Getting USDC onto Hyperliquid

Send USDC on Arbitrum, Ethereum, Base or Polygon. The 5 USDC minimum below which a deposit is lost for good, the $1 withdrawal fee, and what to check before sending.

We receive a share of the fees you pay. You still pay less than you would signing up directly.

Every market on Hyperliquid — SpaceX, oil, gold, equities, crypto — settles in USDC. There is no card payment, no bank wire, and no fiat on-ramp built into the exchange. Getting money in means getting USDC onto the chain, and that is where most first-time friction happens.

Most guides to this warn you repeatedly about sending funds on the wrong network without ever telling you which network is right. Here is the actual answer.

Which network to send on

Open the deposit window in the app and it shows you a deposit address. You can send USDC to that address on Arbitrum, Ethereum, Base or Polygon. It arrives as USDC on HyperCore — the exchange’s own chain — and is credited in under a minute.

Two things follow from that, and they are the parts people get wrong:

The address is shown to you in the app. Use the one it displays, rather than one you saved from a previous session or copied from a forum post.
Send USDC, not another stablecoin. USDT, DAI and the rest are not interchangeable at this address.

Below 5 USDC, the deposit is gone

The minimum deposit is 5 USDC. Hyperliquid’s own documentation is unusually blunt about what happens below it: an amount less than this “will not be credited and be lost forever.” This matters most for the test transfer people are sensibly advised to make first — make it 5 USDC or more, or you are testing by destroying your test.

Gas is a source-chain cost only. You need the native gas token on whichever chain you are sending from — ETH on Arbitrum or Ethereum or Base, POL on Polygon. Once your funds are on Hyperliquid, trading itself is gas-free; there is no per-order network fee.

The routes

From a centralised exchange. Buy USDC on an exchange that supports fiat, then withdraw it to the deposit address on one of the four networks above. This is the cheapest route for most people, and Arbitrum is usually the cheapest of the four to send on. Check the network your exchange is withdrawing on against the network you intend — every time, including the times you have done it before.

Bridging from another chain. If you already hold USDC somewhere else, Circle’s CCTP will move it across. You need USDC and the native gas token on the source chain; the gas is only for the deposit.

Direct purchase in-app. Some interfaces offer a card on-ramp through a third-party provider. Convenient, and expensive — the spread on these is typically several percent, which is a lot to pay before you have made a single trade.

What it costs

The exchange charges nothing to deposit. What you pay is the withdrawal fee at whatever exchange you are sending from, plus source-chain gas, plus any bridge fee. For small first deposits these fixed costs can be a meaningful percentage — funding an account with $50 and paying $8 in fees to get there is a bad start.

Mistakes worth avoiding

Sending below 5 USDC. Unrecoverable, and it catches people making a deliberately tiny test transfer.
Sending on a network that is not one of the four. USDC exists on many chains; only Arbitrum, Ethereum, Base and Polygon are credited here.
Sending a token that is not USDC. Other stablecoins are not interchangeable at the deposit address.
Funding exactly what you plan to trade. Margin requirements and funding payments draw on your balance; an account with no buffer gets liquidated by ordinary noise. How much buffer is a question with an arithmetic answer.
Testing with a large first transfer. Send a small amount first — at least 5 USDC — and confirm it arrives before sending the rest.

Withdrawals

Withdrawals go back out to Arbitrum. There is a $1 fee, and they take roughly five minutes to finalise while the validators sign and the bridge contract releases the funds.

That fee is fixed rather than proportional, so it matters far more on small balances than large ones — withdrawing $40 costs you 2.5%, withdrawing $4,000 costs you 0.025%. And five minutes is fast by bridge standards but not instant: a withdrawal is not the tool for reacting to something that is happening right now.

Where these numbers come from

The networks, the 5 USDC minimum and the $1 withdrawal fee are from Hyperliquid’s own documentation, checked when this page was last reviewed. The docs qualify the withdrawal fee as correct “at the time of this writing,” so treat it as a figure to confirm in the app rather than a constant.

Common questions

Which network do I send USDC on?

Arbitrum, Ethereum, Base or Polygon, to the deposit address shown in the app's deposit window. It arrives as USDC on HyperCore and is credited in under a minute. Arbitrum is usually the cheapest of the four to send on.

Is there a minimum deposit?

Yes — 5 USDC. Hyperliquid's documentation states that an amount below this will not be credited and is lost forever. This catches people making a deliberately tiny test transfer, so make the test 5 USDC or more.

Can I deposit with a bank transfer or card?

Not directly. Every market settles in USDC, and the exchange has no fiat on-ramp. Some interfaces offer a third-party card purchase, but the spread on those is typically several percent.

What is the cheapest way to fund an account?

Buy USDC on an exchange that supports fiat, then withdraw to your Hyperliquid deposit address on one of the four supported networks. You pay the sending exchange's withdrawal fee plus source-chain gas, and nothing to Hyperliquid.

Do I pay gas to trade?

No. Gas is a source-chain cost you pay to get funds in — ETH on Arbitrum, Ethereum or Base, POL on Polygon. Once your USDC is on Hyperliquid, trading is gas-free with no per-order network fee.

What does it cost to withdraw, and how long does it take?

Withdrawals go to Arbitrum, cost a flat $1, and take roughly five minutes to finalise. Because the fee is fixed rather than proportional, it is 2.5% of a $40 withdrawal and 0.025% of a $4,000 one.

What happens if I send the wrong token or network?

In most cases the funds are unrecoverable. Only USDC on Arbitrum, Ethereum, Base or Polygon is credited; other stablecoins and other chains are not interchangeable at the deposit address.