SpaceX IPO Sees Almost $90 Billion in Trading Volume on First Day

Elon Musk’s space exploration and artificial intelligence company SpaceX finished its first trading day with $85.13 billion in trading volume. It is the highest-ever volume for a company on its debut, representing a massive success for the much-hyped IPO.

According to Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, SpaceX’s first day of trading volume is more than any daily volume that Apple has pulled off after publicly trading for 40 years.

With the number, SpaceX has not only become the most successful IPO but also has the highest daily trading volume of any stock ever. Another Musk company, Tesla, holds the record for the highest single-day trading volume, with $158 billion in 2020.

SpaceX Worth Over $2 Trillion After First Day

The success of the IPO extends beyond its massive trading volume. It also surpassed expectations around its valuation target of around $1.79 trillion.

After debuting at $135, SPCX finished its first day with a 19% gain, taking its value to $160.95, and rising as high as $172 during trading hours.

Interestingly, it could see more increase in value, especially in the short term, as demand remains very high. Data from Yahoo Finance shows that it is up another 3.66% in after-hours trading.

The massive pent-up demand was evident in the fact that several retail investors who subscribed to the IPO did not receive their allocations.

Several crypto exchanges, including Binance and Bybit, scrapped plans to offer a tokenized version of the SpaceX IPO because they could not secure the shares from xStocks.

However, retail investors on traditional brokerage platforms also appeared to face similar challenges, with many receiving only partial allocations. This is not completely surprising given the reported $100 billion in retail orders.

With the stock now trading, issuers are scrambling to launch SpaceX-linked and levered exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Bloomberg’s James Seyffart stated that at least 25 ETFs have been filed by 14 issuers, with almost half of those products set to launch by Monday.

Elon Musk Becomes First World Trillionaire

Meanwhile, the success of the SpaceX IPO has now catapulted Elon Musk into the first-ever trillionaire in world history. Forbes confirmed this, noting that Musk’s net worth is now estimated at $1.1 trillion after SPCX climbed over $150.

Musk owns 4.8 billion shares of SPCX, which is worth around $770 billion at the current price. He also has stock options for 350 million shares, giving him a total stake of 38%.

The new milestone further solidifies Musk’s status as the world’s richest man. It comes less than two decades after he first appeared on the list in 2012, with $2 billion, which put him at 634th then.

He became the richest person in 2021 thanks to Tesla’s success. SpaceX, with a valuation of $2.11 trillion, is now worth more than Tesla’s $1.53 trillion.

Unsurprisingly, Musk’s new wealth, described by some analysts as unimaginable, has sparked discussions about wealth inequality. Senator Elizabeth Warren recently called for a wealth tax.

However, many also noted that SpaceX’s success turned 4,400 of the company’s employees into millionaires through stock compensation. 400 employees became centimillionaires, with their stock compensation totaling over $100 million each.