Wetin IPO lockup expiry mean & release date

Wetin be IPO lockup? Na agreement wey dey stop company inside pipo from selling dia shares for some time afta di company don list for stock market — normally na around 180 days for normal IPO. Once dat time finish, di number of shares wey dem fit sell fit just blow overnight, and everybody sabi di date months before e happen. Dis page dey check wetin really happen for five big expiry days — price, volume, and di options tape — instead of just dey talk from one single story.

Wetin be IPO lockup period?

Lockup na contract, no be regulation: di length, wetin e cover, and wetin fit make dem release am early dey inside each deal prospectus, for di agreement wey insiders — founders, employees, pre-IPO funds — sign with di underwriters. While di lockup still dey, di tradable float na roughly di shares wey dem sell for di offering; di float guide measure H1 2026 IPOs wey float median of just under one-third of dia shares for listing, wey mean say di locked majority plenty pass everitin wey dey trade. Expiry no dey force anybody to sell; e just make selling possible — and markets go spend di weeks before dey argue about di difference.

Length dey vary by deal type, and "180 days" na convention, no be rule. Traditional IPOs customarily dey use about 180 days. SPAC sponsors commonly accept around one year, plenty times with early release if di shares hold above one stated price. Follow-on offerings frequently dey use 90-day lockups. And many modern deals dey stagger di release in tranches — employee shares for one date, early investors for anoda — precisely so no single date go carry di whole overhang.

How to sabi di correct expiration date

Di real date dey inside di deal own filings, no be from date arithmetic. Di final prospectus — di 424(B)(4) wey dem file for SEC EDGAR site wen dem price am — dey spell out di terms for two sections: Shares Eligible for Future Sale (how many shares go unlock, and when) and Underwriting (who dey bound, and wetin fit allow early release). Company investor-relations pages dey often restate di date. To count 180 days from di listing na fallback guess, and di guess fit miss: Lyft own 2019 unlock land for August 19, weeks ahead of 180-day arithmetic from im March 29 listing — di deal own terms set di earlier date. Underwriters fit also waive a lockup early, and dem dey typically disclose waivers.

Before the date: Facebook wahala

Di lockup wey everybody dey watch for market history na Facebook November 14, 2012 release, wen one big chunk of insider shares come free at once. Wetin dem dey always talk about dat day na say known dates dey get price already before time. Di two weeks wey dey before di date na di test:

SELECT session, close, shares_m,
       round((close / lagInFrame(close, 1, close) OVER (ORDER BY session) - 1) * 100, 1) AS day_change_pct,
       round((close / max(close) OVER () - 1) * 100, 1) AS vs_peak_close_pct
FROM (
    SELECT toString(toDate(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York'))) AS session,
           round(argMax(close, window_start), 2) AS close,
           round(sum(toFloat64(volume)) / 1e6, 1) AS shares_m
    FROM global_markets.delayed_stocks_minute_aggs
    WHERE ticker = 'FB'
      AND window_start >= toDateTime('2012-10-22 00:00:00')
      AND window_start < toDateTime('2012-11-14 00:00:00')
      AND (toHour(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) * 60 + toMinute(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York'))) BETWEEN 570 AND 959
    GROUP BY session
)
ORDER BY session

For 2012-10-24, di session after im third-quarter report, FB close for $23.21 — e up 19% on 193.1 million shares, di window peak close. E come give di jump back into di date: for di eve of di unlock di stock close for $19.88, -14.4% below dat peak and within few percent of di $19.5 wey e close before di report. (Di gap for di table na real one — U.S. equity markets close October 29–30, 2012 for Hurricane Sandy.) Anybody wey don decide to sell before di unlock get weeks to do am for im own time; di date don dey di prospectus since May.

Di day itself — and di two weeks wey follow

Na so di date wey young stock fear pass for calendar reach:

SELECT session, close, shares_m,
       round((close / first_value(close) OVER (ORDER BY session) - 1) * 100, 1) AS vs_eve_close_pct
FROM (
    SELECT toString(toDate(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York'))) AS session,
           round(argMax(close, window_start), 2) AS close,
           round(sum(toFloat64(volume)) / 1e6, 1) AS shares_m
    FROM global_markets.delayed_stocks_minute_aggs
    WHERE ticker = 'FB'
      AND window_start >= toDateTime('2012-11-13 00:00:00')
      AND window_start < toDateTime('2012-12-01 00:00:00')
      AND (toHour(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) * 60 + toMinute(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York'))) BETWEEN 570 AND 959
    GROUP BY session
)
ORDER BY session

For 2012-11-14, di unlock day itself, FB close for $22.36 — 12.5% above di eve close — on 216 million shares against 70.2 million shares di session before. Di follow-through answer di question wey any skeptic suppose ask next: di pop survive contact with real insider selling? E survive, and e extend — by 2012-11-30 di stock stand 40.7% above di eve close, with volume wey run above di pre-expiry norm for most of di stretch. Unlocked supply dey show as volume when dem sell am, and here di tape absorb am with price wey dey rise. Di standard reading, wey dem offer as interpretation: di expiry na di event wey dem telegraph pass for di stock young life, dem don sell di fear in advance, and di date arrival remove uncertainty instead of add one.

Beyond Facebook: five expiries, we measure dem

One rally na just story. Na di same measurement — expiry-day close against di session before, plus di volume multiple — across five of di most-watched unlocks for di past fifteen years. Each date na di deal most-reported unlock session; many of dis companies release shares for different tranches, so one row na one cliff, not di whole overhang.

WITH daily AS (
    SELECT ticker,
           toDate(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) AS d,
           argMax(close, window_start) AS close,
           sum(toFloat64(volume)) AS vol
    FROM global_markets.delayed_stocks_minute_aggs
    WHERE ((ticker = 'FB'   AND window_start >= toDateTime('2012-11-12 00:00:00') AND window_start < toDateTime('2012-11-15 00:00:00'))
        OR (ticker = 'TWTR' AND window_start >= toDateTime('2014-05-04 00:00:00') AND window_start < toDateTime('2014-05-07 00:00:00'))
        OR (ticker = 'SNAP' AND window_start >= toDateTime('2017-07-27 00:00:00') AND window_start < toDateTime('2017-08-01 00:00:00'))
        OR (ticker = 'LYFT' AND window_start >= toDateTime('2019-08-15 00:00:00') AND window_start < toDateTime('2019-08-20 00:00:00'))
        OR (ticker = 'UBER' AND window_start >= toDateTime('2019-11-04 00:00:00') AND window_start < toDateTime('2019-11-07 00:00:00')))
      AND (toHour(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) * 60 + toMinute(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York'))) BETWEEN 570 AND 959
    GROUP BY ticker, d
),
packed AS (
    SELECT ticker, arraySort(x -> x.1, groupArray((d, close, vol))) AS rows
    FROM daily
    GROUP BY ticker
)
SELECT ticker,
       toString(rows[-1].1) AS expiry_session,
       round(rows[-2].2, 2) AS prior_close,
       round(rows[-1].2, 2) AS expiry_close,
       round((rows[-1].2 / rows[-2].2 - 1) * 100, 1) AS expiry_day_change_pct,
       round(rows[-1].3 / 1e6, 1) AS expiry_shares_m,
       round(rows[-1].3 / rows[-2].3, 1) AS volume_multiple
FROM packed
ORDER BY expiry_session

Di distribution, not di story, be di lesson. Four out of di five close lower for di day, and FB 12.5% rise na di outlier, not di rule. Most of di declines no deep — SNAP -1.1%, LYFT -1.6%, UBER -3.9% — sessions wey nobody go notice if di date no dey attached. Di exception na Twitter: -17.7% on 12.3x di prior day volume — di heaviest multiple for di table — on 2014-05-06, with 123.8 million shares wey change hands for di session. One circled date fit still break stock. Wetin every row share na di volume column: all five expiry sessions run at least double di prior session share count. Direction na deal-specific; di crowd wey show up no be.

Di options tape before one date wey everybody sabi

No be only shareholders dey position. One holder wey no fit or no wan sell before one date wey dem sabi fit buy puts instead — and dat pre-positioning dey visible for di derivatives tape before di unlock reach. Uber November 6, 2019 lockup expiration na di clean example inside our options-trades coverage:

SELECT toString(toDate(toTimeZone(sip_timestamp, 'America/New_York'))) AS session,
       round(sumIf(size, substring(ticker, length(ticker) - 8, 1) = 'P') / 1e3, 1) AS put_contracts_k,
       round(sumIf(size, substring(ticker, length(ticker) - 8, 1) = 'C') / 1e3, 1) AS call_contracts_k,
       round(100.0 * sumIf(size, substring(ticker, length(ticker) - 8, 1) = 'P') / sum(size), 1) AS put_share_pct,
       round(count() / 1e3, 1) AS prints_k
FROM global_markets.options_trades
WHERE ticker >= 'O:UBER19' AND ticker < 'O:UBER20'
  AND sip_timestamp >= toDateTime('2019-10-23 00:00:00') AND sip_timestamp < toDateTime('2019-11-09 00:00:00')
GROUP BY session
ORDER BY session

Two weeks out, on 2019-10-23, UBER options tape bin dey close to balanced: puts na 49.3% of contract volume, on 11.3 thousand put contracts. As di date dey near di tape come heavy for put side and far bigger — on 2019-11-06, di expiry day, 245.3 thousand put contracts trade, many times di window-opening count, and puts take 67.8% of di day contracts. One honest caveat: di same week carry Uber quarterly report, wey dem publish November 4 after di close, so two circled dates sit two sessions apart on dis tape. Di session after di unlock, di put share snap back to 51.2% — near even — and contract counts collapse from di peak. Scheduled risk dey get hedge; den di hedges comot.

How to hold stock when lock-up period end: wetin traders dey check

Nothing for here na advice — na just the mechanics wey make sense to check. Get the correct date from the filing — na the 424(B)(4), no be 180-day arithmetic — and check whether the release dey staggered. Watch volume, no be only price: if expiry pass and volume remain normal, e mean say the unlock no really happen for market, and insider supply go show for tape when dem start to sell. To hedge a date wey everybody sabi cost premium: puts over event wey everybody fit see dey expensive, and wetin e cost to trade options cover the spread and premium arithmetic wey any hedge go pay. Staggered releases dey blunt cliffs by design, dem dey spread the overhang across many dates.

The next big expiry for this site watchlist na SpaceX June 12, 2026 listing. If you apply the customary 180-day convention, the window end go dey near early December 2026 — na arithmetic on the receipted listing date, no be statement of the deal actual terms, wey dey inside im prospectus and fit dey different. The SK Hynix debut dey join the same watchlist one month behind, and the H1 2026 IPO class dey stack more of these dates into late 2026.

Lockup expiration FAQ

Wetin be IPO lockup period?

Na agreement wey dey stop company insiders — founders, employees, pre-IPO investors — from selling shares for a set period after di IPO. Di exact terms dey inside each deal prospectus, and underwriters fit waive am early.

How long IPO lockups dey last?

E dey usually around 180 days for traditional IPO, but dat figure na convention: SPAC sponsor lockups often dey run about one year with price-based early release, follow-on offerings commonly dey use 90 days, and many deals dey stagger releases across several dates.

E mean say stocks dey always drop when di lockup expire?

No. Of di five marquee expiries wey dem measure up there, four close lower and one — Facebook, November 2012 — close 12.5% higher on 3.1x volume. Di worst of di five, Twitter May 2014 unlock, print -17.7% on dat day. Di reliable pattern na volume — every one of di five run at least double di prior session — no be direction.

How I fit find stock lockup expiration date?

E dey inside di deal final prospectus — form 424(B)(4) on di SEC EDGAR site — under Shares Eligible for Future Sale and Underwriting. Those sections dey state di length, di share counts by tranche, and any early-release triggers: di authoritative version of a date wey headlines often dey approximate.

When be di SpaceX lockup expiration?

Di deal actual terms dey live inside im prospectus; di customary 180-day convention, wey dem apply to im June 12, 2026 listing date, dey point to early December 2026. Treat dat one as arithmetic, no be confirmed date.

Every panel wey dey up there na stored, versioned query over di as-traded tape — expand di SQL under any panel, or measure di next unlock session yourself on di Strasmore terminal.