Tokenized Pre-IPO Trading Volume Surges as SpaceX Leads Market
Trading activity in tokenized pre-initial public offering (IPO) perpetual contracts experienced a significant surge in May 2026, following several months of subdued engagement. According to a new report from CoinGecko, monthly trading volume escalated by 1,059%, climbing from $60.51 million in April to $701.44 million in May.
SpaceX’s pre-IPO perpetual contracts emerged as the market leader, registering $305 million in monthly trading volume, which represented 43.5% of the total. This robust activity preceded the company’s highly anticipated Nasdaq listing scheduled for June 12.
Artificial intelligence firms OpenAI and Anthropic secured the second and third positions, respectively. Collectively, contracts linked to SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic accounted for over 95% of the pre-IPO perpetual trading volume recorded in May, highlighting a pronounced concentration of activity within a select few assets.
Prior to its Nasdaq debut, SpaceX’s pre-IPO prices exhibited considerable divergence across major exchanges. However, these price points gradually converged as more information became available.
In the week leading up to its market debut, CoinGecko observed that SpaceX perpetual contracts were trading at approximately $170 on exchanges including Binance and WEEX. In contrast, Coinbase, Gate, and OKX priced them lower, around $155. As details surrounding the initial public offering became public, prices across the major exchanges steadily narrowed to a range between $160 and $165 by June 10.
During the final two days before the listing, prices on leading platforms continued to rise in unison, surpassing $180. On June 12, the day of the listing, new information regarding the expected IPO price was reflected in pre-IPO markets, triggering sharp price fluctuations. Despite this volatility, pre-IPO prices ultimately closed at an average of $157, representing a 4.67% premium over SpaceX’s opening price of $150.
Beyond SpaceX, several prominent cryptocurrency exchanges have been actively expanding their offerings of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). Since the beginning of 2025, MEXC has listed the largest number of RWA products, adding 199 spot assets and 159 TradFi perpetual contracts for a total of 358 listings.
Gate followed with 224 RWA products, comprising 146 perpetuals and 78 spot assets. WEEX, ranking third, listed 192 assets, including 84 spot and 108 perpetual offerings.
Exchanges such as HTX, Binance, Crypto.com, Coinbase, and OKX demonstrated a greater emphasis on TradFi perpetual listings over spot RWAs. CoinGecko data indicates that each of these exchanges recorded only one or two spot RWA listings over the past 17 months. On average, exchanges featured 75 perpetual listings compared to 37 spot RWA listings during the same period.
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