Key Highlights
- Kraken introduced cash-settled perpetual futures for OpenAI and Anthropic, enabling traders to establish long or short positions ahead of any public offering.
- Each contract provides up to 5x leverage without expiration dates and accepts multiple collateral types for margin.
- Contract pricing relies on Kraken’s proprietary synthetic index due to the absence of publicly listed shares for both companies.
- Trading access is blocked for users in the U.S., EEA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
- Should either company launch an IPO, Kraken intends to transition pricing to a tokenized equity index.
Kraken has unveiled perpetual futures contracts linked to the private valuations of OpenAI and Anthropic. These financial instruments enable qualified traders to establish leveraged positions on both artificial intelligence firms prior to any potential public market debut.
These contracts settle in cash and feature no expiration timeline. Market participants can establish long or short positions, with both instruments accepting multi-collateral margin through Kraken’s flexible account infrastructure.
Contract Mechanics and Structure
The OpenAI instrument carries the ticker symbol PF_OPENAIXUSD, while Anthropic’s contract operates under PF_ANTHROPICXUSD. Kraken announced availability for both instruments on September 6, 2026.
Maintaining positions in these contracts does not confer equity ownership, shareholder voting privileges, dividend entitlements, or any stake in the underlying companies. The instruments exclusively mirror trader sentiment regarding each firm’s valuation.
Base-tier traders can access up to 5x leverage, necessitating an initial margin commitment of 20% of the position’s notional value. Maintenance margin requirements stand at 10%, with leverage ratios decreasing as position sizes expand.
Funding rate settlements occur on an hourly basis. According to Kraken, funding expenses remain minimal during the pre-IPO phase due to strict mark price management protocols.
Participants face the possibility of complete margin loss. Kraken cautions that under certain account circumstances, losses may surpass the original capital deposited.
Valuation Methodology for Private Entities
Given the absence of publicly traded equity for OpenAI and Anthropic, Kraken developed a proprietary valuation mechanism termed the Kraken PreMarket Synthetic index.
This index calculates value based on trading activity within the perpetual futures market rather than referencing external stock exchange data. Kraken employs exponential smoothing algorithms to dampen the impact of transient price volatility.
The mark price remains constrained within a 0.25% corridor surrounding the synthetic index continuously. This mechanism aims to prevent abrupt liquidation events in potentially illiquid trading conditions.
However, this safeguard does not eliminate fundamental valuation uncertainty. Should market participants collectively miscalculate a company’s worth, the synthetic index will mirror that miscalculation without external market data to provide correction.
Anthropic-related futures on competing platforms have experienced declines exceeding 9% after new exchange introductions, demonstrating the significant volatility these instruments can exhibit.
Regional Limitations and Compliance Framework
These contracts remain inaccessible to users based in the United States, European Economic Area nations, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. United Kingdom residents can only access these products with professional client classification.
Payward Digital Solutions provides these instruments from Bermuda operating under authorization from the Bermuda Monetary Authority.
Competing platforms including Coinbase and Hyperliquid have similarly introduced private-company perpetual contracts for qualified international traders excluding U.S. participants.
Should either OpenAI or Anthropic execute a public listing, Kraken has stated its intention to substitute the synthetic index with pricing derived from its xStocks tokenized equity offerings. Absent an IPO, Kraken retains the option to delist and settle these contracts.
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