SpaceX made Wall Street history on Friday, June 12, as shares of Elon Musk’s rocket company surged 26% on their first day of trading on the Nasdaq. Opening at $150 per share — an 11% premium over its $135 IPO price — SpaceX stock climbed as high as $176.52 before settling around $170 at midday. That put the company’s market capitalization above $2.2 trillion, making it more valuable than every U.S. company except Apple and Nvidia. The debut also officially crowned Musk as the world’s first trillionaire, with his SpaceX stake alone worth over $766 billion — combined with his Tesla holdings worth roughly $280 billion, his total net worth sits at approximately $1.05 trillion.
The IPO raised roughly $5.4 billion with 40 million shares priced at $135 apiece. Retail demand was intense: VandaTrack data showed SpaceX as one of the most net-bought stocks by individual investors the moment trading opened. Yet retail buyers received a smaller-than-expected allocation, with the company favoring institutional investors. Musk’s coronation as the first trillionaire in history sparked immediate debate about wealth concentration — his personal net worth now exceeds the entire GDPs of Taiwan, Ireland, or Sweden. Friday’s debut also sent ripples through the broader space sector. Rocket Lab fell 6%, Redwire tumbled over 8%, and both the Procure Space ETF (UFO) and Defiance Drone ETF (JEDI) dropped more than 6% as investors rotated out of proxy plays and into the real thing.
For retail investors, the SpaceX debut raises several immediate questions. Is it too late to buy? Buyers at the open were already paying an 11% premium over the IPO price, with the stock racing another 15% higher intraday. Analysts at Freedom Capital Markets cautioned that “you have to give it a full trading day” before drawing conclusions, noting initial trading-desk estimates had targeted $200. The ‘SpaceX proxy’ crash is a clear warning: companies like Rocket Lab, Redwire, and AST SpaceMobile that rallied on SpaceX anticipation are now being repriced sharply lower — if you hold those names for their standalone merits, review your thesis now. Tesla, worth roughly $400 per share on Friday, swung between gains and losses as markets processed the fact that SpaceX is now the more valuable Musk company. The stock is one of the most significant market events in years. If you missed the IPO, patience and price discipline matter more than ever from here.
