SpaceX went public on June 12, 2026, pricing its shares at $135 and opening its first trading session at $150 — about an 11% pop that pushed the company's market capitalization above $2 trillion on day one (CNBC). The IPO had been priced the night of June 11, 2026, following an S-1 registration statement (the standard document companies file with the SEC before going public) submitted on May 20, 2026 (Yahoo Finance; NYC Comptroller). Shares closed that first day at $160.95, a 19.2% first-day return from the $135 offer price (Forge Global).

The pre-IPO private market told a different valuation story. SpaceX's Forge Price — a benchmark for private-company share values based on secondary market trading — stood at $550 per share in early February 2026, then climbed to $604.39 as of April 15, 2026, implying a $1.03 trillion valuation at that point (Forge Global; Forge Global). The IPO itself valued the company at $1.77 trillion (Hiive). In other words, the public offering priced SpaceX at a meaningful premium to where its shares had been trading privately just weeks earlier.

The rally extended into the following week. On Friday, June 12, shares had already gained 19% from the IPO price, and on Monday, June 15, SpaceX stock surged another 20%, closing at $192.46. That two-day rally across June 12 to June 15 added $412 billion in market value (Los Angeles Times). The post-IPO intraday high of $225.64 was reached on June 16, 2026 (SmartAsset).

Then the momentum broke. SpaceX experienced its first-ever consecutive daily declines since its public trading debut, with shares falling 3.6% on a Thursday in mid-June (Barron's). That dip evolved into a three-day losing streak during which the stock lost nearly 24% of its value. The streak ended on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, with shares closing nearly 1% higher (CNBC).

By June 30, 2026, SpaceX had settled to $170.86, still a 26.6% return from the $135 IPO price (Forge Global). July 1 saw shares open near $171 and close at approximately $157.54 (NBC Bay Area / Facebook). Multiple Wall Street banks initiated bullish coverage around July 7, 2026, with at least one broker setting a $236 price target (Bloomberg). As of July 10, 2026, shares were trading close to $149 (Motley Fool).

The sell-off deepened mid-July. On July 15, 2026, SpaceX shares briefly traded below the $135 IPO price for the first time since going public, before closing at $135.27, down 0.6% on the session (Bloomberg). Two days later, on July 17, 2026, shares finished lower again during a broader tech sell-off (MarketWatch).

The trajectory from the $225.64 intraday high to a close just two cents above the IPO price in roughly one month is worth examining. The valuation compression unfolded in two phases. The first — the June 18 to June 23 three-day decline of nearly 24% — appears tied to profit-taking after an extraordinary two-week run that added over $400 billion in market cap. The second phase, through early to mid-July, coincided with a broader tech sell-off that was not SpaceX-specific, though the stock's elevated post-IPO valuation left it particularly exposed.

The broader context here is the gap between Wall Street's sell-side enthusiasm and the market's actual pricing. Banks initiating coverage on July 7 with targets as high as $236 were publishing into a market where shares had already fallen from their $225.64 peak and were continuing to decline. The $236 target implied meaningful upside from the July 10 trading level near $149, yet the stock continued to fall for another week, dipping below the $135 IPO price on July 15 before closing marginally above it.

The private-to-public valuation transition also merits attention. The pre-IPO Forge Price of $604.39 in April implied a $1.03 trillion valuation. The IPO priced at a $1.77 trillion valuation, and the first-day close pushed the market cap above $2 trillion. For institutional participants who held private shares at the April Forge Price levels, the public market has still delivered substantial returns even at the July 15 close of $135.27, though the round-trip from the $225.64 intraday high to the $135 IPO price represents a 40% drawdown from peak in approximately one month.

For retail investors who bought at or near the June 16 high, the picture is starkly different. Shares that traded at $225.64 intraday on June 16 were changing hands near $135 just four weeks later. The $236 Wall Street price target from early July now requires a 75% gain from the July 15 close. Whether that target reflects fundamental analysis or sell-side optimism following a marquee IPO is a question the market is still pricing in.