> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://dipcoin-doc.gitbook.io/dipcoin/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://dipcoin-doc.gitbook.io/dipcoin/tradfi-perpetuals/pre-launch-perpetuals.md). # Pre-Launch Perpetuals Between the start of a company's listing process and its public debut, there is often a window of weeks to months. During that period, the market's view of what the company might be worth keeps shifting as the public gets updated filings, roadshow feedback, bookbuilding progress, and private-market transfers. These signals are meaningful, but they are scattered across different channels, and no single venue brings them together at a continuous, tradeable price. Pre-Launch Perpetuals are designed to fill that gap: a cash-settled perpetual contract that references a private company's anticipated public equity price, allowing the entire transition — from the start of the listing process, through the public debut, to regular post-listing trading — to take place in a single continuous market. **Note: Pre-Launch Perpetuals are not shares. They are not IPO allocations. They are not tokenized equity, securities entitlements, or rights to receive any security.** Holding a Pre-Launch Perpetual does not give the holder ownership, voting rights, information rights, dividends, or allocation rights with respect to the referenced company, and does not constitute any claim against the issuer. ## **How the Market Works: A Continuous Market Across Pre- and Post-Listing** \ Standard listed-equity perpetuals reference a stock that already trades on an external exchange. A Pre-Launch market begins earlier — before the company has any public share price at all. That is the key difference from a regular perpetual. Before listing, there is no external share price to use as a pricing reference, so a Pre-Launch market instead references a composite index built from multiple external venues (see below for the mechanism). Once the underlying company completes a qualifying public listing and the public market has accumulated sufficient data, the market automatically switches to the standard pricing and funding methodology used for that stock. The design serves each side of the market: for issuers, the price reflects the outside world's read on demand; for traders and market makers, it lets an otherwise hard-to-reach event be assessed and hedged in advance; and for ordinary users, it turns what would normally be a wait-for-the-outcome valuation event into a continuous market they can take part in along the way. Pre-Launch Perpetuals do not include IPO shares and do not create rights against the issuer — they are not a substitute for the IPO process. Their only role is to make pre-listing price discovery open, continuous, and backed by real capital at risk. ## **How Pricing Works: From Start to Conversion** **Starting Point: Initial Reference Price** When each Pre-Launch market launches, the platform sets a discretionary initial reference price. This is the starting point from which the market begins trading, and it serves as the anchor price for the early-stage price protections designed to limit overly rapid moves. This price is purely a technical starting point — it is not a forecast of listing pricing, and may differ significantly from the eventual IPO price range, final offer price, opening trade, or post-listing market price. The platform may also display a reference share count and an implied market capitalization derived from it. Both figures are estimates based on the best public information available at launch — they may be incomplete or preliminary, and may later be revised. They are indicative only, do not constitute a guarantee or a fair-value reference, and may differ materially from the issuer's actual, eventual, or market-implied fully diluted share count or market capitalization. **Ongoing Period: Pre-Listing Composite Index Pricing** Before the underlying company completes its listing, the price of a Pre-Launch market is derived from a composite index made up of external venues that already provide continuous pre-listing price discovery for the same underlying. This typically includes: * **On-chain perpetual venues**: protocol-native venues that already provide continuous quotes for the same pre-listing underlying; * **Centralized exchange perpetual indices**: mainstream CEXs that continuously quote the same pre-listing underlying as a perpetual contract. Each source is assigned a weight set independently per market, based on its liquidity, depth, quote continuity, and reliability, and adjusted as the external market landscape evolves. If a source becomes unavailable or its quote moves outside expected bounds, its weight is automatically redistributed to the remaining valid sources. The exact source composition and weights for each market are published in the corresponding entry of the Specification Index. Funding follows the standard perpetual funding methodology, with frequency and parameters configured independently per market — because the underlying does not yet have a continuous public market price, funding sensitivity and the related protection parameters may differ from those of standard TradFi equity perpetuals. During periods of elevated price-formation risk, the platform may apply order restrictions, Reduce-Only mode, or adjusted order caps to individual Pre-Launch markets; any such measures will be announced separately. **Endpoint: Conversion to Standard Equity Perpetual** Once the underlying company completes its public listing, the corresponding market is expected to convert to a standard TradFi equity perpetual, switching to external market pricing and the standard funding methodology. Conversion takes place once the underlying begins regular trading and external data is sufficient to support standard pricing — typically the first regular trading session after listing — and assumes the listing takes place in the expected jurisdiction, under the expected structure, on a recognized exchange. ## **When the Listing Path Changes** A Pre-Launch market is designed to cover the entire private-to-public journey. If circumstances change materially along the way, the platform handles it under one of two categories: 1. **The listing is still expected to happen, but the path has changed.** * For example, a move to a foreign exchange, depositary receipts, a direct listing, or a SPAC combination. The platform will choose between converting to the standard market with an adjusted reference asset and transferring the market to alternative status, whichever best preserves the economics of the original market. The specific treatment will be announced separately. 1. **The listing path is materially changed or interrupted**: * If the issuer is acquired, taken private, or restructured before listing (or instead of listing), and that transaction establishes a transaction price, settlement may reference that price. A subsequent transaction that does not preclude a future listing — such as a partial tender offer or a minority-shareholder restructuring — does not trigger alternative treatment on its own. * If the issuer experiences a material adverse event (bankruptcy, regulatory action, a material restatement, etc.) that substantially precludes the expected listing, the specific alternative treatment will be set out in the corresponding announcement. * If the listing plan is abandoned, but the same underlying continues trading on the external pre-listing venues the platform references, the market may first move to a neutral status pending further information, to avoid implying to users that a public listing is still certain to occur. If the issuer later resumes its listing process, the market will be reclassified accordingly. ## **Specification** Each Pre-Launch market has its own specification, covering the underlying definition, pricing sources and weights, funding parameters, and lifecycle treatment, among other items. Users should review the corresponding entry in the Pre-Launch Specification Index before trading. ## **Risks** Pre-Launch Perpetuals are cash-settled perpetual contracts and do not represent ownership of the underlying shares, rights to IPO allocation, or any claim on underlying equity. Compared with standard TradFi markets, they carry additional risks: reliance on a limited set of external pricing venues, the possibility that the listing date is delayed or the listing is cancelled altogether, potential changes to the listing structure, and an elevated risk of price discontinuities around the first regular trading session after listing. Before trading, please be sure to read the "**Pre-Launch Perpetuals** "