Now that we have a 13-figure public company in SpaceX, Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) are on the minds of many prediction market traders. There is rampant speculation on which corporate entities will likewise offer their shares to the public at some point this year – a main contributor to IPO-based prediction markets that are now approaching $2 million in trading volume on Kalshi.
If you’re looking to wrap up a profit by forecasting for or against a particular company going public in 2026, we have you covered. From Anthropic to Stripe, there is a wide range of corporations attracting the attention of forecasters, all of whom are trading on 2026 IPOs.
If you’re a Kalshi trader who is already participating in this specialized market, then you are already aware that IPO speculation focuses on two main business sectors: artificial intelligence and fintech. Our first pick for the company most likely to announce its IPO this year is an obvious one – Anthropic.
The operators of Claude, Anthropic may not dominate trading volume like other picks, but that’s only because it’s already priced at 91 cents per contract given how confident traders are in its imminent public offering. The company already filed its S-1 paperwork with the SEC earlier this month; another reason why its per-contract percentage is so elevated.
Our second pick is in the fintech sector. We happen to concur with Kalshi traders that Stripe is a solid “no” at 92 cents per contract – but only because we expect the corresponding IPO to occur at some point next year. Due to the platform’s acceptance of stablecoin payments (which it converts into USD upon arriving in users’ accounts), we figure it’s only a matter of time for Stripe to announce – but it won’t be this year.
Note that none of the markets depend on what other companies will do… the trade is simply on whether your selection will formally announce its going public by the evening of December 31st, 2026.
Assuming you’re all caught up on the news as it relates to SpaceX, there are a couple of entries on Kalshi that have seen significant movement in recent weeks. Namely, Open AI has dropped from over 90 cents per contract – all the way down to 67¢
Sam Altman’s comments on June 10th put a damper on the Open AI IPO trade, as the tech CEO advised that the company’s debut on the stock market may have to wait until 2027. Couple that with the absolutely massive amount of institutional capital that SpaceX absorbed (including $5B from BlackRock alone), and the formula for another tech company attracting comparable investor attention this year becomes more complicated.
Earlier this month, Kraken was at even odds to announce its IPO this year, but now sits at just 36¢ per contract. Cryptocurrency trading dropped substantially during Q1-2026, resulting in a lowered valuation for the digital asset exchange. The competition for new account holders in the fintech space is enormous at the moment, as younger customers begin using their crypto wallets as primary banking accounts. Kraken isn’t as well positioned in the market as some of its competitors, so we agree with the contract price drop on a potential Kraken 2026 IPO announcement.
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