Trading activity in tokenized pre-IPO perpetual contracts surged sharply in May 2026 after several months of subdued activity, according to a new report by CoinGecko. Monthly trading volume climbed 1,059% from $60.51 million in April to $701.44 million in May.
Interestingly, SpaceX pre-IPO perpetuals led the market with $305 million in monthly trading volume, as it accounted for 43.5% of the total. The strong activity came ahead of the company’s highly anticipated Nasdaq listing on June 12.
SpaceX Pre-IPO Frenzy
AI companies OpenAI and Anthropic ranked second and third, respectively. All combined, contracts tied to SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic accounted for over 95% of pre-IPO perpetual trading volume recorded in May, indicating that activity was heavily concentrated in just a few assets.
SpaceX’s pre-IPO prices also showed wide differences across major exchanges before its Nasdaq listing, but eventually moved closer together as more information became available.
In the week leading up to its market debut, CoinGecko found that SpaceX perpetual contracts traded at around $170 on exchanges including Binance and WEEX, while Coinbase, Gate, and OKX priced them lower at roughly $155. As details about the initial public offering became public, prices across the major exchanges gradually converged into the $160 to $165 range by June 10.
During the final two days before the listing, prices on the leading platforms continued rising together and climbed above $180. On June 12, the day of the listing, new information about the expected listing price was reflected in pre-IPO markets, leading to sharp price swings.
Despite the volatility, pre-IPO prices ultimately closed at an average of $157, 4.67% above SpaceX’s opening price of $150.
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TradFi on Crypto Exchanges
Beyond SpaceX, several prominent crypto exchanges have been steadily expanding their tokenized real-world asset offerings. Since the start of 2025, MEXC has listed the largest number of RWA products. The platform added 199 spot assets and 159 TradFi perpetual contracts for a total of 358 listings.
Next up was Gate with 224 RWA products, including 146 perpetuals and 78 spot assets, while WEEX, which was ranked third, listed 192 assets across 84 spot and 108 perpetual offerings.
Exchanges such as HTX, Binance, Crypto.com, Coinbase, and OKX focused more on TradFi perpetual listings than spot RWAs. CoinGecko found that each of these exchanges recorded only one or two spot RWA listings over the past 17 months. Overall, exchanges averaged 75 perpetual listings compared with 37 spot RWA listings during the period.
