Angie · learn
Lock-up
A period after an IPO during which insiders may not sell. Its expiry releases a large block of supply on a known date, and the price usually knows it is coming.
Updated 2026-09-05
A lock-up is a contractual period after an IPO, usually 90 to 180 days, during which insiders and pre-IPO investors may not sell. It exists to stop the people who know the company best from exiting into the first buyers.
Its expiry is a known date on which a large block of supply becomes sellable. The market generally anticipates it, which means the effect often arrives before the date rather than on it, and that anticipation is one reason a young listing's price behaviour tells you so little about the business.
See also
- IPO — A company's first sale of stock to the public. It converts private ownership into something anyone can buy, and it is the moment a price becomes public.
- Shares outstanding — The share count that converts a whole-company equity value into a per-share figure. Getting it wrong scales every valuation by exactly the same error.
Educational content, not investment advice. Angie explains how a valuation is built so you can judge it yourself. What you do with that is your call.
