# What are the mark price and the oracle price on Hyperliquid?

Stage 1 · Survey the ground (know the market you trade) · Updated 2026-10-22

The oracle price is the coin’s spot price across large exchanges, published by Hyperliquid’s validators every three seconds; funding is measured against it. The mark price is a median of three prices built from the oracle, Hyperliquid’s own book and other exchanges’ perpetuals. Margin, liquidation, take-profit and stop-loss triggers and unrealised profit and loss all use the mark, not the last trade.

## In short

- The **last price** is simply the latest trade on Hyperliquid’s book. One trader can move it.
- The **oracle price** is a weighted median of the coin’s spot price on large exchanges, published every three seconds. Funding is measured against it.
- The **mark price** is the median of three prices: one built from the oracle, one from Hyperliquid’s own book, and one from other exchanges’ perpetuals.
- Margin, liquidation, take-profit and stop-loss triggers and unrealised profit and loss all use the mark. A spike on Hyperliquid’s book alone cannot drag it beyond the other two inputs.
- On HIP-3 markets the deployer sets the oracle price, so read those markets on their own.

## Three prices on one market

Every perpetual on Hyperliquid has three prices that matter. The **last price** is the latest trade on its own order book. The **oracle price** is the coin’s spot price, gathered from large exchanges. The **mark price** is Hyperliquid’s estimate of the contract’s fair price, built from both and from other venues’ perpetuals.

Most of the time they sit close together, and the difference is easy to ignore. They come apart in fast or thin markets, and that is exactly when it matters which one a rule watches.

## The oracle price

Hyperliquid’s validators each publish an oracle price every three seconds. Each one is a weighted median of the coin’s spot price on Binance, OKX, Bybit, Kraken, KuCoin, Gate, MEXC and Hyperliquid’s own spot market, with Binance counted three times, OKX and Bybit twice, and the rest once. The final oracle price is a median of the validators’ prices, weighted by their stake.

Two exceptions apply. For a coin whose main spot market is on Hyperliquid, such as HYPE, the outside exchanges are left out until they have enough liquidity. For a coin whose main market is elsewhere, Hyperliquid’s own spot price is left out.

Funding is measured against the oracle: the premium that drives the funding rate is the gap between the perpetual and this price. [How funding works](https://buildtrade.app/guides/how-funding-works-on-hyperliquid/) shows how.

## The mark price

The mark price is the **median** of three inputs. The first is the oracle price plus a 150-second moving average of the gap between Hyperliquid’s mid price and the oracle. The second is the median of Hyperliquid’s best bid, best ask and last trade. The third is a weighted median of the same perpetual’s mid price on Binance, OKX, Bybit, Gate and MEXC, with Binance counted three times and OKX and Bybit twice.

Taking the middle of three means one input that runs away cannot drag the mark with it: the mark stays between the other two. If only two inputs are available, a 30-second moving average of the second input is added as a third. The mark updates about every three seconds.

## What each price decides

On Hyperliquid the mark price decides margin, liquidation, take-profit and stop-loss triggers, and the unrealised profit or loss shown on a position. The oracle price decides funding. The order book, and so the last price, decides where your orders actually fill.

That split explains moments that look wrong at first. A wick on the chart can pass through your stop without firing it, because the mark did not get there. And once a stop does fire, its market order fills on the book, which can be some way from the mark. [How TP/SL orders work](https://buildtrade.app/guides/take-profit-and-stop-loss-on-hyperliquid/) and [How liquidation works](https://buildtrade.app/guides/how-liquidation-works-on-hyperliquid/) cover both in detail.

## When the prices drift apart

When Hyperliquid’s book trades away from other venues, the book input is the outlier, and the mark leans on the oracle and the other exchanges. If the gap lasts, the 150-second average in the first input slowly carries it into the mark.

The gap between the perpetual and the oracle is the **premium**, and it is what funding charges for. A large premium says one side is crowded, right now. It is not a forecast of where price goes next.

## HIP-3 markets

Markets launched by outside deployers under HIP-3 work differently. The deployer sets the oracle price and the leverage limits, and can settle the market if needed. Halting a market cancels all its orders and settles positions at the current mark price.

So on a HIP-3 market, the oracle is only as good as the deployer that runs it. Read each market’s details before trading it, rather than assuming it behaves like the main perpetuals.

## One dip, two outcomes

_Example numbers._

A long with a sell stop at 98.00, which triggers on the mark. Hyperliquid’s book dips: best bid 97.10, best ask 97.40, last trade 97.20, with the lowest trade at 97.10. In the first row only Hyperliquid’s book dips; in the second the whole market does.

- Sell stop, on the mark: 98.00
- Lowest trade on the book: 97.10
- Mark when only the book dips: 99.95
- Mark when everything dips: 97.25

| Oracle input | Book input | Other exchanges | Mark |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| 100.02 | 97.20 | 99.95 | 99.95 |
| 97.35 | 97.20 | 97.25 | 97.25 |

In the first row the stop never fires, even though the book traded 0.90 below it. In the second the mark falls through 98.00 and the stop fires. A dip on the book that lasted minutes would also pull the first input down, through its 150-second average.

## Mistakes that cost traders money

- **Watching the last trade.** Your stop, your liquidation and your unrealised result all follow the mark. The last trade can sit away from it in a fast minute.
- **Thinking funding is measured against the mark or your entry.** Funding is measured against the oracle, and each payment uses the oracle price.
- **Reading a wick as a near liquidation.** Liquidation watches the mark. A wick on Hyperliquid’s book alone may never reach it, and the mark can get there without a wick.
- **Expecting a stop to fill at the mark.** The mark only triggers the stop. The order then fills on the book, at whatever prices are there.
- **Assuming HIP-3 markets use the same oracle.** Their deployer sets the oracle price. Check how each one is priced before trading it.

## Try it in BuildTrade™

On a live position, the Positions tab under the chart shows the mark price next to your entry and unrealised profit or loss. Compare it with the prices on the order book: in a quiet market they sit close; in a fast one they can drift apart, and the mark is the one your stop and liquidation follow.

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

## Words in this guide

- [Funding](https://buildtrade.app/glossary/#funding)
- [Leverage](https://buildtrade.app/glossary/#leverage)
- [Liquidation](https://buildtrade.app/glossary/#liquidation)
- [Margin](https://buildtrade.app/glossary/#margin)
- [Mark price](https://buildtrade.app/glossary/#mark-price)
- [Market order](https://buildtrade.app/glossary/#market-order)
- [Stop loss](https://buildtrade.app/glossary/#stop-loss)
- [Take profit](https://buildtrade.app/glossary/#take-profit)
- [Unrealised P&L](https://buildtrade.app/glossary/#unrealised-pnl)

## Sources

- [Robust price indices](https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/trading/robust-price-indices), Hyperliquid Docs.
- [Oracle](https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/hypercore/oracle), Hyperliquid Docs.
- [Funding](https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/trading/funding), Hyperliquid Docs.
- [HIP-3: Builder-deployed perpetuals](https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/hyperliquid-improvement-proposals-hips/hip-3-builder-deployed-perpetuals), Hyperliquid Docs.

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

Web page: https://buildtrade.app/guides/mark-price-and-oracle-price/