Ahead of the initial public offering (IPO) of artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic, a new derivatives market is emerging that allows investment in price movements even before the actual stock listing. On-chain options trading platform Hypercall is pursuing synthetic options trading with Anthropic as the underlying asset, signaling changes in how privately held technology companies can be invested in.

Crypto media outlet The Block reported on the 6th (local time) that Hypercall plans to open an Anthropic-related options market. Hypercall explained that this product will be the first pre-listing options market tied to Anthropic. Trading will begin on Monday the 9th and operate 24 hours a day. However, the service will not be offered to U.S. customers, and even outside the United States, it is expected to be available only in select jurisdictions.

■ A Structure That Trades Price Movements Without Holding Shares

The core of this product is that investors can trade gains and losses based on price changes without directly holding Anthropic shares. The product Hypercall is introducing is a cash-settled synthetic derivative: investors gain exposure to Anthropic's price movements through contracts but do not acquire actual shares. Consequently, no shareholder voting rights are created. At contract expiration, the payout is determined based on a pre-set strike price and the benchmark price at maturity.

This structure allows trading of views on a company's value changes even before its IPO, but the derivative's benchmark price does not necessarily match actual stock trading prices, and separate risks inherent to the product structure exist.

Hypercall plans to support a variety of trading methods, including basic call and put options as well as spread strategies that combine multiple contracts. Call options are generally used to position for price increases in the underlying asset, while put options serve as a means of hedging against or investing in potential price declines. Combining multiple options also enables strategies targeting specific price ranges or changes in volatility.

Hypercall is built on Hyperliquid, and an Anthropic-linked perpetual futures contract already exists on that market. The perpetual futures market can be used by market makers supplying options trades to manage their risk, offsetting price movement risks arising from option selling with other derivatives. Hypercall's plan is to leverage this trading infrastructure to operate an options market even before Anthropic officially enters the stock market. The platform already offers options products linked to SpaceX, the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index, Bitcoin, and Ethereum. According to figures previously disclosed by Hypercall founder Jake Silvestre, the platform's options notional trading volume reached $536 million in September.

■ Why Did Listing Expectations Stall? Prediction Market Odds Shift Sharply

Another reason this product launch is drawing attention is that market expectations around the IPO timeline have shifted rapidly. The Block reported that investors' views on the likelihood of Anthropic going public within the year have become more cautious than before.

On prediction market Polymarket, the probability reflecting the possibility of Anthropic conducting its IPO in November fell from about 88% on the 3rd to as low as 51% on the 5th. Conversely, the probability of a January 2027 listing rose from under 1% to about 17%. Trading volume in that prediction market was tallied at about $566,000.

A similar change was observed on another prediction market, Kalshi. The probability of Anthropic listing before December 1 fell from about 88% to 60%, with that market's trading volume at about $4.9 million. On Kalshi, the probability of a listing before January 1, 2027 traded at 63%, and before February 1, 2027 at 85%.

However, prediction market probabilities reflect participants' trading prices. This does not mean the actual listing schedule has been confirmed or that these probabilities prove objective listing likelihood.

■ Expanded Tech Stock Volatility Raises Risks for Pre-IPO Derivatives

The shift in sentiment surrounding Anthropic's IPO is also intertwined with volatility in the U.S. tech stock market. On the 5th, U.S. stock markets saw intensified tech stock selling as concerns over expanding AI infrastructure investment came to the fore. The Nasdaq index showed large swings, falling about 6% intraday. Such market conditions can also affect the valuation of companies approaching their listings. Unlike the earlier environment of high expectations for post-IPO stock price gains, if risk-averse sentiment spreads across the market as a whole, uncertainty may grow in the initial price formation process after listing.

In options markets, not only the direction of price movements but also their speed and magnitude matter. When the underlying asset's volatility expands, changes occur in the option pricing process. In particular, synthetic derivatives linked to pre-listing companies have no prices formed in an actual stock market, making it necessary to examine both the benchmark price calculation method and liquidity. Option buyers bear the risk that the product may have no value at contract expiration. Meanwhile, compared with perpetual futures that use leverage, there are differences in profit-loss structure and liquidation methods.

■ First-Half Revenue of $16.3 Billion... S-1 Filed

Anthropic's financial information related to its IPO is also a focus of market attention. The Block reported that Anthropic submitted an S-1 registration statement to U.S. securities authorities on October 26 and plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker 'ANT.' According to figures cited in the report, Anthropic's first-half revenue was $16.3 billion, with computing-related spending of $9 billion. Additionally, the top five customers accounted for about 25% of revenue through the end of September. These financial figures can serve as indicators of the company's growth alongside the massive infrastructure costs required to operate AI services and its revenue dependence on major customers. However, these financial figures and listing-related details are based on The Block's reporting, and further verification against the original U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings is needed.

■ What to Watch in Pre-IPO Derivatives Trading

Market interest surrounding Anthropic is now expanding beyond the IPO schedule and post-listing stock movements to derivatives trading formed before the listing. Hypercall's options market launch draws attention as a case where investors' views on the value of a private company are traded through on-chain derivatives. However, the opening of a new trading market and the actual listing of the company's shares are separate matters, and the trading prices of synthetic options do not guarantee the stock prices that will form on the regular exchange later. If trading begins as scheduled on the 9th, the trading volume, liquidity, and price volatility of Anthropic-related derivatives are expected to be key points of observation.

Source: The Block, November 6, 2026, reporter Kyle Baird, "Hypercall to launch first Anthropic-linked pre-IPO options market." [Some AI assistance was used in producing this article. This does not recommend the purchase or sale of any specific security; investment decisions and responsibilities rest with the investor.]}