The popularity of ByteDance among IG clients trading the grey market continues, with the firm’s expected market capitalisation topping $200 billion.

Indeed, the expected market cap went from $160 billion on 24 June to $200 billion by the end of the last full week of June, a sign of resurgent risk appetite and helped along by news that the firm reported a 130% increase in Q1 revenues compared to last year, to $5.6 billion. The boom in social networking has come as economies across the globe went into lockdown, with TikTok itself recording 315 million downloads in quarter one (Q1).

This alone would be enough to drive an upsurge in interest ahead of the IPO but as social media titan Facebook hits a rocky patch with advertisers TikTok has become even more popular. As advertisers cut back on spending on ads seen on Mark Zuckerberg’s platform, so they will cast around for other destinations for their funds. And as TikTok explodes in popularity, reaching more people, so the attraction of ads on that platform increases, driving up revenue.

TikTok is unlikely to surpass Facebook for the time being as the premier social media platform, but with such huge growth in user numbers it is easy to see why the IG grey market has seen such a rise in recent weeks.