Pre- and Post-IPO Perpetuals: Market Trends and Venue Evolution

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Overview

Pre-IPO perpetuals are perpetual futures that reference private companies as the underlying asset. These instruments bring the familiar perpetual futures model – no expiration, a funding rate, and the ability to easily go long and short – to markets on companies that may be otherwise difficult to price. Upon a company's public listing, the instruments transition into standard perpetual futures markets rather than winding down, ensuring seamless positioning for market participants.

Cumulative volume for pre- and post-IPO perpetuals totaled $393B across Binance, OKX, and Hyperliquid, per data from Coin Metrics and Hyperliquid as of September 8, 2026. Volumes first surpassed $50B in June 2026 and increased sevenfold in approximately 2 months. The rapid growth of the category is notable considering these markets are very new, with most listed in May 2026 or later, and is part of the broader trend of trading activity of real-world asset perpetuals recently surpassing or rivaling that of BTC perpetuals. 

With these instruments delivering price discovery, they are changing how institutions must approach both long and short exposure around a major listing. Perpetuals can enable these investors to hedge their existing positions through the IPO period or take directional views. Moreover, the 24/7 nature allows for tactical positioning after hours or on weekends, something not possible in traditional markets. 

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Market Dynamics

Pre-IPO perpetuals see trading activity highly concentrated across specific instruments and exchanges. This analysis focuses on Binance, Hyperliquid, and OKX, the largest venues by volume and open interest in the category.

Trading volume in the category has overwhelmingly materialized in two key names: SK Hynix ($228B, or 58% of total volume) and SpaceX ($152B, 39% of total volume). By contrast, early IPO-stage listings like Cerebras now represent just 2% of cumulative volume.

The venue landscape has shifted rapidly over time. Hyperliquid served as the initial pioneer, holding near 100% volume share until centralized exchanges entered the market in May 2026. Since then, Binance has established a dominant position, commanding 72.6% of 7-day average volume (as of September 8, 2026), compared to 13.9% on OKX and 13.5% on Hyperliquid. On a cumulative basis, Binance accounts for 63.6% of all pre-IPO perps volume, followed by Hyperliquid (18.9%) and OKX (17.5%). However, Hyperliquid's share is meaningfully higher in the pre-IPO phase than overall (28.7%), reflecting its role as an initial venue for price discovery. 

Despite losing market share in the category to centralized exchanges, Hyperliquid maintains a relatively stronger share of open interest, capturing 43% ($827M) compared to Binance’s 49% ($935M) and OKX’s 8% ($146M).

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The Evolution of These Markets

Hyperliquid catalyzed this sector as an early market innovator, first offering initial pre-IPO contracts in late 2025. As liquidity and platform adoption expanded through early 2026, strong demand for real-world asset derivatives validated the viability of the pre-IPO contract model.

The rapid maturation of these markets was supported by three core factors: deep venue liquidity, broad distribution, and timely market demand. A wave of high-profile tech listings in mid-2026 drove broader market participation, prompting major centralized venues like Binance and OKX to expand their own pre-IPO product offerings, checking the box for liquidity and distribution.

The final condition to propel these markets was demand. Liquidity tends to grow significantly as the IPO date approaches, partly as the availability of more information (such as from SEC filings, roadshows, and media reports) enables market participants to build conviction to participate.

Pre-IPO perps have since proved relatively accurate price discovery for the open of the IPOs, which has in turn helped spur adoption of these instruments, with SpaceX a key validation point.

Marquee IPOs on the Horizon

Looking ahead, Anthropic and OpenAI may further define the pre-IPO perpetuals category, with perpetuals traders on Binance currently pricing in valuations of $2.1T and $1.6T as of September 9, 2026, which compares to SpaceX’s record ~$1.8T valuation at IPO. Activity is building as IPO headlines swirl, with media reports that Anthropic could IPO as early as October. 

Across venues, volume in Anthropic perpetuals has climbed to $40M+/day, while OpenAI perpetuals trade $20M+/day. Open interest has grown in lockstep, pointing to increased positioning. If history is any guide, liquidity in these markets could significantly increase in the coming weeks as Anthropic’s IPO dates are set, in line with the trends observed around the SpaceX and SK Hynix markets ahead of their public listings.