The post appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Stanley Druckenmiller, the legendary hedge fund manager who brought the Bank of England to its knees in the 1990s, and whose annual returns are the envy of Wall Street, posted a simple message on an otherwise sparse X feed announcing his involvement with a new type of decentralized exchange. The post caused bedlam on social media and moved shares of a leading crypto treasury company and its token.
TradeXYZ, the primary developer of perpetual futures, or "perps" markets, on exchange Hyperliquid, announced a partnership Thursday with Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) to bring its popular perpetual futures onshore into the U.S.
Shortly after the two said they are seeking regulatory approvals, Druckenmiller said on X that he is "excited to be an investor in trade(xyz)," and that he is "looking forward to to using their innovative product to enhance my investment process." Representatives for Druckenmiller confirmed the statement to the Financial Times .
Options traders pounced on the closest publicly-traded play to the news: Hyperliquid Strategies (PURR) , the company that invests in the HYPE crypto token that powers the Hyperliquid exchange.
More than 111,000 options traded on Hyperliquid Strategies Thursday, more than six times the 30-day average, as underlying shares surged 19% to the highest in three weeks. The flows leaned bullish, with almost 86,000 calls and under 27,000 puts trading. Almost four times as many calls were likely initiated by buyers than puts, and of the top 10 trades, only one involved put-buying, Cboe LiveVol dat show.
"We are thrilled to see ICE partnering with Trade.XYZ to bring the markets and liquidity of Hyperliquid to American investors," David Schamis, CEO of Hyperliquid Strategies, said in a text. "ICE is a cornerstone of traditional finance and the ideal partner."
Schamis added that the deal shows demand for perp-futures trading and is a step forward toward regulated trading of the asset class.
In August, President Donald Trump said in a surprise comment to reporters that regulators were working to bring the exchange onshore.
The most popular trades by volume in PURR were selling the 13-strike put expiring Dec. 18, and buying the 13-strike call expiring Nov. 6. Taken together, the two resemble a "risk reversal" strategy, a bullish trade looking for a short-term continuation of the rally, paired with long-term confidence the stock won't be below $13 by year-end.
