TLDR
- SpaceX stock surged 19% on its first day of trading, closing at $160.95
- Retail investors bought approximately $118 million in SpaceX stock on Friday, with $18 million in the first 20 minutes
- The IPO was heavily oversubscribed across all channels, with investors receiving only a portion of requested stock
- Vanda Research noted retail investors rotated out of AI names like Micron, Sandisk, and Marvell to fund SpaceX purchases
- Goldman Sachs strategist Ben Snider said record US equity issuance “will not derail the bull market in 2026”
SpaceX (SPCX) made its stock market debut on Friday, and the numbers were hard to ignore.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., SPCX
The stock closed up 19% on its first day, pricing retail investors and Wall Street alike into what is now one of the largest publicly traded companies in the US, with a market cap of roughly $2.1 trillion.
The stock closed at $160.95, then added another 3.66% in after-hours trading to $166.83.
Retail investors were a driving force behind the debut. According to Vanda Research, individual investors purchased around $118 million in SpaceX stock on Friday. About $18 million of that came in the first 20 minutes alone.
“The big X factor is Elon’s army of retailer support,” said Justus Parmar, CEO of Fortuna Investments, speaking ahead of the first trade.
Parmar confirmed the offering was “very, very oversubscribed through all channels,” with his firm receiving only a fraction of what it requested.
The debut landed at the end of a rough week for markets. The Nasdaq had pulled back sharply earlier in the month after stronger-than-expected economic data stoked fears the Federal Reserve would keep rates elevated. Oil prices spiked on Middle East tensions. Investor nerves were frayed.
Retail Rotation Into SpaceX
Vanda Research flagged that retail investors appeared to rotate out of previous AI favorites — Micron (MU), Sandisk (SNDK), and Marvell (MRVL) — to fund their SpaceX buys.
“If SpaceX is seen as the ‘real deal’ by retail, further selling in prior darlings would not be surprising,” Vanda noted.
The firm added that retail investors in 2026 have been “very selective and tactical,” a shift from the broader meme-driven buying seen in prior years.
Tom Sosnoff, founder and CEO of Lossdog, summed up market capacity with characteristic bluntness: “On a scale from 1 to 10, I would say it’s a 10.”
What Analysts Are Watching
Not everyone is piling in blind. Several strategists warned against buying on day one. Historical IPOs like Meta, Robinhood (HOOD), and Coinbase (COIN) all offered better entry points after lock-up periods expired.
“It’s like an iceberg. There’s a lot of sellers underneath,” said Yale professor emeritus Roger Ibbotson.
SpaceX sold roughly 5% of the company in its IPO — meaning a large pool of early investors and insiders remain on the sidelines for now.
Goldman Sachs strategist Ben Snider acknowledged record US equity issuance but said it “will not derail the bull market in 2026.” He did note that “as lockups expire, the balance of equity supply and demand will become more challenging in 2027.”
Goldman still sees the S&P 500 hitting 8,000 by year-end.
Nancy Tengler of Laffer Tengler Investments drew a comparison to Amazon (AMZN), which went public in 1997 at $18 and has risen more than 200,000% since.
The SpaceX debut also came as Alphabet (GOOGL) raised fresh capital and OpenAI and Anthropic are expected to pursue their own listings later in the year.
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