SpaceX’s highly anticipated public market debut has spawned a fast-growing crypto shadow market that is allowing retail traders around the world to speculate on the company’s valuation months before its shares reach public markets.

Here’s what’s behind the hype.

According to Forbes, decentralised derivatives platform Trade.xyz recently launched SPCX-USDC, a perpetual futures contract on Hyperliquid that tracks an implied SpaceX valuation despite having no connection to the company itself.

The product opened with a reference price of $150, implying a valuation of roughly $1.78 trillion, before speculative activity pushed it as high as $216 shortly after launch.

Interest in these products has emerged as SpaceX continues to attract…