Should you subscribe to the Anthropic IPO? If you do, my strategy is to subscribe only to the public offering: 1️⃣ The VIP round has an unreasonably high 12% fee: If the fee is calculated based on the allocated shares, Anthropic needs to rise more than 13.6% after listing for you to break even; in the public offering, with a 5% fee, you only need a ~5.3% increase. The valuation of $1.5 trillion is already 55% higher than the $965 billion private round in May. For an IPO of this scale, a significant first-day pop is uncommon—examples like Saudi Aramco and Facebook opened essentially flat, or even below offering price. 2️⃣ VIP round allocations arrive slowly: Funds are only credited 3 to 5 business days after listing, meaning you miss the most active trading days at the open—you pay the 12% fee upfront and are forced to ride out the volatility. The public offering settles 2 to 3 hours before market open, allowing you to participate in the first-day price action—this is its true advantage.