SpaceX Stock After the IPO: What Happened and What It Teaches Investors

SpaceX's June 2026 debut was the largest IPO ever, raising $75 billion. In the five months since, the stock (ticker SPCX) has gone on a full ride: a giant first-week rally, a slide below the IPO price, and a recovery. Here is what happened, and what every investor can learn from it before the next mega-IPO.

This article explains events and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stock.

The IPO in numbers

Timeline: from $135 to a $2.66 trillion peak and back

1. June 12, first trade. Opened at $150, 11% above the IPO price.
2. June 16, the peak. The rally pushed SpaceX's market value to about $2.66 trillion, with shares above $225 during the first week. The same day, SpaceX agreed to buy the AI coding company Cursor for $60 billion in stock (closed August 14).
3. July, the slide. As the excitement faded, shares fell to about $108 by late July, below the $135 IPO price. Investors who bought near the top were down more than 50%.
4. August 6, first big unlock. About 911 million insider shares (~$123 billion) became sellable after Q2 earnings. The stock opened near a record low around $105 but closed up about 6%, and was back at $135 by August 10.
5. August to October, staged unlocks. Each scheduled lock-up release brought a dip of roughly 4%, but the stock kept climbing and was above $160 by early October.

What's next: dates to know

• Q3 earnings release: tied to an unlock of up to about 1.3 billion more shares.
• December 8, 2026: the full 180-day lock-up expires for about 800 million remaining shares.
• June 2027: Elon Musk's separate one-year lock-up on more than 6 billion shares ends.

Learn how these work in our guide to the IPO lock-up period.

Five lessons from SpaceX's first five months

1. Day-one prices are emotional. The stock nearly doubled from its IPO price within days, then lost more than half of that peak. Whoever bought the hype paid for it.
2. Buying at the IPO price is very different from buying on day one. Investors who got shares at $135 were down about 20% at the summer low; those who bought at $225 were down more than 50%.
3. Lock-up dates matter, but they are not destiny. Unlocks caused small dips; strong demand absorbed them.
4. Valuation still counts. At its peak SpaceX was worth more than almost any company in the world. Even great businesses can be priced too high.
5. Position size is your seatbelt. A 50% swing is survivable if a single stock is a small slice of your portfolio.

How to get SpaceX exposure

• Buy SPCX directly through any brokerage account, ideally with a limit order. See how to buy IPO stock.
• Through funds. Large new listings can be added to major indexes and ETFs over time, so check a fund's holdings page if you want indirect exposure. Our guide to index funds vs ETFs explains the difference.

Before buying any single stock, make sure your emergency fund and retirement contributions are in place.

Frequently asked questions

What is SpaceX's stock ticker?

SpaceX trades under the ticker SPCX on the Nasdaq.

Can I still buy SpaceX stock at the IPO price?

No. The $135 IPO price only applied to shares allocated in the offering. Today you buy at the current market price through any brokerage account.

Why did SpaceX stock fall below its IPO price in July?

After a huge first-week rally, many short-term buyers took profits, and investors began weighing the very high valuation against the upcoming lock-up releases. The stock bottomed around $108 in late July before recovering.

What happens to SpaceX stock on December 8, 2026?

That is when the full 180-day lock-up expires for about 800 million remaining insider shares. Earlier unlocks caused short dips of roughly 4%, but there is no guarantee the next one will behave the same way.

Sources

• Dealroom: Upcoming and recent IPOs (data as of October 14, 2026)
• SpaceX lockup expiration schedule (updated September 24, 2026)