else on this list can be corrected. These cannot, so they are worth a second read.

Mistake	What happens
Recovery phrase seen by anyone else	The wallet is theirs, permanently
First trade placed before the referral code	4% discount unavailable on that address for ever
Funds sent to a wrong address or network	No reversal exists, by anyone, including Hyperliquid

The first and third are the reasons this list starts with paper and ends with a test withdrawal.

Things that are not on the list, deliberately

Choosing the “best” fee tier. At a beginner’s volume the fee is cents. The spread you cross and the funding you pay are both larger. The levers ranked honestly.

Picking an exotic market. A familiar ticker with thin volume costs more to enter and exit than its fee schedule suggests. Start where the book is deep.

Reading everything first. One small position held through a funding cycle teaches more than several hours of guides, this one included.

Where to go next

The ten-minute walkthrough runs the same sequence with screenshots at every step. If something has already gone wrong, the troubleshooting section is organised by symptom.

Frequently asked questions

Which step do people skip most often?

Applying a referral code before the first trade, because it is the only one with a silent deadline. Everything else can be done later; that one attaches to a wallet that has never traded and can never be added afterwards.

How long does the whole list take?

Around half an hour, most of which is waiting for the deposit to confirm. The parts that need thought are choosing how much to fund and sizing the first position.

Do I need to do it in this order?

Mostly yes. Securing the wallet comes before funding it, the referral code comes before the first trade, and the test withdrawal comes before you add more money. The rest is flexible.

Is there a version I can print?

Not as a download, but the page prints cleanly and each item is one line plus a link. The links matter more than the list, because the detail is where the mistakes actually live.

What if I have already started and skipped some?

Work backwards through the three irreversible ones. If your recovery phrase is safe and your funds are where you expect, the rest can be fixed at any time, including moving to a fresh address if you want a clean referral code.

Sources

Hyperliquid docs: How to start tradinghyperliquid.gitbook.io
Hyperliquid Terms of Useapp.hyperliquid.xyz

We link the primary source for every number on this page. If a figure here disagrees with the Hyperliquid documentation, the documentation is right and we want to know.