Anthropic-linked crypto contracts draw leveraged pre-IPO bets as debut trading turns volatile

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Anthropic crypto pre-IPO trading

Highlights

ANT contract on trade.xyz debuted near $138 and dropped to about $110 with $8.7 million in volume and $2.2 million open interest, allowing 10x leverage.
These Anthropic-linked perpetual swaps are not backed by shares and may settle in cash if the IPO is delayed beyond the estimated Nov. 20 listing date plus a 60-day grace period.
Thin liquidity and high leverage have driven extreme volatility, drawing regulatory scrutiny from the CFTC and SEC and geoblocking U.S. participants from these products.

How the Anthropic-linked contracts work

As reported by CoinDesk, two Anthropic-related contracts are now trading on Hyperliquid, Entropy's ANTH and trade.xyz's ANT, even though neither instrument is backed by Anthropic shares and neither gives holders any claim on the company.

ANT tracks the price of one Anthropic Class A share, while ANTH tracks the company's valuation, with each $1 of price representing $1 billion of company value. Anthropic has not publicly commented on the contracts, but its help page says anyone claiming to sell its shares to the public through forward contracts, tokenized securities or similar mechanisms is likely offering something worthless.

Both products are perpetual swaps, meaning they do not expire and settle in cash rather than shares. Until Anthropic stock begins public trading, the contracts rely largely on trader expectations, with the operator setting the initial reference price and using funding rates or price bands to keep trading near that benchmark.

Trade.xyz says ANT converts into a standard perpetual contract once the underlying stock starts trading, typically during the first regular session after listing. The company sets Nov. 20 as the expected listing date, though that is its own estimate and not one confirmed by Anthropic; if the IPO is delayed, the contract includes a 60-day grace period through Jan. 19, 2027 before cash settlement rules apply.

Volatility, liquidity and regulatory exposure

ANT's launch shows how unstable the market can be. Hyperliquid data shows the contract opening near $138 at 9 a.m. ET and falling to around $110 by about 11:50 a.m., with roughly $8.7 million in volume and $2.2 million in open interest, while allowing leverage of up to 10 times.

That leverage sharply raises the risk to traders because a 10% move against a position can wipe out posted collateral. Unlike tokenized stocks or fund-backed structures, the cash behind each position is simply trader collateral, with gains for one side paid by losses on the other.

Trade.xyz controls the pricing inputs, leverage caps, open-interest limits and the ability to halt trading, while Hyperliquid provides the exchange infrastructure and on-chain settlement. The IPO price itself will still be set independently by Anthropic and its banks, meaning these contracts function more as speculative signals than as direct indicators of final listing terms.

Market risks are also heightened by thin liquidity. The article notes that a similar SpaceX contract on Hyperliquid fell about 45% in a 30-minute window in May and liquidated 405 users, illustrating how quickly price swings can cascade in small pre-IPO markets.

U.S. traders are barred from using derivatives on Hyperliquid, and trade.xyz says its markets are not offered to Americans, with geoblocking and wallet screening in place. Even so, the broader sector remains under regulatory scrutiny, with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the SEC reviewing equity-based perpetuals and prior enforcement actions targeting offshore crypto derivatives operators.

Our earlier article on the AI-linked tech sell-off covered how investors began reassessing stretched valuations across semiconductors, data-center infrastructure plays and other companies tied to the AI buildout. It also noted that higher oil prices were adding inflation pressure, complicating the Fed outlook and contributing to broader market volatility and more cautious positioning.

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