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Before SpaceX has even rung the opening bell on Nasdaq, crypto traders have already cast their vote. The SPCX-USDC perpetual futures contract on Hyperliquid crossed $500 million in 24-hour trading volume, a staggering figure for a synthetic asset tied to a company that hasn’t yet gone public.
The contract is trading at a 20-35% premium above SpaceX’s IPO price of $135 per share, which puts the implied first-day pop somewhere in the range of 27-35%. In English: the crypto market is betting that SpaceX shares will immediately surge once they start trading on June 12.
A pre-IPO frenzy across crypto platforms
Hyperliquid isn’t the only venue running this trade. Binance and Kraken both launched their own versions of SPCX pre-IPO perpetual futures in late May, and the combined cumulative volume across platforms has already exceeded $2-3 billion by early June.
Open interest on Hyperliquid alone has ranged from $150 million to $293 million. That’s serious money parked in leveraged positions on a stock that doesn’t technically exist yet, at least not in the traditional sense.
The IPO itself is historic
SpaceX has priced its offering at $135 per share, targeting a $75 billion capital raise. If that number holds, it would be the largest IPO in history, and the company’s estimated valuation sits somewhere between $1.75 trillion and $2 trillion.
To put that in perspective, Saudi Aramco’s 2019 IPO raised about $25.6 billion. SpaceX is aiming for roughly three times that amount.
The stock is expected to open above $174 on Nasdaq, which lines up neatly with what SPCX perp traders have been pricing in.
There’s another wrinkle buried in SpaceX’s IPO filing that crypto natives will appreciate. The company disclosed holding 18,712 BTC in its treasury, valued at over $1.4 billion at recent price levels. That makes SpaceX one of the largest corporate Bitcoin holders globally, joining a growing list that includes MicroStrategy and Tesla.
What this means for investors
That said, the risks are real and worth spelling out. Pre-IPO perps are synthetic instruments. They track expectations, not actual share prices. If SpaceX’s opening trade comes in below the premium-laden perp price, leveraged longs could face brutal liquidations. The 20-35% premium baked into current pricing leaves very little room for disappointment.
There’s also regulatory ambiguity. These contracts operate on offshore or decentralized platforms, and the SEC hasn’t weighed in on whether synthetic pre-IPO derivatives cross any lines.
The convergence cuts both ways. SpaceX holding nearly 19,000 BTC on its balance sheet means that Bitcoin’s price action could influence SpaceX equity post-IPO, and vice versa.
Watch the funding rates on SPCX perps as June 12 approaches. If they stay elevated, it signals that leveraged longs remain confident. If they spike dramatically, it could indicate overcrowding in the trade, precisely the setup that tends to produce the sharpest reversals.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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