SpaceX Shares Break Below $135 IPO Price as Post-Debut Rally Unravels
SpaceX shares broke below their $135 IPO price for the first time on July 15, 2026, closing at $135.27 after sliding as low as $132.28 intraday, capping a steep reversal from the stock's mid-June peak above $225 (Reuters). The selloff erased what had been a blistering post-debut rally and put the newly public ticker (SPCX) in territory that tests the resolve of IPO buyers who entered at or near the offering price.
The decline was swift. SpaceX priced its IPO at $135 per share, a figure confirmed in its EU prospectus approved by Bafin on June 5, 2026, which also set a maximum offering price of $162.00 (SpaceX EU Prospectus). The stock opened at $150 on its first day of trading, hit an intraday high of $176.52, and closed up 19.2% at $160.95 (MarketWatch). From there, the shares climbed as high as $225.64 before sellers took control (MarketWatch).
At the July 15 close of $135.27, the stock sat roughly 30% below that mid-June peak. A day earlier, on July 14, shares had closed at $136.08, barely a dollar above the IPO price, after falling 2.2% in the prior session. They then rose as much as 2.4% intraday before resuming their slide (Bloomberg). Over the first 27 trading days, the stock was down 23% from its first-day closing level near $161 (MarketWatch).
The break below the IPO price coincided with an approaching post-IPO lockup expiry, adding a structural supply overhang to the fundamental selling pressure. Lockup expiries typically release insider and early-investor shares for public trading, and the prospect of that supply hitting the market can compress prices in the weeks leading up to the unlock date. Reuters reported the selloff as an "ominous sign" as that expiry loomed (Reuters via Facebook).
The trajectory from $225.64 to sub-$135 in roughly a month is a drawdown that would stress any newly public company, but the mechanic is familiar. A lockup expiry introduces a known, date-certain supply shock. What is less knowable is how much of that supply hits the market. If the selling pressure ahead of the expiry is front-running by investors who expect a lockup-fueled decline, the actual unlock could see reduced selling. That is a market structure question, not a valuation question.
The valuation question is murkier. SpaceX came public with enormous expectations baked into the offering price and the subsequent rally to $225.64. A 40% peak-to-trough decline in a stock that had been trading at a premium to its IPO price raises the question of whether the mid-June high was driven by fundamental re-rating or by the scarcity dynamics that often dominate float in early public trading.
MarketWatch noted that comparisons to other high-profile IPOs are already circulating. The outlet drew parallels to Meta's post-IPO performance and Tesla's early trading history, both of which experienced significant volatility after their public debuts before tracing divergent longer-term paths (MarketWatch). The implication is that breaking the IPO price is not necessarily predictive of long-term outcomes, though the sample size for companies of this profile is thin.
For institutional desks, the key data points are the speed of the reversal, the proximity to the lockup expiry, and the depth of the order book below $135. The intraday low of $132.28 on July 15 suggests there are buyers willing to step in marginally below the IPO price, but the close back at $135.27 indicates that level is not yet a firm floor. The 0.6% decline on heavy attention suggests the market is still searching for equilibrium between IPO-era optimism and the supply dynamics of a maturing float.
