Binance has launched a pre-market spot trading service that allows users to take early positions before the token is listed on the spot market.

“Binance is the only exchange that offers pre-market spot trading, whereby tokens will be created and allocated exclusively for users to hold and trade pre-market on the Binance platform,” the exchange said on Wednesday.

While other exchanges also offer pre-market trading, they typically facilitate derivatives trading. Binance, on the other hand, is “the first exchange to have an actual token for users to trade pre-market,” a Binance spokesperson said.

Binance competitor Bybit also offers pre-market spot trading, but it appears to be more efficient in using derivatives than actual tokens. Bybit’s website states:

“Both buyers and sellers must pledge their assets on the platform, to ensure timely payment. The collateral will be returned after successful and timely payment. All transactions are denominated in USDT,” indicating that the collateral is held pending token delivery.

On the other hand, Coinbase International’s “pre-launch market” service involving trading perpetual futures contracts for tokens has yet to launch. Coinbase recently said:

“Once the underlying token is launched on relevant spot exchanges, these contracts will seamlessly convert into standard perpetual futures contracts.”

How Does Binance Pre-Market Work?

Binance Pre-Market Service is a joint effort between Binance Spot and Binance Launchpool, allowing users to purchase tokens of new projects by staking BNB and other tokens.

Only selected Binance Launchpool tokens are available for pre-market trading. Currently, Launchpool tokens are held by users until their official spot listing on Binance. With Binance Pre-Market, users can trade these tokens immediately, subject to restrictions such as withdrawal, transfer, and deposit limits until the official listing.

Binance will announce when a Launchpool project will be available for pre-market trading and the start date. Users can continue to register for Launchpool as usual. Once pre-market trading begins, all Binance users will be able to trade tokens tagged as “pre-market.” Binance said the pre-market period will close at least four hours before the official spot trading and will make a separate announcement about the listing.

Binance Pre-Market is not available in some regions, including the United States, Canada, Dubai, Japan, Netherlands, Russia, and Spain.