Alpha Récap #22: Opportunities on tradeXYZ, Hyperliquid's native yield-bearing stablecoin, and USDe's overhaul
April 10, 2026
In this latest edition of the Alpha Recap, we break down the key insights from the past week in the crypto market: major developments, yield and airdrop strategies, key data points, and sharp analysis, all designed to cut through the noise.
The Alpha Recap is designed to highlight the most important developments in the crypto market each week. Every Friday, we deliver a curated overview of the most valuable insights from our Alpha Feed.
Reserved for OAK Premium members, the Alpha Feed brings together high-signal insights, yield and airdrop strategies, key market data, and sharp analysis. In short, it reflects OAK Research’s core mission: delivering filtered content that goes beyond market noise.
tradeXYZ mechanics and opportunities: understanding the roll schedule
Over the past few days, tradeXYZ's contract rolling mechanism has been generating a lot of discussion, particularly around oil. The topic is worth unpacking, as the platform has now cemented itself as the second-largest perp DEX on the market, right behind Hyperliquid.
Some context: unlike crypto, commodity trading is built on futures contracts with fixed expiries (monthly, in the case of oil). At each transition, a price gap mechanically appears between two successive contracts. This gap reflects storage and insurance costs, as well as market expectations about future conditions.
In the current environment of Middle East tensions, oil is trading in backwardation - meaning the nearest contract trades at a premium to later expiries, which amplifies the price dislocation at each roll.
To avoid an abrupt price discontinuity, tradeXYZ has implemented a progressive five-day roll schedule. In practice, the protocol blends the prices of both contracts using a shifting weighting, allowing for a gradual transition to the new expiry. During this window, the displayed price is based on a mathematical construction specific to the platform.
These dynamics introduce some unusual market behavior. During a roll, order book imbalances can become significant, sometimes leading to sharp swings in funding rates - as has been the case recently. For experienced traders, however, these periods represent genuine windows of opportunity, provided you understand the underlying mechanics.
In our Alpha Feed, we covered these dynamics in depth alongside the strategies available to capitalize on them.
Quick take on Delpho, Hyperliquid's first native yield-bearing stablecoin
Delpho is a relatively under-the-radar project within the Hyperliquid ecosystem, which recently secured the USDV ticker for its upcoming stablecoin. Its positioning targets the stablecoin trilemma - combining stability, liquidity, and yield generation. A challenge already tackled by players like Ethena or Theo, but with a different approach: one centered entirely on the Hyperliquid ecosystem.
USDV is built entirely on the network's dual-block architecture. In Delpho's model, a user deposits HYPE on HyperEVM, which simultaneously triggers the opening of a short position on HyperCore and the minting of USDV. This mechanism captures yield directly from the DEX's funding rates, with no off-chain custody and no reliance on third parties. The entire process executes on-chain, which is fully consistent with the ecosystem's ethos.
The model is coherent on paper, particularly in terms of integration with Hyperliquid's infrastructure. That said, it faces several structural constraints: yield is directly tied to funding rates and therefore to market conditions - a limitation that already pushed Ethena to revisit its own model. In that light, a theoretical APY of around 25% as advertised seems very difficult to sustain over time.
A beta is expected in the coming weeks, which will allow for a more concrete assessment of the model's robustness and its ability to strike a lasting balance between yield and stability.
Ethena rethinks the USDe model: is the basis trade on its way out?
Since its launch in late 2023, USDe has established itself as one of the leading synthetic stablecoins on the market, with a rapid adoption curve that peaked near $15 billion in market cap in October 2025. Since then, the trajectory has reversed sharply: supply has more than halved, falling to around $5.83 billion.
This decline stems from several factors: a loss of confidence following the market stress of October 10, combined with a structural compression in yield as funding rates normalize.
Against this backdrop, Ethena has unveiled a revamp of its collateralization model, aimed at smoothing out its dependence on crypto market conditions. Four new verticals are set to complement the existing architecture, pending validation by the Risk Committee:
- Over-collateralized institutional lending
- Diversification into new RWAs
- Extension of the basis trade
- Prime Lending
It's worth clarifying that these additions don't replace USDe's historical foundation - they layer on top of it. The delta-neutral DNA remains intact, with the intent to keep capturing funding rates during bull markets while introducing alternative yield sources capable of absorbing contraction during neutral or difficult market phases.
On paper, the evolution is logical: reliance on a single yield source was an obvious limitation of the original model. The tradeoff, however, is added complexity and a partial shift of risk toward less transparent exposures - particularly on the credit side. The final version of this new model should be presented shortly, following a review by Ethena's Risk Committee.
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