Hyperliquid builder codes explained

A builder code is an optional order parameter that lets the application sending your order to Hyperliquid receive a fee on the resulting fills, within limits set by the protocol and approved by you. In this context a “builder” is a DeFi builder who makes applications on Hyperliquid, not a block builder in consensus.

According to the Hyperliquid documentation, the builder parameter is set per order and names the builder address and the fee, expressed in tenths of a basis point. Builder codes are processed entirely onchain as part of Hyperliquid’s fee logic. The builder fee is charged on fills in addition to Hyperliquid’s own trading fees.

A builder fee can only be charged after you approve a maximum fee for that builder with the ApproveBuilderFee action, and the documentation requires this approval to be signed by your main wallet, not by an agent or API wallet. The approval works as a ceiling: orders sent for you can include a builder fee up to the rate you approved.

You approve each builder separately and can revoke the permission at any time. The documentation also limits each user to 10 active builder code approvals at a time, so if you already have 10, you would need to revoke one before approving another builder.

Hyperliquid caps builder fees at 0.1% on perpetuals and 1% on spot. Builder codes only apply to fees collected in the quote or collateral asset, which means they apply to both sides of perp trades but not to the buying side of spot trades.

A builder must also keep at least 100 USDC in perps account value and use standard as its account abstraction mode. These requirements concern the builder’s account, not the trading user’s account. The limits are set by the protocol, and each interface chooses its own fee within them.

The builder fee is Perpex’s only fee: under the current setting it is 0.10% of eligible filled notional, including copied orders, and there is no performance fee. Hyperliquid builder fees apply to both sides of perpetual trades and only the selling side of spot trades, not unfilled or canceled order quantities.

You sign the Perpex builder fee approval on Hyperliquid with your main wallet, and your wallet shows the maximum rate before you sign. Perpex requires this approval before it enables trading. Hyperliquid trading fees and funding are separate and are not collected by Perpex.

A builder fee equals the filled notional multiplied by the builder fee rate, and it is charged on top of Hyperliquid’s trading fee for the same fill. In the order parameter the rate is written in tenths of a basis point, so a value of 10 means 1 basis point, or 0.01%, and the 0.1% perp cap corresponds to a value of 100.

For example, take a perp position opened and closed with 10,000 USDC of notional on each fill, a builder fee of 1 basis point and Hyperliquid’s base taker rate of 0.045%, the tier 0 rate at the time of writing (October 2026). Each fill pays 1 USDC in builder fee and 4.50 USDC in Hyperliquid fees, so the round trip costs 2 USDC in builder fees plus 9 USDC in trading fees, 11 USDC in total. At the 0.1% cap, the builder part alone would be 10 USDC per fill.

Hyperliquid’s own fee depends on your rolling 14-day volume tier, whether you are maker or taker, and any staking or referral discount, so check the Fees page of the documentation for current rates. Funding on perps is separate from both fees.

You can check the maximum builder fee you have approved for a builder with a Hyperliquid info request of type maxBuilderFee that names your address and the builder’s address. Your wallet also shows the maximum rate each time you are asked to sign a new approval.

The documentation describes how builder activity is reported. Total builder fees collected appear in the builder’s referral state, builders claim them through the usual referral reward claim process, and trades that used a builder code are published as daily compressed files for each builder address. Because these records come from Hyperliquid, builder fee activity can be checked against data the protocol publishes.