SpaceX Stock Jumps Over 20% on Nasdaq Debut as Trading Begins at $160 per Share

In Focus

• SpaceX issued 555.6 million shares at $135 per share
• Musk has termed the company’s market debut as “hard to believe”
• The SpaceX IPO attracted hundreds of billions in investor demand

SpaceX stock has started trading on the Nasdaq above $160 per share, pushing its valuation past $2 trillion. The price represents a more than 20% gain over the $135 IPO price. The June 12 market debut follows a successful IPO launch that raised $75 billion.

The company marked the debut with a dual opening bell ceremony, a first in Nasdaq’s history. SpaceX executives rang the opening bell from Nasdaq’s MarketSite in New York, while CEO Elon Musk participated simultaneously from the SpaceX headquarters in Texas.

Speaking to employees at Starbase shortly after the SpaceX stock market debut, Musk said “It is hard to believe that a little company that started in a warehouse is now going public with the largest IPO ever. I gave SpaceX less than 10% chance of succeeding at all.”

How Much Did Elon Musk’s SpaceX IPO Attract?

The SpaceX IPO reportedly attracted hundreds of billions in demand from both institutional and retail investors. According to Bloomberg, investors ordered over $350 billion worth of stock. The company issued 555.6 million shares at $135 per share in what is now the largest IPO in history.

In its IPO filing, SpaceX said it was looking to raise $75 billion. The share sale valued the rocket maker at $1.77 trillion. Following the public share sale, Musk’s stake at SpaceX has increased about $866 billion. Combined with his Tesla stake, the IPO has made Elon Musk the first trillionaire in the world.

Last week, Musk said that SpaceX has been cash-flow positive since 2015. Speaking on a JPMorgan Chase livestream, he said the company was going public to raise capital to finance its growth phase, which includes placing more than 100,000 satellites in orbit for communications.

How the SpaceX IPO Impacted U.S. Financial Markets

U.S. markets traded cautiously on Friday morning as investors awaited the SpaceX debut. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.1%.

Although markets opened at 9:30 a.m. ET, SpaceX shares started trading later in the day as underwriters finalized the order book and determined the opening price. Some analysts claim the public listing has transformed the U.S. investment landscape.

“SpaceX has upended U.S. financial markets. It doesn’t have many hard assets and yet could command $2 trillion by the end of the day. It’s the 14th largest company in the world,” Research Director at Securities Broker XTB, Kathleen Brooks noted.

The IPO follows a turbulent week for tech and AI stocks after the Nasdaq experienced its largest single-day last week. The index posted its strongest session since April on June 11. Analysts attributed the market volatility to the SpaceX IPO as some investors sold existing holdings to free up cash to buy the stock.

What Next for SpaceX?

As SpaceX celebrates a blockbuster market debut, Nasdaq has said that launching a massive IPO is not just about the opening bell. It’s more about finding the right opening price. Nasdaq President Nelson Griggs added that for a company as large as SpaceX, the team managing the IPO looks for buy orders covering about 10% of the shares being offered before trading begins. For SpaceX, that would amount to roughly 55 million shares.