Is Lighter's Price-to-Earnings Ratio Twice That of Hyperliquid, Both Being Top Derivatives Protocols?

LIT has a price-to-earnings ratio of 88, while HYPE stands at 43.

Written by: GLC Research

Compiled by: Chopper, Foresight News

Hyperliquid and Lighter are two projects often compared in terms of revenue and valuation in the market. However, most comparisons lack strong reference value, as both parties tend to select data that favors their arguments: one side uses circulating supply, while the other uses fully diluted supply; one counts transaction fees, while the other counts net profit; or compares weekly revenue data against annual figures.

This article adopts the same calculation standards for both tokens. The token supply is based on the framework established by HSI and HRC (Note: HRC is the Hyperliquid Research Coalition, initiated by institutions such as Four Pillars and GLC Research; HSI is a digital asset public company focused on the Hyperliquid ecosystem and is one of the largest holders of HYPE in the market). The profit data is uniformly selected from September 2026 and annualized. This article does not provide any bullish or bearish judgments on the tokens, but aims to show the valuation levels of the two projects when the definitions are completely consistent.

Results: 43 Times vs 88 Times

Under a unified standard, Lighter's price-to-earnings ratio is approximately twice that of Hyperliquid, with values of 88.1 and 43.3, respectively.

The price-to-earnings ratio here is derived from the OTS valuation divided by annualized profit, where annualized profit equals September 2026 profit multiplied by 12.

Supply: Outstanding Token Supply (OTS)

This valuation uses the OTS standard. OTS counts tokens that are already in circulation or allocated to designated holders according to a publicly fixed schedule, falling between circulating supply and fully diluted supply, and is the closest equivalent concept to stock market capitalization.

Both tokens use the exact same statistical rules:

• Included: Circulating tokens, plus team and investor allocation shares (even if still locked, they are fully counted)
• Excluded: Reserve tokens, such as tokens to be released in the future, community rewards, and ecological reserves
• Deducted: Burned tokens and tokens repurchased and canceled according to buyback policies

According to hl.eco data, Hyperliquid's OTS valuation is $43 billion.

The Lighter token distribution plan comes from team tweets: 50% ecological share (half of which was airdropped at launch), 26% team share, and 24% investor share. The team and investor tokens have a one-year lock-up period, followed by a linear unlock over three years.

Based on the LIT price of $3.896 on October 6, 2026, Lighter's OTS valuation is $2.85 billion. According to team disclosures, Lighter has repurchased 18.15 million LIT tokens since its launch and has burned the repurchased tokens. Some of these are yet to be executed for destruction, and this calculation has fully deducted them; similar to how Hyperliquid's rescue fund directly deducts HYPE once repurchased.

Both tokens have undergone the same simplification process, where staking rewards and incentives already distributed from ecological reserves are not included in OTS. This portion is relatively small compared to the total supply, and this treatment aligns with the statistical standards for future token releases and community rewards for HYPE.

Profit: Unified Monthly Data

Profit data for both projects is taken from September 2026 and annualized by multiplying by 12. The natural month was chosen because Lighter discloses repurchase data monthly.

Hyperliquid's profit standard follows the financial framework established by hl.eco and HRC.

Revenue = Transaction fees after deducting developer and deployer shares + priority fees + HyperEVM Gas fees + auction destruction revenue + USDC reserve interest.

Profit = Revenue - Fees paid to HLP.

In September, revenue was $83.5 million, with a profit of $82.8 million, resulting in an annualized profit of $994 million. No team or shareholders take a share from this, and profits will be returned to HYPE holders through repurchases and destruction.

Lighter has not directly disclosed profit data; this article uses the repurchase amount as the closest alternative metric. According to team disclosures, Lighter's total revenue in September was $4.44 million, with a repurchase of 597,200 LIT. The average price for the month was $4.52, corresponding to a repurchase amount of $2.7 million, annualized to $32.4 million.

The September repurchase scale is almost equivalent to the $2.72 million revenue generated by Lighter's core business, with the remaining $1.72 million revenue coming from Robinhood Chain business.

Conclusion Boundaries: What It Can and Cannot Explain

This comparison only indicates that, under the current annualized profit, the market pays approximately twice the valuation for every $1 profit of Lighter compared to Hyperliquid.

However, this does not imply that the pricing of either token is incorrect. The price-to-earnings ratio reflects the market's expectations of growth, profit margins, and risks; single-month profit data cannot cover these factors. A higher price-to-earnings ratio can be supported by a higher expected growth rate; a lower price-to-earnings ratio often corresponds to a larger and more mature profit base. The research team has its own views on this, but this article does not make related judgments, only showing the valuation multiples based on September data.

There are three limitations to note in this article:

• Lighter's profit is an approximate assumption; the repurchase amount is merely a substitute indicator. If Lighter retains part of its revenue (e.g., Robinhood Chain fees), its actual profit would be higher, and the price-to-earnings ratio would be lower. If total revenue rather than repurchase amount were used for calculation, the price-to-earnings ratio would be about 54 times.
• The sample window is very short: both protocols use September's single-month data annualized, maintaining a unified comparison standard, but single-month performance may be above or below long-term trends.
• Reserve distributions are not included in the statistics: the ecological reserve rewards already distributed for both tokens are not included in OTS. If included, both valuations would be slightly elevated.

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