⚠︎ Risk warning: leveraged derivatives on unregulated platforms — you can lose everything you deposit. Not investment advice.
Prelaunch and pre-IPO markets on Lighter
Verified against Lighter's official docs on 2026-09-29. This page follows the current text of both docs pages.
Lighter lists perps on things that do not trade anywhere else yet: tokens before launch, and private companies before an IPO. With no outside market to anchor the price, both run on stricter rules than ordinary perps. The rule they share is that both are isolated mode only, so a loss is confined to the margin you put on that one position.
Prelaunch markets
Cross margin is off "due to the experimental and volatile nature of these markets." The bigger difference is liquidation. "Prelaunch markets have no liquidation fee", and the flow has two steps instead of the usual waterfall:
- Below maintenance margin (but above close-out margin), the exchange sends an immediate-or-cancel order on your behalf to close the position, with no fee.
- Below close-out margin, you are "directly Auto-Deleveraged (ADL)". On crypto markets the account would normally go to the LLP, Lighter's insurance fund, and ADL is a last resort.
The docs add that ADL here "does not imply that the user is bankrupt", so the trader on the other side "receives a more favorable execution price." In plain terms, whatever margin is left at that point goes to your counterparty rather than back to you. The regular waterfall is on Lighter liquidations.
Pre-IPO markets
- Price. Set "only by the internal pricing mechanism", the same one RWA markets use, except "Pre-IPO markets do not have price caps".
- Funding. Standard perp funding, with the premium multiplier set to 1/100. The formula is on mark price and funding.
- After the IPO. The market is "converted to normal markets as soon as there is a stable price feed available". If the price diverges a lot because of a stock split, "the market might be settled before."
No price cap means nothing limits how far the internal price can move in one go. The listed names and the rest of the RWA rules are on Lighter RWA markets.
FAQ
Can I trade a prelaunch market in cross margin?
No. Prelaunch and pre-IPO positions are isolated only.
Does a prelaunch liquidation cost a fee?
No fee is charged, but below close-out margin the ADL fill favours your counterparty, so you can lose more than a fee would have cost.
Is a pre-IPO perp a share in the company?
No. It is a perpetual contract on an internal price, with no claim on the company or its shares.
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