SpaceX went public to enormous fanfare. Six weeks later, the people making the most money are the ones who bet against it.
Short sellers had accumulated roughly $8.7 billion in paper profits as of July 16, 2026, after SpaceX shares fell back to their IPO price of $135. The stock, which trades under the ticker SPCX, touched an intraday low of $132.15, briefly dipping below the level at which the company first sold shares to the public on June 12.
From $225 to $132 in six weeks
Shares peaked at $225.64 shortly after the June debut, a gain of roughly 67% from the offering price. By mid-July, the stock had given back essentially all of those gains, trading at or below the $135 IPO price for the fourth consecutive session. Bloomberg reported that short sellers had already booked around $3.88 billion in profits just one day before the $8.7 billion figure landed, meaning the bears added nearly $5 billion in a single day as the sell-off accelerated.
The IPO itself priced at $135 per share on June 12, 2026, raising approximately $75 billion in total capital.
