SpaceX's Post-IPO Sugar Rush Fades Fast — $400B in Market Cap Wiped in Days

SpaceX's historic stock market debut has hit a painful wall. After an explosive opening that sent shares surging more than 50% in the first few days of trading — briefly valuing the company at over $2.7 trillion and eclipsing both Microsoft and Amazon — the stock has reversed sharply, dropping for three consecutive sessions and shedding more than 30% from its intraday peak of $225 per share.

The company, trading under the ticker SPCX, went public in the largest IPO in history, raising an initial $75 billion with shares priced at $135. Underwriters then exercised an option to purchase an additional $10 billion worth of stock, pushing total proceeds above $85 billion. Despite that record-setting launch, shares had fallen to around $150 by Tuesday morning — meaning late buyers who chased the rally have little or nothing to show for it.

At its lowest point Tuesday, SpaceX's market cap had slipped to roughly $1.99 trillion, down from a closing high of $2.4 trillion on June 16 — a loss of approximately $400 billion in paper value in under a week. The stock did recover partially by late morning, trading up about 1.6% at $157 per share, but the damage to momentum was evident.

The sell-off isn't happening in a vacuum. SpaceX's correction is unfolding alongside a broader global market rout, with South Korea's Kospi plummeting 10% and the Nasdaq opening 2% lower. Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, noted the inevitability of the reversal — arguing that losses of SpaceX's magnitude were never going to stay contained, and that a chill was spreading through markets worldwide as investors absorbed the selling pressure.