The pre-IPO futures market has surged 6,000 times: SpaceX and OpenAI have become a magnet for crypto traders.
The market for perpetual pre-IPO contracts on cryptocurrency exchanges is experiencing an unprecedented surge. In June, the total open interest in these instruments reached approximately $12 billion. To put this in perspective, this is 6,000 times larger than it was in March of this year.
The reason for this explosive growth is clear — institutional and retail traders are seeking any opportunity to gain exposure to shares of the largest technology giants before their official stock exchange listing. The focus is on SpaceX, OpenAI, and Quantinuum — companies whose prospects generate immense interest in traditional markets.
55% of the market: pre-IPO contracts dominate stock trading on crypto exchanges
Perpetual pre-IPO contracts are derivatives that allow bets on the value of private companies before their IPO. They do not grant ownership rights to shares but reflect the expected market capitalization. According to data from the analytics platform CryptoQuant, trading volume in these instruments grew from a meager $2 million in March to $715 million in May, and then jumped to a colossal $12 billion in June.
This is part of a broader trend — the migration of traditional assets onto crypto rails. Exchanges are already actively trading perpetual contracts on oil, metals, and stocks. In June, pre-IPO futures accounted for 55% of the entire market for perpetual stock contracts on crypto exchanges. For comparison, in May, their share was only 5%. This indicates an avalanche-like growth in demand specifically for this asset class.
Binance captured 83% of the pre-IPO futures market
The lion's share of this market belongs to Binance. In June, the exchange executed pre-IPO contract trades worth $10.3 billion — 20 times more than in May. This corresponds to 83% of the entire market. Bitget ranks second with a volume of $1.3 billion in June.
As a reminder, Quantinuum debuted on Nasdaq on June 4 under the ticker QNT, and SpaceX on June 12 under the ticker SPCX. For OpenAI, the listing date has not yet been determined, but the company has already filed a confidential S-1 application with the SEC.
My expert assessment: The pre-IPO futures market is not just hype. It is a logical stage in the evolution of crypto derivatives, blurring the lines between private and public markets. However, I urge caution: such contracts are extremely volatile and have no fundamental link to the company's real value until the listing. High demand is a reflection of greed, not a guarantee of success.