Robot maker Unitree’s IPO surges 600%, outpacing crypto traders’ premarket bets
Robot manufacturer Unitree saw its shares surge over 600% following its IPO, significantly outperforming pre-market valuations set by crypto-based perpetual futures. The event marks a growing trend of using decentralized finance platforms to speculate on stock market debuts before they officially open.
Why it matters
This trend demonstrates the increasing influence of crypto-native prediction markets in gauging investor sentiment and pricing assets ahead of traditional stock exchange listings.
Unitree, a Hangzhou company that makes humanoid and four-legged robots, opened at 1,100 yuan on Wednesday, 629% above its IPO price of 150.8 yuan. The first trade valued the company at about 445 billion yuan, or $66 billion.
A synthetic Unitree market running on Hyperliquid had traded around $92 to $94 last week, implying a valuation near $38 billion, according to Allium.
That put the actual opening roughly 75% above the price crypto traders had settled on before a single public share changed hands.
The contract is a perpetual future, or a cash-settled bet on Unitree's share price that does not give traders ownership in the company. It was launched by outside developer xyz.trade using Hyperliquid's infrastructure and trades around the clock, giving investors a place to put money behind a view on the IPO before Shanghai opened.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in