# How do I deposit to Hyperliquid?

Stage 1 · Survey the ground (know the market you trade) · Updated 2026-10-25

Connect to Hyperliquid with an email or a wallet, enable trading with one gas-free signature, then deposit USDC. A wallet account deposits from Arbitrum only and needs a little ether there for gas; an email account can also deposit from Base, Ethereum or Polygon. The minimum is 5 USDC, and less than that is not credited. Trading itself is gas-free.

## In short

- Three steps: **connect** with an email or a wallet, **enable trading** with one gas-free signature, then **deposit** USDC.
- A **wallet account** deposits USDC from **Arbitrum** only, and needs a little ether on Arbitrum to pay that network’s gas.
- An **email account** can deposit USDC from Arbitrum, Base, Ethereum or Polygon.
- The minimum is **5 USDC**. From a wallet account, Hyperliquid says deposits below 5 USDC are lost.
- Once the deposit is credited, placing and cancelling orders costs **no gas**.

## The three steps

Getting money onto Hyperliquid takes three steps. **Connect**: sign in with an email address, which is sent a six-digit code, or connect a wallet you already hold. **Enable trading**: sign one message, which costs no gas. **Deposit**: send USDC from a supported network.

The deposit is the only step that runs on another blockchain, so it is the only step that costs gas. Trading on Hyperliquid is gas-free once the money has arrived.

## Which network to send from

A **wallet account** deposits USDC from Arbitrum only, so a deposit needs USDC on Arbitrum and a little ether there to pay Arbitrum’s gas. Hyperliquid notes that Arbitrum is a common network to receive USDC on when an exchange you already use does not send to Hyperliquid directly.

An **email account** can deposit USDC from Arbitrum, Base, Ethereum or Polygon. USDC sent on any other network is not credited. Tokens other than USDC sent to an email account’s deposit address are redirected to the account’s wallet within 10 minutes, rather than credited for trading.

## The minimum, and what is lost below it

The minimum deposit is 5 USDC. For a wallet account, Hyperliquid states that deposits below 5 USDC are lost.

For an email account, a deposit below 5 USDC is not credited but redirected to the account’s wallet, and one below 1 USDC is lost.

Deposits and withdrawals are listed together under Portfolio, each with its status, which is the first place to look if one seems late.

## Before the first trade

Once credited, the USDC is margin you can trade with. Nothing has been bought yet; it waits until you place an order.

A first live trade is easier to read when it is small. [How much to risk](https://buildtrade.app/guides/how-much-to-risk/) works through sizing a trade from the loss you can accept, before any money is on the line.

## On Hyperliquid

The Deposit button sits on Hyperliquid’s trade page once trading is enabled, and opens the deposit window with the networks your account can use.

In BuildTrade™, paper trading needs no deposit at all: it runs on simulated money with the same screens and orders. Live trading needs funds on Hyperliquid and a connection in Settings › Connections.

## Three deposits from a wallet account

_Example numbers._

Three USDC deposits sent from Arbitrum by a wallet account, against the 5 USDC minimum. Gas on Arbitrum is paid in ether and is not shown.

- Signatures to enable trading: 1
- Gas to place an order, USDC: 0
- Smallest deposit credited, USDC: 5
- Networks a wallet account can send from: 1
- Networks an email account can send from: 4

| Sent, USDC | Credited, USDC | Lost, USDC |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | 5 | 0 |
| 250 | 250 | 0 |

An email account handles the small deposit differently: below 5 USDC it is redirected to the account’s wallet, and only below 1 USDC is it lost.

## Mistakes that cost traders money

- **Sending less than 5 USDC.** From a wallet account, Hyperliquid says deposits below 5 USDC are lost.
- **Sending from the wrong network.** A wallet account deposits from Arbitrum only. An email account also accepts Base, Ethereum and Polygon; USDC sent on any other network is not credited.
- **Arriving with no ether on Arbitrum.** The deposit is an Arbitrum transaction, so it needs a little ether there for gas. Trading after that is gas-free.
- **Sending a token other than USDC.** Deposits are credited in USDC. On an email account, other tokens are redirected to the account’s wallet rather than credited for trading.
- **Sending everything at once.** A small first deposit shows the whole route working, network and timing included, before the rest follows.

## Try it in BuildTrade™

Switch the top bar to PAPER and place a small order on simulated money: the same ticket, chart and positions as live, with nothing deposited.

Open the app: https://trade.buildtrade.app/register

## Words in this guide

- [Margin](https://buildtrade.app/glossary/#margin)

## Sources

- [How to start trading](https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/onboarding/how-to-start-trading), Hyperliquid Docs.
- [Deposited USDC](https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/support/faq/deposit-or-transfer-issues-missing-lost/deposited-usdc), Hyperliquid Docs.

BuildTrade™ is independent of, and not endorsed by, Hyperliquid.

Web page: https://buildtrade.app/guides/how-to-deposit-to-hyperliquid/