Zerodha's Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nithin Kamath remarked that the Initial Public Offering (IPO) space was the "only bullish" corner of the stock market, in an 'X' post on Wednesday.
Kamath described IPOs as a "a full-on party" in contrast to the wider stock market which he stated "feels like a bear market". He noted that the broader market had been falling steadily.
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"I don't remember the last time we saw such a stark divergence between the primary and secondary markets. Strange are the times we live in," he added.
The only bullish corner of the market right now is IPOs. The broader market has been steadily falling. The numbers may not fully show it, but it certainly feels like a bear market. IPOs, on the other hand, are a full-on party. Most recent listings have done well, and you can see it in the rush of activity. I don't remember the last time we saw such a stark divergence between the primary and secondary markets. Strange are the times we live in.🙂
— Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) October 7, 2026
Kamath's 'X' post also featured a chart depicting how main-board IPOs the past five annual cohorts are trading as of Oct. 6, 2026 in contrast to their original issue prices. It had 401 IPOs and does not include SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) listing, REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts), InvIT (Infrastructure Investment Trust) and FPOs (Follow-On Public Offers).
The graph showed that 67.5% of the 125 IPOs listed between October 2025 and September 2026 are trading above their issues price, with the cohort showing a median return of 24.7%. This indicates that up to two-thirds of these recently listed firms are still providinf investors with returns over the price of their IPOs.
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Within the latest cohort, 13.6% of IPOs are trading more than 100% above their issue price. Another 17.6% are up 50-100%, while 18.4% have gained 25-50%.The contrast is sharper for the October 2024-September 2025 cohort. Only 47.4% of its 95 IPOs are trading above their issue price, with a median return of negative 9.4%. In other words, more than half are trading below their IPO price.
Older cohorts have fared better, with median returns of 41.3% for October 2021-September 2022, 16.6% for 2022-23 and 8.6% for 2023-24. However, these IPOs have had more time to experience both gains and declines.
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