Pre-IPO perpetual futures jump 6,000x to $12B in June

Crypto exchange volume for pre-IPO perpetual futures rose to about $12 billion in June, a roughly 6,000-fold increase from March, as traders sought exposure to private technology companies including SpaceX, OpenAI and Quantinuum.

CryptoQuant data show volume climbed from roughly $2 million in March to $715 million in May, then to about $12 billion in June. Pre-IPO perpetuals let traders speculate on the future valuations of private companies without owning shares. The contracts are cash-settled and settle in the same way as other perpetual futures offered by crypto platforms.

Pre-IPO contracts made up 55% of all perpetual equity trading on crypto exchanges in June, up from 5% in May.

Binance accounted for roughly $10.3 billion of pre-IPO perpetual volume in June, a near 20-fold increase from May and about an 83% share of the market that month. Bitget recorded approximately $1.3 billion in June volume.

Trading activity concentrated on a small group of high-profile names after several private companies made public market moves in June. Quantinuum began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker QNT on June 4 and SpaceX listed under SPCX on June 12. OpenAI filed a confidential S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and has not set an IPO date.

CryptoQuant’s report noted: “Growth coincides with increased market interest in pre-IPO perpetuals including SpaceX, OpenAI and Quantinuum, as well as the launch of additional equities offerings on crypto platforms.”

Exchanges have broadened perpetual product listings to include contracts tied to oil, metals and equities, enabling leveraged trading on noncrypto assets. Data from providers and exchange reports show the June surge was concentrated around a few names and driven largely by a small number of platforms that listed those products.