SpaceX shares fell back to just above $135 on Wednesday, returning to roughly the price set by Elon Musk and the company ahead of the blockbuster June 12 public offering, which raised nearly $86 billion.
After trading below the IPO price for much of the session and dipping under $133 at one point, the stock recovered modestly to close at $135.27.
Follow THE FUTURE on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram
A Fast Reversal After A Surging Debut
The latest decline extends a steady pullback that has followed SpaceX’s market debut. Shares briefly climbed above $200 in the days after the listing, lifting the company’s valuation close to that of technology giants including Amazon and Microsoft. Momentum has since faded, with the stock retreating almost every week.
Part of that volatility reflects the stock’s limited free float rather than investor sentiment alone. Only about 4% of SpaceX’s shares are currently trading on Nasdaq, making the stock more sensitive to heavy trading activity and shifts in market demand.
Investors Are Taking A Harder Look At The Story
Investors also appear to be reassessing Musk’s long-term growth narrative, mirroring a broader cooling in technology stocks over the past month. The decline has extended beyond the shares themselves, with bonds issued after the IPO also coming under pressure.
A prolonged selloff could have implications beyond SpaceX. The company’s valuation has become a key gauge of investor confidence in Musk’s ambitious growth plans and may influence demand for future high-profile technology listings, including those expected from Anthropic and OpenAI, both of which have confidentially filed for IPOs.
Starship Faces Its Next Test
Attention will now turn to Thursday’s Starship test flight, the first since SpaceX became a public company.
The launch also marks the programme’s first mission since a booster failure in May. As with previous development flights, the company does not plan to recover either the booster or the upper stage. Instead, both are expected to perform a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, reflecting SpaceX’s long-standing approach of using repeated flight testing to refine the system.
