How to trade an IPO

How can you trade an IPO?

With IG, you can trade an IPO both before and after the listing:

Pre-IPO grey market

If there is a lot of interest in a particular company pre-IPO, we may offer a ‘grey market’ – enabling you to speculate on a company’s share price before the listing. If we offer a grey market, the price will be based on our prediction of the company’s market cap at the end of its first trading day.

• You’ll ‘buy’ (go long) if you think the market cap will be higher than the price shown
• You’ll ‘sell’ (go short) if you think the market cap will be lower than the price shown

After the IPO: trading the stock

Once the company has listed, you can speculate on share price movements by CFD trading. In other words, you can get exposure to shares in the same way as you would with any other shares listed on the stock market.

IPO trading steps

1. Learn how IPOs work
2. Choose an IPO to trade
3. Decide whether to trade derivatives or buy shares
4. Open an IG account
5. Build your IPO trading plan and strategy
6. Open your first IPO position

Learn how IPOs work

The IPO process starts long before the shares list on an exchange, First, a company has to make the decision to go public. This is followed by a financial audit of the business and a registration process. The news of an upcoming IPO will be released a few months or so before the planned listing – giving you some time to study a company’s financials and decide whether to you want to trade its shares.

Choose an IPO to trade

There are hundreds – even thousands – of UK, US and international IPOs to trade every year. Find out more about upcoming IPOs or sign up to our exclusive mailing list to find new IPO stocks. By subscribing, you will receive updates on any changes to expected IPOs, as well as news on upcoming listings.

Decide to trade derivatives

If you want to trade IPOs, you can trade the share price via derivatives (CFDs). Derivatives trading enables you to speculate on price movements – positive or negative – without owning the underlying shares.

Many traders use derivatives because you can open a position with a small deposit (margin). This can magnify profits and losses, as both will be calculated from the full exposure of the trade, not just the margin you put up as deposit.

Open an IG account

You can open an IG account in just a few minutes. Create a live trading account if you want to start trading CFDs straight away, or open a demo account if you need some practice.

Build your IPO trading plan and strategy

A good trading plan and risk management strategy will provide guidance on how to find opportunities, and when to take profits and cut losses. There are several ways you can minimise your risk, which include attaching stops to your positions. Stops will close your trade at a certain level if the market moves against you, minimising your losses.

To learn more about trade planning and risk management, join IG Academy. Here, you can develop your knowledge on all things trading with free online courses, webinars and seminars.

IPO trading strategies

While there are many different IPO trading strategies, some of the key approaches traders and investors turn to include:

1. Choosing IPOs with respected underwriters
2. Finding breakouts
3. Waiting for the lock-up period to end

1. Choosing IPOs with respected underwriters

Larger underwriters, such as major investment banks, have a reputation for delivering better quality IPOs. Stronger underwriters are also said to be choosier about which companies to take public. In turn, the share price may be more likely to rise in the short term due to the underwriter’s solid reputation.

2. Finding breakouts

Some shares don’t show any significant movement immediately following an IPO, and it can take some time for the share price to ‘break out’ of a support or resistance level. You could wait for the breakout before speculating on share price movements via derivatives.

3. Waiting for the lock-up period to end

IPO shares are often subject to a ‘lock-up’ period. These can last up to six months and mean that existing shareholders cannot sell their shares immediately after a listing. If you notice that they are holding on to shares after this period, it could mean that shareholders think there is potential for growth and it’s time to buy.

Open your first IPO position

Once you’re ready to start trading you can open your first IPO position. With IG, you’ll benefit from leverage when trading. Remember to follow your trading plan and monitor your positions closely.

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