Hype Around Unitree’s Humanoid Robots Exceeded Hyperliquid Traders’ Expectations

Published: August 19, 2026 – 11:12 UTC

Unitree Robotics shares surged 629% after the IPO.
The company’s valuation topped $60 billion.
Crypto traders on Hyperliquid priced it much lower.

Chinese humanoid and quadruped robot maker Unitree Robotics debuted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on August 19, 2026. The company’s shares jumped 629% above the IPO price at the open. The company raised about 6.1 billion yuan ($905 million), and its market capitalization at the first trade reached roughly $66 billion, making the listing one of the most vivid examples of investor frenzy around physical AI, Bloomberg reports.

Unitree became the first publicly listed company from mainland China focused specifically on humanoid robots. Its debut also drew attention from the crypto market: even before trading began in Shanghai, traders on Hyperliquid effectively set their own valuation for the company via a perpetual contract tied to Unitree shares.

*Unitree trading on Hyperliquid. Source: Hyperliquid.*

Crypto Traders Predicted the Rally, but Underestimated the Scale

According to Hyperliquid, Unitree’s synthetic market traded around $92–$94 per contract last week. That implied a company valuation of about $38 billion — more than four times higher than the roughly $9 billion valuation at which Unitree priced its IPO, according to Allium Research.

However, the actual debut proved even stronger. At the first-trade price, the company was valued at roughly $66 billion — about 75% above the level crypto traders had priced in.

These are not ordinary Unitree shares. The Hyperliquid contract is a perpetual futures instrument that lets traders bet on share price moves without owning the underlying stock. It was launched by a third-party developer, xyz.trade, using Hyperliquid’s infrastructure, CoinDesk noted.

This gave crypto investors the opportunity to trade IPO expectations around the clock even before the Chinese stock market opened.

After trading began, the UNITREE-USDC contract also surged sharply: on the morning of August 19, its price was around $121, and earlier it briefly topped $140. Trading volume reached $64 million, while open interest stood at about $29 million.

Meanwhile, the shares themselves pulled back from the opening level of 1,100 yuan ($163) to about 884 yuan ($131), but still remained nearly six times higher than the IPO price.

For comparison, ahead of SpaceX’s IPO in June, crypto traders used a similar mechanism to price the shares at roughly $170. During the first trading session, they rose above $176, and ended the day at $161 — almost exactly in line with what the crypto market had implied.

The SpaceX market on Hyperliquid was significantly larger: open interest immediately ahead of the IPO reached about $216 million, and more than $150 million was traded over 24 hours.

Unitree Received a Billion-Dollar Valuation Amid the Physical AI Boom

Unitree’s strong debut reflects not only speculative interest in the IPO, but also growing investor attention to physical artificial intelligence — systems that combine AI with robots and other physical devices.

According to Bloomberg, in 2025 the company delivered more than 5,500 humanoid robots, ranking first in the world by that metric. Cumulative sales of its quadruped robots exceeded 33,000 units.

Financial results also point to rapid business growth:

Unitree’s revenue in 2025 rose to 1.7 billion yuan from 393 million yuan a year earlier
Net profit totaled 278 million yuan
Gross margin exceeded 60%
The company plans to allocate about 4.2 billion yuan from the IPO proceeds to develop physical AI models, research humanoid robots, launch new products, and expand production

The company also received backing from strategic investors. About 20% of the offering was allocated to them, including the Chinese AI company DeepSeek, a Tencent investment vehicle, and units of major state-owned companies.

DeepSeek received 2.31% of Unitree shares with a three-year lock-up period. The partnership предусматриває using the company’s AI capabilities to develop physical intelligence models for humanoid robots.

Against the backdrop of Unitree’s debut, Ian Ma, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, said:

“Unitree’s debut surge signals strong appetite for China’s embodied AI sector. IPO proceeds should accelerate AI development and commercialization. The strong listing may also provide a favorable valuation read-across for Ubtech and other upcoming IPOs of other Chinese robotics rivals.”

According to JPMorgan, the humanoid robot market could grow from about $2 billion in 2025 to $300 billion in 2035. China already accounts for roughly 75% of the global humanoid robot market, with its edge driven by large-scale manufacturing, mature supply chains, and lower costs: materials for a single robot cost about $46,000 versus $131,000 in the U.S.

At the same time, the market is already showing signs of overheating. During its debut, Unitree shares traded at levels that significantly exceeded the company’s valuation based on financial metrics.

“There’s clearly no fundamental basis for the share price surge. Valuations are sky-high and the outlook is uncertain given the early stage of development and adoption of humanoids,” said Vey-Sern Ling, managing director at Union Bancaire Privée.

Analysts also stress that shipment volumes alone do not guarantee technological leadership. Unitree, like other humanoid robot makers, still needs to prove it can translate pilot projects and demos into large-scale commercial deployment.

Reactions from X users also showed mixed views on Unitree’s rapid rise: some called the company’s debut a signal of a new phase in Chinese robotics and expect a wave of IPOs from competitors, while others believe the company is overvalued.

In particular, Rui Ma noted that at a market cap of around $54 billion, Unitree is valued at roughly 130 times its projected 2026 annual revenue, calling the company “overvalued.” Meanwhile, John Koetsier pointed to the contrast with U.S.-based Agility Robotics, which is valued at about $4 billion.

Recall that Elon Musk predicted exponential growth in the number of humanoid robots by 2040, with them outnumbering humanity.

In addition, Barclays said that the rollout of humanoid robots in China over the next 10 years could replace 37 million jobs.

Сообщение Hype Around Unitree’s Humanoid Robots Exceeded Hyperliquid Traders’ Expectations появились сначала на INCRYPTED.

Source: Incrypted