Online trading industry leading broker IG Group Holdings plc (LON:IGG) today launches a grey market for the Snap IPO.
IG offers grey markets in advance of the listings of companies on stock markets in the UK, Europe and the US. It allows traders to speculate on the direction of a share price or market value of a company, before its shares become completely listed.
Previous grey markets such as Royal Mail and Facebook were particularly popular among IG clients, given their major presence in daily life.
The current price in the market estimated the value of Snap to be $27.4 billion.
Chris Beauchamp
Chris Beauchamp, Chief Market Analyst, comments:
Historically IG’s grey markets have been solid indicators of where companies official launch prices will end up. Snap is one of the biggest and most anticipated US tech IPOs for years, with the potential to rival the excitement witnessed when Facebook and Twitter went public. The echoes of Twitter’s IPO are clear to see, given Snap’s admission that turning a profit could be difficult. Whether the IPO hype survives once the initial celebrations are over remains to be seen.
| Company | IPO date | Estimated valuation | Final valuation |
| Alibaba | 19 September 2014 | $168 billion | $230 billion |
| Saga | 23 May 2014 | £2.5 billion | £1.97 billion |
| Pets At Home | 12 March 2014 | £1.48 billion | £1.23 billion |
| Royal Mail | 15 October 2013 | £2.7 billion | £4.89 billion |
| 7 November 2013 | $11.25 billion | $24.48 billion | |
| 18 May 2012 | $97 billion | $105 billion |