Even that wasn’t high enough, as the stock popped 143% from the IPO price in its opening trade, delivering a paper windfall to a group that’s traditionally been shut out of market debuts.
Retail traders, long considered dumb money by Wall Street, have changed investment dynamics in everything from individual stocks to crypto to one-day options. Now they’re throwing their weight around in the IPO market — and companies are welcoming them with open arms.
Take Bullish, the crypto firm that went public last month in a supersized US$1.1 billion debut. The company gave retail investors direct access to the initial public offering — a privilege usually reserved for early investors, institutions or wealthy customers of the Street’s biggest banks — via online brokerages like SoFi and Robinhood. And demand was so sharp from those venues, according to people familiar with the deal, that Bullish was able to price the offering at US$37 per share, up nearly 20% from the top end of the range it first proposed.
