The Big Debut
CXMT Corp., a rival to leading memory-chip companies including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, began trading on the Shanghai Star Market. The stock opened at 49.5 yuan ($7.30). By the close, the stock price settled at roughly $7.24, giving the company a valuation of $488 billion.
The company has ridden the wave of the AI boom, which sharply increased memory chip prices, and also benefited from Beijing's drive for tech independence. Ayesha Kiani, the chief operating officer of Monarq Asset Management, commented, "This is one of the largest and most strategically important IPOs globally."
The Crypto Side Bet
Before CXMT started trading, a blockchain-based venue called Hyperliquid listed perpetual futures contracts on the company. The contracts were created by Trade.xyz, which introduced CXMT as its fourth pre-IPO perp this year, following earlier contracts tied to SpaceX, Cerebras Systems Inc., and Quantinuum.
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Just before the IPO opened, the perps were trading at $7.14, close to the stock's opening price. The prices converged within minutes.
Pre-IPO futures for US firms such as SpaceX and Cerebras also mostly matched their public trading prices. SpaceX launched its IPO at $135 per share, opened approximately 11% above that level, and closed at $160.95, as perpetual contracts dropped from about $175 to converge. Cerebras perps opened at $175, climbed to nearly $340 before the Nasdaq opening.
Cerebras priced at $185 but opened at $350. For Quantinuum, perpetual contracts declined from over $90 to end near $60, matching the stock's opening price.
Retail traders have shown increasing interest in pre-IPO perpetual futures. Perpetual futures are contracts that operate around the clock, never expire, and aim to follow an asset's value via regular funding fees. Unlike private-share gray markets, perps do not grant ownership rights. Instead, they offer synthetic exposure, and their prices are set by blockchain-based supply and demand.
Implications for Market Structure
This convergence between pre-IPO derivatives and actual stock prices suggests that decentralized venues can serve as effective price-discovery mechanisms for highly anticipated listings. The CXMT perps, created by Trade.xyz, were the fourth such contract this year, following SpaceX, Cerebras, and Quantinuum. Each of those earlier contracts also broadly tracked the eventual IPO prices. As retail and institutional traders increasingly seek early exposure to unlisted companies, blockchain-based perps may become a standard tool, though they carry risks such as lack of ownership and potential manipulation.
Mike Cahill, CEO of Douro Labs, said, "Traders are no longer searching for exposure to unlisted assets, they're demanding venues to make it happen. "Those markets are here to stay and price discovery to support that exposure is crucial"."
Broader Context of Pre-IPO Crypto Derivatives
The emergence of pre-IPO perpetual futures is part of a wider trend where decentralized finance platforms are carving out roles traditionally held by banks and brokerage firms. In the case of CXMT, the close alignment between the cryptocurrency-based perp price and the actual stock price reinforces the argument that blockchain markets can provide reliable price signals even before official listings. This could eventually challenge the dominance of traditional gray markets and pre-IPO private exchanges, especially for names with high retail interest.
However, regulatory scrutiny remains uncertain, and the lack of investor protections in decentralized venues may limit their adoption among institutional players.
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