> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.turbo.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Pre-IPO markets

> How trading private companies before they list works.

Pre-IPO markets let you go long or short on private companies — names that aren't listed on any stock exchange yet.

Which Pre-IPO markets are live right now is always shown in the app.

## How a Pre-IPO market works

Like every Turbo market, a Pre-IPO market is a perpetual future with its own live order book. You're trading price exposure to the company, not actual shares — no private company is issuing stock to anyone here.

The difference from a listed market: there's no official exchange price for the contract to track. The price is discovered by the market itself — what traders are collectively willing to pay, shaped by funding rounds, secondary-market activity, and news.

## What that means for risk

Worth knowing before you trade one:

* **Prices can move sharply.** With no official reference price, news — a funding round, a product launch, an IPO rumor — can reprice the market fast.
* **Liquidity is thinner than mega-cap stocks.** Check the order book before trading size, and consider [limit orders](/order-types) over market orders.
* **An IPO is a major event.** When a company lists, the market gains an official reference price — expect a bumpy ride around listing day.
* **Pre-IPO markets trade on isolated margin.** The most a position can lose is the margin you put behind it — your worst case is capped before you open the trade. See [Margin](/margin).

The risk controls that matter everywhere matter more here: sensible [leverage](/leverage), a [stop loss](/take-profit-stop-loss), and position sizes you can afford to be wrong about.

## Related

* [Markets](/markets) — how all Turbo markets work.
* [Liquidation](/liquidation) — what happens if a leveraged position moves too far against you.