Clear Street shelved its initial public offering (IPO) on Thursday, just hours after cutting the deal's size from $1.05 billion to $364 million in a last-ditch attempt to salvage the listing.The New York-based prime broker cited "market conditions" for scrapping Friday's planned Nasdaq debut and said it would reconsider the listing later. The withdrawal marks the second major IPO postponement in a week, following Blackstone-backed Liftoff Mobile's decision to pull its $762 million offering on Feb. 5 amid a software sector rout.Clear Street had already trimmed its ambitions significantly before pulling the plug entirely. The firm cut its offering from 23.8 million shares priced at $40 to $44 each down to 13 million shares at $26 to $28. That would have valued the company at roughly $7.2 billion at the top of the revised range, compared to an initial target of $11.8 billion.Revenue Surges as Valuation Ambitions CollapseThe firm expects net revenue between $1.04 billion and $1.06 billion this year, more than double its 2024 figure of $463.6 million. That growth came largely from Clear Street's expansion beyond its original prime brokerage platform into investment banking and equity research since its 2018 founding.But investors balked at the initial valuation, according to Bloomberg. The firm encountered pushback on its pricing expectations even before Thursday's attempted downsizing.The pricing was scheduled for Thursday evening, with trading set to begin Friday under the ticker "CLRS".Even companies that managed to go public have little reason to celebrate. eToro, trading under the ticker ETOR, has been listed on Wall Street for nearly a year and has fallen about 60 percent over that period.Meanwhile, another publicly traded broker, NAGA Markets, carried out a 10-for-1 reverse stock split at the end of 2025. According to management, the company’s penny-stock status “does not accurately reflect the operational profile.” The shares are currently valued at €3, which would have been €0.30 before the split. The latest results, however, align with the weak share price, showing EBITDA for 2025 at roughly one-third of the level reported in 2024, when it stood at €9 million.Crypto Exposure Compounds AI-Driven SelloffClear Street's role as an underwriter for cryptocurrency-related capital raises likely amplified investor concerns. The firm has served as underwriter for multiple crypto treasury offerings, particularly Strategy's recent fundraising rounds."The recent AI-driven selloff in financial stocks likely dampened investor sentiment, but the sharp decline in crypto markets also had an impact as Clear Street has served as underwriter for multiple crypto treasury capital raises, particularly Strategy's latest offerings," said IPOX Research Associate Lukas Muehlbauer.Broader volatility has rattled the IPO market in recent weeks. Software and IT stocks tumbled earlier this month on fears that AI-first offerings would disrupt existing business models, dragging down shares of Wall Street brokerages on Tuesday.Ripple Effects Across MarketsThe postponement could prompt other companies planning listings to reconsider their timing. Clear Street was coming off what the source material described as a "banner year," making the withdrawal particularly notable.Brazilian fintech Agibank slashed its offering size just a day before its Feb. 11 debut, following weak post-IPO performance by rival PicPay. PicPay's shares have fallen roughly 20% since its January listing, the first IPO by a Brazilian company in more than four years.SBI Holdings took a $50 million minority stake in Clear Street in January, establishing a joint venture focused on prime brokerage services in Japan. Last May, the firm launched an outsourced trading desk led by former UBS executive Morgan Ralph. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

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