Anthropic is set to raise funds through its initial public offering this month, and the anticipation is reflected in the perpetual futures market, where traders are making substantial bets on the company's debut.
The Hyperliquid platform shows that the current contract for Anthropic implies a stock price of $98, which suggests a market capitalization of approximately $1.7 trillion, exceeding the previously announced IPO price range of $70-$78 by over 30%. In the last 24 hours, around $250 million in volume was traded across two Anthropic trackers on Hyperliquid.
The pre-IPO perpetual contracts began trading at $138 two weeks ago but experienced volatility, dropping below $94 during a recent tech selloff. This pricing trend supports the theory that investment banks may intentionally set lower IPO prices to create a post-listing surge.
Comparisons are drawn to SpaceX, where similar pre-IPO contracts traded at a premium before the stock surged by 40% shortly after its IPO. Additionally, the news of Anthropic's IPO may be negatively impacting its competitor OpenAI, as its market cap contracts fell by 7% to $1.27 trillion.
Shares of Hyperliquid Strategies, which invests in the tokens powering the exchange, also saw a 4% decline, although the stock has increased by 150% this year