REX Shares and Tuttle Capital Management have filed regulatory applications with the SEC to launch two 2x leveraged ETFs targeting SpaceX and Anthropic, two of the most valuable private companies in the world. The filings, submitted on March 26, 2026, propose products that would deliver 200% of the daily performance of companies whose shares do not yet trade on any public exchange.
What the Filing Covers: 2x Leveraged Exposure to Two Private Giants
The two products are named the T-Rex 2x Long SpaceX Daily Target ETF and the T-Rex 2x Long Anthropic Daily Target ETF. Both were filed by REX Shares and Tuttle Capital Management, a Providence, Rhode Island-based pair of firms with an existing lineup of single-stock leveraged ETFs under the T-Rex brand.
The 2x long structure means each fund aims to return twice the daily price movement of its underlying company. This is not a passive index product. It is a leveraged speculative vehicle designed for short-term trading, similar to the 2x leveraged ETFs already available on public stocks like Tesla and Nvidia.
The critical structural detail: both SpaceX and Anthropic are pre-IPO. Neither company has publicly traded common stock. The filings explicitly target “yet-to-be-issued” shares, according to Reuters reporting on the filing.
Alex Morris, an analyst at F/m Investments, described the move bluntly: “They’re so early that they are showing up to the game before it’s even been invented yet, trying to stake a claim to territory that hasn’t been mapped out yet.”
How a Leveraged ETF Gains Exposure to Private Companies
Since SpaceX and Anthropic do not trade on any public exchange, the ETFs cannot hold their shares directly. Leveraged ETFs on public stocks typically use total return swaps with counterparty banks to achieve their 2x exposure. For private companies, the mechanism is structurally similar but far more complex.
The fund would rely on swap agreements with financial institutions willing to provide synthetic exposure to the underlying company’s value. The counterparty, not the ETF, bears the challenge of sourcing that exposure, whether through secondary market transactions, forward contracts, or other derivative structures.
This introduces a layer of counterparty dependency that does not exist in standard leveraged ETFs on public equities. If the swap provider cannot reliably price the underlying asset, the ETF’s net asset value becomes opaque.
There is also the standard risk of daily rebalancing inherent to all 2x leveraged products. Because these ETFs reset their leverage ratio each day, compounding decay erodes returns over holding periods longer than a single session. On a public stock with real-time pricing, this decay is predictable. On a private company valued through infrequent secondary transactions, the decay dynamics become harder to model.
CoinGlass derivatives data capture showing broader ETF and derivatives market flow context.For readers familiar with leveraged crypto products, the parallel is instructive. A 2x long Bitcoin ETF tracks a liquid, continuously priced asset. A 2x long SpaceX ETF tracks an asset with no public order book, no real-time price feed, and no standardized valuation methodology. The risk profile is categorically different.
Why SpaceX and Anthropic: Valuation, Demand, and the Private-Company ETF Race
SpaceX is among the highest-valued private companies globally. Its anticipated IPO could rank among Wall Street’s largest-ever public offerings, with approximately 30% of shares reportedly earmarked for retail investors. The company’s Starlink subsidiary has been repeatedly cited as a likely public listing candidate.
Anthropic, the AI safety company behind the Claude model family, has raised billions from Amazon and Google. Its reported valuation sits near $61.5 billion following those investment rounds, making it the most valuable independent AI lab globally.
Retail demand for exposure to both companies has been intense. Secondary market platforms like Forge, Hiive, and EquityZen have reported record activity from individual investors attempting to buy pre-IPO shares. One fund holding stakes in both companies, Destiny Tech100, recently traded at a 1,200% premium above its net asset value, according to Bloomberg data from March 24, 2026.
That 1,200% premium illustrates the core dynamic driving these ETF filings. Retail investors want SpaceX and Anthropic exposure and are willing to pay extraordinary premiums to get it. REX Shares and Tuttle Capital are racing to be the firms that provide a regulated, exchange-traded vehicle for that demand.
This filing fits a broader pattern. Boutique ETF issuers have filed leveraged products on several high-profile private companies in recent months, including filings targeting OpenAI and Stripe. The accelerating pace of these filings reflects a competitive product race among asset managers to capture retail capital ahead of the most anticipated IPOs in years.
SEC Approval Path: Precedent and Regulatory Hurdles
The SEC has approved leveraged single-stock ETFs on public equities since 2022, operating under the 2019 ETF Rule framework. Products offering 2x long and 2x short exposure to Tesla, Nvidia, and other large-cap stocks now trade actively.
No ETF holding direct exposure to private company equity at 2x leverage has been approved. The regulatory gap is significant.
The SEC’s core concerns with private-company ETFs center on three issues: valuation opacity, lack of real-time price discovery, and liquidity mismatch. A leveraged ETF must calculate its NAV daily. For a public stock, this is trivial. For a private company that may only see secondary transactions a few times per month, reliable daily pricing becomes a genuine structural challenge.
The standard SEC review window for new ETF filings is 75 days, with potential extensions. Based on the March 26 filing date, an initial decision could arrive by early June 2026, though extensions are common for novel product structures.
For the SEC to approve these products, the filers would likely need to demonstrate a reliable NAV methodology, adequate swap counterparty disclosure, and sufficient risk warnings about the unique characteristics of leveraged exposure to unpriced assets. REX Shares and Tuttle Capital have a track record of successful ETF launches, but their previous approvals involved public companies with transparent pricing.
DefiLlama protocol snapshot showing broader DeFi and institutional capital flow trends.What to Watch: IPO Timelines and Structural Shifts
SpaceX is expected to file for its IPO “within days or weeks,” according to Reuters reporting from March 26. If that timeline holds, the company could be publicly listed before the SEC even finishes reviewing the ETF application.
Anthropic has not announced an IPO, but the offering is widely anticipated sometime in 2026. Amazon and Google’s investment agreements may include contractual provisions affecting the timing and structure of any public listing.
If either company goes public while the ETF application is pending, the product’s risk profile changes fundamentally. A 2x leveraged ETF on a publicly traded stock is a well-understood, previously approved product category. The regulatory path becomes far simpler once real-time pricing exists.
The SEC decision deadline, calculated from the March 26 filing date, falls in early June 2026 under the standard 75-day review window. Extensions could push that into late summer.
REX Shares has not publicly disclosed whether additional private-company ETF filings are planned, but the firm’s existing T-Rex product lineup suggests this is the beginning of a broader push into pre-IPO leveraged exposure.
FAQ
Can retail investors buy these ETFs now?
No. Both products require SEC approval before they can begin trading. The filing is only the first step in the regulatory process. There is no guarantee either fund will launch.
What does “2x long” mean in practice?
A 2x long ETF aims to deliver twice the daily return of its target asset. If SpaceX shares rise 3% in a day, the ETF targets a 6% gain. If they fall 3%, the ETF targets a 6% loss. This leverage resets daily, meaning returns over longer periods can diverge significantly from 2x the cumulative return due to compounding effects.
Is this the first ETF to target SpaceX or Anthropic?
Several boutique asset managers have filed for various private-company ETF products in recent months. However, the T-Rex 2x leveraged structure is among the most aggressive proposals, combining private-company exposure with daily leverage. Existing funds like Destiny Tech100 hold private company stakes but are structured as closed-end funds, not leveraged ETFs.
Is 2x leverage on a private company riskier than 2x on a public stock?
Yes. Standard 2x leveraged ETFs on public stocks carry daily compounding decay risk, but the underlying asset has transparent, real-time pricing. A private company lacks a public order book, making the ETF’s daily NAV calculation dependent on models and infrequent secondary market data. This valuation opacity adds a structural risk layer that does not exist in public-equity leveraged products.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency and digital asset markets carry significant risk. Always do your own research before making decisions.
Source: https://coincu.com/news/us-asset-manager-2x-leveraged-etf-spacex-anthropic/
