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Two perpetual contracts tied to Anthropic have begun trading on the crypto exchange Hyperliquid, allowing traders to take leveraged positions before any public listing. The contracts are not backed by Anthropic shares, and a possible Nov. 20 listing date is trade.xyz’s estimate, not a date confirmed by the company.
Two leveraged crypto contracts tied to Anthropic are trading on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid before the AI company has listed shares publicly, giving traders price exposure without ownership or a claim against Anthropic. One of the contracts, trade.xyz’s ANT, fell about 20% in its first trading hours, according to Hyperliquid data cited by CoinDesk.
The markets are Entropy’s ANTH, which expresses a company valuation, and trade.xyz’s ANT, which references the price of one Anthropic Class A share. Both are perpetual swaps: derivatives that do not expire on a set date. They do not deliver Anthropic stock, and neither is backed by company shares or a fund holding them. Positions are cash-settled in USDC, with gains and losses exchanged between traders on opposite sides.
ANT opened near $138 at 9 a.m. ET on Oct. 31 and was around $110 by about 11:50 a.m., after roughly $8.7 million in trading volume, CoinDesk reported from Hyperliquid data. The report gave open interest at about $2.2 million in its contract data, while its summary put open positions at about $1.7 million; the figures differ and the report does not explain the discrepancy. The contract allows up to 10-times leverage, meaning a 10% adverse move can wipe out a trader’s collateral at the maximum leverage, before fees or other mechanics.
ANT’s reference price is based on a 30-minute moving average of resting orders, subject to price limits trade.xyz calls “discovery bounds.” Entropy’s ANTH instead uses a scale where each $1 of contract price represents $1 billion in implied company valuation. A reading near 1,880 would correspond to roughly $1.9 trillion under that convention. These figures reflect the contracts’ market mechanics and trader expectations, not an official valuation set by Anthropic.
The contracts create a venue for trading views on a high-profile company before a public stock price exists. That makes them a potential signal of trader expectations, but not a substitute for an IPO price: the derivative markets have their own operators, pricing rules and liquidity, while Anthropic and its underwriters will set any offering price independently.
The distinction matters for anyone assessing what these prices mean. Contract holders receive no shares, allocation, voting rights or claim against Anthropic. Their positions depend on collateral and the market’s settlement terms. Thin trading can magnify price swings, and leverage can quickly increase losses as well as gains. A quoted contract price should not be read as a company-approved valuation or an indication that investors can buy Anthropic stock through the exchange.
There is also a regulatory dimension. CoinDesk reported that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved the first perpetual contract on a U.S. exchange in May and flagged equity-based perpetuals for joint review with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The source material does not establish how that review applies to these particular markets or whether U.S. users can access them.
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How the Contracts Connect to an IPO
Before a stock begins trading, there is no public share price for a derivative to follow. CoinDesk reported that the market operator chooses the launch price for these pre-IPO contracts, while traders’ orders and the contracts’ price rules shape subsequent trading. That differs from a tokenized share backed by stock: these perps track a reference or market mechanism, not a portfolio of Anthropic securities.
Trade.xyz says ANT is expected to convert into a standard perpetual tracking the underlying stock after the shares begin trading, typically in the first regular session. Its stated target date is Nov. 20, 2026, but that is the operator’s estimate, not an IPO date announced by Anthropic. Trade.xyz says a 60-day grace period would apply if the listing is delayed, through Jan. 19, 2027. If no listing occurs in that period, it says ANT would settle in cash using the contract’s average trading price, though the operator may choose another method if it considers that average unfair.
Anthropic’s help page warns that anyone claiming to sell its shares to the public through forward contracts, tokenized securities or other mechanisms is likely offering something worthless. The company has not publicly commented on these specific perpetual contracts, and it has not said whether that warning applies to them. Separately, the Financial Times reported that investors expect a valuation of $1.5 trillion to $1.75 trillion; Fox Business journalist Liz Claman said pricing remained on track for Nov. 19–20. Those reports are expectations, not confirmed IPO terms. Anthropic’s last private funding round, in May, valued it at $965 billion post-money.
“Anyone claiming to sell its shares to the public through “forward contracts,” tokenized securities, or other mechanisms is likely offering something worthless.”
— Anthropic help page, as described by CoinDesk
Listing Date and Contract Risks
Anthropic has not confirmed an IPO date in the supplied reporting, and the Nov. 20 target comes from trade.xyz. The company has not publicly addressed these two contracts or explained whether its help-page warning extends to perpetual swaps. The final IPO valuation, share price and offering terms are also not established by the pre-IPO contract prices.
It is also unclear how liquid the markets will remain, how accurately their prices will reflect demand for Anthropic shares, or how the operator would resolve a disputed or disrupted reference price. Trade.xyz controls pricing sources, leverage limits and open-interest caps, and can halt trading, with positions then settling at the mark price, according to CoinDesk. The source report also gives different open-interest figures for ANT—about $2.2 million in its detailed account and about $1.7 million in its summary—without reconciling them.
Past market performance does not remove these risks. Trade.xyz told the SEC that five completed pre-IPO markets finished within about 0.4% to 7% of their respective stock opening prices. Those figures were supplied by the company and an advocacy group that co-signed its letter and were not independently verified, CoinDesk reported. A separate Hyperliquid SpaceX contract fell about 45% in 30 minutes in May and liquidated 405 users; it was a different product, though the reporting described a similar setup.
IPO Plans and Contract Conversion
The next major milestone is whether Anthropic and its underwriters announce an offering timetable, price range and listing date. Until then, traders are dealing with a derivative market whose timeline is based on trade.xyz’s estimate, rather than a confirmed company schedule. Any eventual IPO price will be set independently of ANTH and ANT.
If Anthropic lists within the contract’s stated window, trade.xyz says ANT is intended to convert to a perpetual tracking the public stock. If the listing is delayed, its terms allow a grace period through Jan. 19, 2027; if no listing occurs by then, the operator says the contract would settle in cash under its stated rules. Readers should watch for any change to those terms, company statements, and regulatory developments. Trading remains high-risk: leverage, volatility and the possibility of losing collateral are central features, and these contracts do not confer stock ownership.
Key Questions
Do the Hyperliquid contracts give traders Anthropic shares?
No. ANT and ANTH are perpetual swaps, not shares or share-backed tokens. Holders have no allocation, voting rights or claim against Anthropic, and ANT is cash-settled in USDC.
Has Anthropic confirmed a Nov. 20 IPO?
No IPO date is confirmed in the supplied reporting. Nov. 20 is trade.xyz’s estimate; Anthropic has not confirmed that date. Reports of expected valuations or a target timetable should not be treated as final offering terms.
What does 10-times leverage mean for ANT traders?
The contract permits leverage of up to 10 times a trader’s collateral. At that maximum, a 10% move against a position can wipe out the collateral, before fees and other contract details. Losses can happen quickly in volatile or thin markets.
How does ANT’s price relate to Anthropic’s eventual IPO price?
ANT is a derivative reference price, not the IPO price. Trade.xyz says it is based on a moving average of order-book activity and may convert to a contract tracking the public stock after listing. Anthropic and its underwriters set the IPO price independently.
Source: coindesk.com
