Unitree Perpetual Futures Surge Ahead of China Listing, Implying $40.5 Billion Valuation

Perpetual futures tied to Chinese robotics company Unitree have surged in digital-asset trading ahead of the company's stock market debut.

Bloomberg reported on Aug. 18 that Unitree perpetual futures on Hyperliquid (HYPE) were trading at about $100. That price implies a valuation of about $40.5 billion for Unitree, roughly 300% above the $9 billion valuation expected for its initial public offering.

Unitree is set to list on Aug. 19 on Shanghai's STAR Market, the technology-focused board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

"Unitree is the first pure-play humanoid robotics stock to trade on a public market globally," Dylan Wu, a research strategist at Pepperstone Group, said. Other related companies are still being valued in private markets, making this the first meaningful public price-discovery process, he added.

Still, the perpetual futures price should not be treated as equivalent to the value of the underlying shares. The contracts are not backed one-for-one by physical stock and do not confer shareholder rights.

Even so, market interest in Unitree is strong. The company's IPO last week drew subscriptions equal to 5,526 times the shares on offer. Unitree posted net profit of 278 million yuan, or about $41.2 million, last year, and its gross margin exceeded 60%.