How to Create Your Own Vault on Hyperliquid

Creating a Hyperliquid vault turns you into a fund manager: other people’s capital, your trading decisions, and a real financial stake of your own locked in alongside theirs.

This guide is part of TradeOnDEX’s Hyperliquid how-to series within Perpetual Futures, and builds on understanding how the HLP vault works as the protocol-run comparison point.

Disclosure: TradeOnDEX may earn a commission from links to Hyperliquid on this page, at no extra cost to you. Full details at the end of this article.

What does running a vault actually commit you to?

A user-created vault lets you (the “leader”) trade a pool of capital that other depositors contribute, in exchange for a share of the profits. Depositors can withdraw their proportional share; you, as leader, are required to keep a minimum stake in the vault yourself.

This means for you, concretely: your trading decisions now affect other people’s money, and Hyperliquid enforces a minimum ongoing commitment from you specifically, so you can’t run the vault with none of your own capital at risk.

Requirements before you create a vault

• A minimum deposit of 100 USDC to fund the vault initially.
• A vault creation fee, reported at 10,000 USDC, which is distributed to the protocol the same way trading fees are. Verify this figure in the current documentation before committing, fee levels are exactly the kind of parameter that can change and should be re-checked close to when you actually create a vault.
• An ongoing requirement to hold at least 5% of the vault’s total value as your own capital, for as long as the vault operates.

How to create a vault, step by step

1. Log in to app.hyperliquid.xyz with your wallet.
2. Go to Vaults and select the option to create a new vault.
3. Enter your initial deposit (minimum 100 USDC).
4. Choose a vault name and write a short description. Both are permanent once set, they cannot be edited later, so treat this step as final.
5. Confirm creation, paying the applicable creation fee.
6. Begin trading; your vault becomes visible to potential depositors once live.

How profit sharing actually works

• Leader compensation: you earn a flat 10% of profits generated above the vault’s high-water mark, the vault’s previous peak value. You don’t get paid a share of gains that merely recover an earlier loss.
• Depositor returns: each depositor’s share equals their deposit divided by the vault’s total assets at the time. Profits and losses are allocated proportionally to that share, after the leader’s performance fee is deducted from profits.
• Lockup: user vault deposits have a 1-day lockup, shorter than HLP’s 4-day lockup, but still not instant.

Risk: what running (or joining) a vault actually exposes you to

As a leader, your 5% minimum stake is not a formality, it’s designed so your incentives are directly tied to depositor outcomes. A losing strategy costs you real capital, not just reputation. This is meaningfully different from an unregulated “signals” seller who risks nothing of their own.

As a depositor, you are trusting a specific person’s trading judgment, not a protocol-level strategy like HLP. A user vault’s risk profile is only as good as its leader’s discipline and risk management; past performance in a vault dashboard reflects one trader’s history, not a systematic, audited strategy.

The permanent name/description and non-refundable creation fee mean this isn’t a casual experiment. Treat vault creation as a real commitment, not a way to “try out” fund management with an easy exit if you change your mind early.

High-water mark compensation reduces (but doesn’t eliminate) an incentive to over-trade for fees. Because the leader only earns above the prior peak, a leader can’t repeatedly profit from volatility that nets to zero for depositors, but it doesn’t remove the incentive to take on more risk than a depositor might want, in pursuit of a new high-water mark.

Depositors should check the leader’s own stake and vault history before depositing, not just the headline returns. A vault with a large, thin history and minimal leader capital at risk carries a different risk profile than one with a long track record and a leader who has kept meaningful skin in the game throughout.

Vault leader vs. HLP: how they actually differ

See it for yourself

If you’re considering depositing into someone else’s vault rather than creating one, review the leader’s stake percentage and drawdown history before committing funds, the same way you’d want to research your own strategy’s risk. You can browse live vaults at app.hyperliquid.xyz.

Frequently asked questions

Can I change my vault’s name after creating it?

No, both the name and description are permanent once the vault is created.

How much of my own money do I need to keep in the vault as a leader?

At least 5% of the vault’s total value, on an ongoing basis, not just at creation.

How is the leader paid?

A flat 10% of profits generated above the vault’s high-water mark (its previous peak value), not a share of every gain regardless of prior losses.

Is a user vault safer than trading on my own?

Not inherently, it depends entirely on the leader’s strategy and discipline. A vault adds a layer of trust in another person’s decisions rather than removing risk.

Affiliate disclosure

TradeOnDEX may earn a commission if you sign up or trade through a link on this page, at no extra cost to you. Hyperliquid’s own affiliate/referral terms are still being confirmed for this site, so links here are direct and untracked for now. This article is educational and is not financial advice or a recommendation to create or join any specific vault. See our disclaimer for the full risk warning.