Shares of the trading app eToro Group soared 29% on Wednesday after pricing at a higher-than-expected $52. eToro’s impressive debut, which many market watchers viewed as a critical test in a fragile IPO climate, is a promising sign for other companies planning to go public in coming months
Earlier Wednesday, eToro’s stock opened at $69.69, and then hit a high of $74.28—an increase of around 43% from its listing price—before giving back some of those gains. eToro, which has 98.7 million fully diluted shares, closed Wednesday at $67, up about 29%. This translates to a valuation for eToro of $6.6 billion.
eToro late Tuesday raised $620 million after increasing the size of its deal and priced its IPO $2 above its expected range. The trading platform ended up selling 11.92 million shares at $52 each, up from its prior plans to offer 10 million shares at $46 to $50.
Founded in 2007, eToro offers a platform for customers to trade assets, including crypto, similar to U.S.-based trading platform Robinhood.
A good performance by eToro Wednesday could help open the door to the IPO market, which has been largely dormant since 2021. That year a record 397 companies went public but most of the “Class of 2021” has performed badly in the after market with only 17.4% trading above their IPO offer prices, according to Renaissance Capital, a provider of pre-IPO research and IPO-focused ETFs.
eToro’s good first day comes as other high-profile companies are seeking to go public. Late Tuesday, Chime Financial publicly filed for its long-awaited IPO but didn’t set terms. Chime plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker CHYM.
Chime was unprofitable in 2024. Losses narrowed to $25.3 million in fiscal 2024 from $203.2 million in 2023, according to a regulatory filing. But on a quarterly basis, Chime was profitable, reporting $12.9 million for the quarter ended March 31, compared to $15.9 million net income for the same time period in 2024.
Circle Internet, the crypto firm, has also publicly filed for its IPO in April. Circle has yet to set terms for its deal.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
