Funding a Hyperliquid account.

The short version

Hyperliquid is funded with native USDC on Arbitrum One, sent to Hyperliquid's bridge. The minimum is 5 USDC, it credits in about a minute, and you need a little ETH on Arbitrum to pay the gas for the transfer.

Why a brand-new account must be funded first

This trips up almost everyone who connects a fresh wallet. If you try to authorise trading before depositing, Hyperliquid answers:

"Must deposit before performing actions. User: 0x…"

It is not a WatchCrypto error and there is nothing wrong with your wallet. Hyperliquid simply will not accept any signed action — including the approval that sets up trading — from an address it has never seen. Deposit first, then connect. The terminal recognises this specific rejection and offers you the deposit panel rather than a dead end.

Depositing from the terminal

1. Open the terminal. If your account is empty, the trade dock offers Deposit.
2. The panel reads your wallet's Arbitrum balances and asks for an amount.
3. Confirm the transfer in your wallet. It is one transaction, sending USDC to Hyperliquid's bridge contract.
4. Wait about a minute. Your perps balance appears in the dock.

Depositing by hand

If you would rather send it yourself, the details are:

Send native USDC, not a bridged variant, and send it on Arbitrum One — not Ethereum mainnet and not another L2. Getting either wrong is the usual way to lose a deposit.

Common errors

"Not enough ETH on Arbitrum to pay the gas"

USDC pays for goods; ETH pays for gas. Send a small amount of ETH to the same address on Arbitrum and retry.

"Nonce too high"

Your wallet app has a different account selected than the one the terminal is signing for. Switch the active account in the wallet. The terminal re-reads the number Arbitrum expects and retries once on its own.

"The wallet holds less USDC on Arbitrum than that amount"

Check you are looking at the Arbitrum balance rather than USDC on another chain.

The deposit arrived but perps shows zero

On some account types a bridge deposit lands in your spot balance rather than perps. If your account is not a unified one, the terminal offers a one-signature Move to perps. On a unified account spot USDC already counts as margin, so nothing needs moving and the terminal will not offer it.

Withdrawing

Withdrawals are done on Hyperliquid itself, with your own wallet. The trading key WatchCrypto holds has no withdrawal permission, so it cannot move your money out — by design. The security page explains what that key can and cannot do.

Next

• Connect Hyperliquid — the full setup.
• Your first trade — with a take-profit and a stop-loss.

Frequently asked questions

What is the minimum deposit to Hyperliquid?

Five USDC. Deposits are sent as native USDC on Arbitrum One to Hyperliquid’s bridge and credit in about a minute.

Why does Hyperliquid say "Must deposit before performing actions"?

Hyperliquid will not accept a signed action from an address it has never seen, including the approval that sets up trading. Deposit first, then connect.

Which network and token should I send?

Native USDC on Arbitrum One, contract 0xaf88d065e77c8cC2239327C5EDb3A432268e5831. Not Ethereum mainnet, and not a bridged USDC variant.

Do I need ETH as well?

A small amount of ETH on Arbitrum, to pay gas for the USDC transfer. Without it the transfer cannot be sent.

My deposit arrived but my perps balance is zero.

On some account types a bridge deposit lands in the spot balance. The terminal offers a one-signature move to perps. On a unified account spot USDC already counts as margin, so nothing needs moving.

Can WatchCrypto withdraw my funds?

No. The trading key it holds has no withdrawal permission at the protocol level. Withdrawals are done on Hyperliquid with your own wallet.