OKX Launches Anthropic Pre-IPO Trading for European Customers with 10x Leverage

OKX has launched Anthropic Pre-IPO X-Perps for European customers, allowing them to trade the implied valuation of the AI firm ahead of its public listing. This derivative product offers a real-time, market-driven price discovery mechanism for private companies, providing retail and professional traders with a tool to hedge or speculate on high-profile IPOs using up to 10x leverage.

What was announced

OKX is expanding its suite of Pre-IPO X-Perps to include Anthropic, the artificial intelligence firm currently moving toward a public listing. These contracts, available to customers in Europe since September, allow traders to speculate on the company’s valuation with up to 10x leverage. Unlike traditional equity allocations, these are cash-settled derivatives linked to the market’s implied valuation rather than direct share ownership.

The pricing of these contracts is determined by supply and demand on the OKX platform, providing a public read on market sentiment that often differs from private funding-round valuations. To illustrate the mechanism's accuracy, OKX highlighted its previous SpaceX Pre-IPO X-Perp. On June 11, the day before SpaceX’s listing, the contract traded at 167.24 USDC; the company eventually closed its first day of trading at $160.95, placing the OKX market within 4% of the actual closing price.

To coincide with Anthropic’s IPO roadshow, European users can claim a 50 EUR X-Perps voucher to take positions on the valuation without an initial capital outlay. Any profits generated from the voucher are credited to the user, while losses are covered by the voucher itself. Following a successful IPO, OKX intends to transition these contracts into standard equity-linked X-Perps, subject to market conditions and potential position rebalancing. The firm noted that trading may be paused and open orders or bot strategies may be amended during share-count events related to the listing.

"Pre-IPO X-Perps show what traders are prepared to pay, in public and in real time. The day before SpaceX listed, our market was within 4% of where the shares closed on day one. Anthropic could be next, and customers in Europe can trade their view of it before the first share changes hands."

Erald Ghoos, CEO of OKX Europe

The companies involved

OKX is a major global technology company and digital asset exchange that has established a significant presence in the European market. The firm provides a comprehensive suite of trading tools, including advanced order types, trading bots, and various derivative products. Under the leadership of Erald Ghoos, CEO of OKX Europe, the company has increasingly focused on bridging the gap between traditional finance and digital asset markets through innovative synthetic products. OKX has been a frequent subject of industry analysis, appearing in over 80 reports regarding its role in the evolution of digital finance.

Anthropic is a prominent artificial intelligence safety and research company, best known for its Claude family of AI models. The company has become a central figure in the generative AI sector, attracting significant interest from both institutional investors and the broader public. As it prepares for its initial public offering, Anthropic represents a key test case for the valuation of high-growth AI firms in the current market cycle. The company’s integration into various financial and enterprise workflows has been widely documented, with dozens of reports tracking its expansion into personal finance and corporate AI strategy.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has tracked the rapid expansion of the ecosystem surrounding Anthropic’s anticipated public debut. Recently, we reported that ProShares to Launch First Leveraged and Inverse Anthropic ETFs Following AI Giant's IPO, signaling institutional appetite for sophisticated trading vehicles. This followed news that Hypercall Launches World’s First 24/7 Anthropic-Linked Options Market Ahead of IPO, further diversifying the pre-listing landscape.

Beyond trading, Anthropic has been active in expanding its utility within the financial sector. We covered how the firm is Anthropic Launches Personal Finance in Claude: AI-Powered Banking Insights via Plaid, and its enterprise adoption, such as when Amwins Scales AI Strategy with Anthropic's Claude Integration Across 8,000 Employees.

What this means

The launch of these derivatives highlights a growing trend toward the democratization of pre-IPO price discovery. Traditionally, the "grey market" for private shares was the exclusive domain of institutional players and high-net-worth individuals. By offering leveraged synthetic exposure to retail traders in Europe, OKX is putting pressure on traditional brokerages that remain sidelined until a formal listing occurs. However, this move also raises significant questions about the volatility of retail-driven valuation models. While the SpaceX example suggests high accuracy, the reliance on supply and demand within a single exchange’s ecosystem could lead to sharp deviations from institutional valuations as the IPO roadshow progresses.