A professional trader has entered a $70.5 million short position on the AI startup Anthropic through the Hyperliquid trading platform, betting that the company’s speculative market value has peaked. The bet comes as the company’s pre-IPO perpetual contracts have climbed to $104, which represents a 33% premium over the anticipated pricing range for its initial public offering.
Speculative interest in the company has driven its implied valuation to more than $1.8 trillion, though the reported IPO pricing target is as high as $1.4 trillion. While total open interest in these derivatives has topped $300 million and the offering is reported to be multiple times oversubscribed, the company faces steep financial losses, including $100B in 2026. The $1.8 trillion implied valuation currently represents roughly 26 times the startup’s annual revenue.
