SpaceX (SPCX) stock rises 19% as retail investors buy $118 million on first day

TLDR

• SpaceX stock rose 19% on its first day of trading, closing at $160.95
• Retail investors bought nearly $118 million worth of SpaceX shares on Friday, including $18 million in the first 20 minutes.
• The IPO saw a significant surplus across all channels, with investors receiving only a portion of the required shares
• Retail investors have rotated AI names like Micron, Sandisk and Marvell to fund SpaceX purchases, Vanda Research noted.
• Ben Snyder, a strategist at Goldman Sachs, said that record issuances of US stocks “will not derail the bull market in 2026.”

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SpaceX (SPCX) made its stock market debut on Friday, and the numbers were hard to ignore.

Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, SPCX

The stock closed up 19% on its first day, pricing in retail investors and Wall Street alike in what is now one of the largest publicly traded companies in the United States, with a market capitalization of about $2.1 trillion.

The stock closed at $160.95, then added another 3.66% in after-hours trading to $166.83.

Retail investors were the driving force behind the debut. According to Vanda Research, retail investors bought about $118 million SpaceX shares Friday. About $18 million of that came in just the first 20 minutes.

“The big

Parmar confirmed that the offer was “very significantly oversubscribed across all channels,” with his company receiving only a small portion of what it requested.

The debut arrived at the end of a tough week for the markets. The Nasdaq index fell sharply earlier in the month after stronger-than-expected economic data raised concerns that the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates high. Oil prices rose due to tensions in the Middle East. Investors’ nerves were frayed.

Retail turnover at SpaceX

Vanda Research noted that retail investors appear to be turning away from previous AI favorites — Micron (MU), SanDisk (SNDK), and Marvell (MRVL) – To finance their purchases from SpaceX.

“If SpaceX is viewed as the ‘real deal’ by retail, more sell-off in former favorites would not be surprising,” Vanda noted.

The company added that retail investors in 2026 were “highly selective and tactical,” a shift from the broader meme-based buying seen in previous years.

Tom Sosnoff, founder and CEO of Lossdog, summed up the market’s potential with characteristic candor: “On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say it’s a 10.”

What analysts are watching

Not everyone accumulates blindly. Many strategists cautioned against buying on day one. Historic IPOs like Meta, Robinhood (HOOD), and Coinbase (COIN) all provided better entry points after the lock-ups ended.

“It’s like an iceberg. There are a lot of sellers underneath,” said Roger Ibbotson, a professor emeritus at Yale University.

SpaceX sold roughly 5% of the company in its IPO, meaning a large group of early investors and insiders are still on the sidelines for now.

Ben Snyder, a strategist at Goldman Sachs, acknowledged record issuances of US stocks, but said that they “will not derail the bull market in 2026.” “As lockdowns end, balancing supply and demand for stocks will become more difficult in 2027,” he noted.

Goldman still sees the S&P 500 hitting 8,000 by the end of the year.

Nancy Tengler of Laffer Tengler Investments compared Amazon (AMZN), which went public in 1997 at $18 and has risen more than 200,000% since then.

SpaceX’s debut also came as Alphabet ( GOOGL ) raised new capital and OpenAI and Anthropic are expected to follow up with their own listings later in the year.