diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 13e89eca1..32f1ec9c2 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 #
 
 PROG      := busybox
-VERSION   := 0.52
+VERSION   := 0.53pre
 BUILDTIME := $(shell TZ=UTC date -u "+%Y.%m.%d-%H:%M%z")
 export VERSION