Vault Development · Vault Fundamentals · 1/7
What is a Hyperliquid Vault?
Overview
A Hyperliquid vault is a shared trading account where a vault leader trades on behalf of depositors. Depositors deposit USDC into the vault, and the leader executes trades. Profits and losses are distributed proportionally to each depositor's share.
How Vaults Work
Depositor A (40%) ──┐
Depositor B (30%) ──┤── Vault (100% USDC pool) ──── Leader trades ──── PnL shared
Depositor C (30%) ──┘
- Depositors deposit USDC with a vault transfer (the Deposit button, or the
vaultTransferaction) — not by sending USDC to the vault address - The vault leader (owner) can trade using the vault's USDC as margin
- All positions and PnL are shared proportionally; the leader earns a profit share
- Depositors can withdraw their share after the lockup (1 day for user vaults, 4 days for HLP)
Vault Parameters
When creating a vault, you configure:
- Vault Name — Display name shown to depositors (cannot be changed later)
- Description — What strategy the vault runs (cannot be changed later)
- Initial Deposit — At least 100 USDC from the leader
Other rules are fixed by the protocol rather than chosen by you (as of October 2026, per the vault leader docs):
- Profit Share — Leaders receive 10% of depositors' profits (protocol vaults like HLP charge none)
- Leader Stake — The leader must keep ≥5% of the vault at all times
- Creation Fee — 10,000 USDC, distributed like trading fees
- Leader settings — e.g. whether deposits are allowed, and whether positions are always closed proportionally on withdrawals
Note: the docs now call these HyperCore vaults "legacy". They can trade validator-operated perps only (no spot or HIP-3), and new vault designs are encouraged to be built on the HyperEVM with CoreWriter and precompiles (Vaults). This course covers the HyperCore vault, which is still the one shown on the Vaults page.
Vault vs Direct Trading
| Feature | Direct Trading | Vault |
|---|---|---|
| Capital | Your own only | Pooled from depositors |
| Profit Share | 100% yours | Leader takes a cut |
| Risk | Your risk | Shared risk |
| Automation | Manual or bot | Manual or keeper bot |
| Transparency | On-chain (all Hyperliquid accounts are public) | On-chain, plus a public vault page |
The Keeper Pattern
HyperCore vaults are not smart contracts that execute automatically. A leader can trade by hand from the UI, but automated vaults use a keeper — an off-chain bot that monitors market conditions and submits trades on behalf of the vault.
The keeper:
- Runs on a server (EC2, VPS, etc.)
- Monitors market data via WebSocket
- Makes trading decisions based on the strategy logic
- Signs orders with an API wallet (agent) approved by the leader, setting
vaultAddressto the vault
Real Examples
Some kinds of Hyperliquid vaults:
- Hyperliquidity Provider (HLP) — The protocol vault (account value roughly $180M as of October 2026, per the
vaultDetailsinfo endpoint) - Community vaults running market-making, delta-neutral, or discretionary strategies
HLP is the most prominent vault on Hyperliquid. According to the protocol vault docs, it runs several market-making strategies, performs liquidations, supplies USDC in Earn, and receives a portion of trading fees. It is one liquidity source among many market makers on the book.