NEW YORK, July 3, 2026, 11:02 EDT
- Space Exploration Technologies Corp. NASDAQ:SPCX ended Thursday’s session at $162.00, gaining 2.83%. Nasdaq was shut Friday for the holiday.
- Nasdaq-100 entry July 7 may trigger some $4.3 billion in passive inflows, about 26.5 million shares at Thursday’s close, Reuters reports.
- SpaceX had short interest of 196 million shares, about 31% of its free float, according to Ortex data as of Tuesday.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. NASDAQ:SPCX heads into the long U.S. weekend with a flow trade in focus. Index funds are still looking to buy shares, but shorts have piled into the part of the stock that’s available to trade. That setup could draw more attention than the latest analyst note.
Nasdaq’s calendar shows U.S. equity and options markets will be closed Friday for Independence Day observed, with Thursday’s session the last regular close before the week ahead. SpaceX finished Thursday at $162.00, up 2.83%. Volume reached 61.3 million shares.
The stock trades 20.0% over its $135 IPO price, but is still down 28.2% from its 52-week high of $225.64. SpaceX’s free-writing prospectus showed 555,555,555 Class A shares at $135 each, raising $75.0 billion. The company picked SPCX for its symbol on Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas.
| Price marker | Level | Move from Thursday close |
|---|---|---|
| IPO priced at | $135.00 | up 20.0% |
| Closed June 26 | $153.23 | up 5.7% |
| Closed Thursday | $162.00 | — |
| 52-week high | $225.64 | down 28.2% |
It’s not only about market cap. Reuters said last week SpaceX was valued by the market at roughly $2 trillion, but just $100 billion worth of shares were available for trading. The rest sit with Elon Musk, insiders and employees. That means the next index trade will be big in terms of float, but not total company value.
J.P. Morgan sees SpaceX’s entry into the Nasdaq-100 triggering about $4.3 billion in passive buying, Reuters said. That would mean around 26.5 million shares bought at $162.00 apiece, about 4.2% of the Ortex-estimated free float.
| Flow item | Reported figure | At $162.00 | Investor read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nasdaq-100 add | $4.3 bln passive money seen coming in | 26.5 mln shares | Close to 4.2% of Ortex-implied free float |
| Short interest | Shorts at 196 mln shares | $31.8 bln notional | Nasdaq flow is 13.5% of that short base |
| Russell rebalance | Needs over $4 bln in trades | $19 bln moved on June 26 | Half the day’s trades landed just before close |
Short sellers are holding their ground. Ortex data through Tuesday put short interest at 196 million shares, or around 31% of free float, up from 83 million last week. Ortex co-founder Peter Hillerberg called the jump “extraordinary” for a stock that’s been public for less than a month. He said SpaceX has been “a roller coaster” for shorts. Reuters
Borrow cost is still around 1%, Reuters said, so this doesn’t look like a classic squeeze yet. Ortex figures show each $1 swing in SpaceX shares translates to about $200 million in gains or losses for shorts. Hillerberg said there’s “a lot of potential fuel” if the trade turns into a squeeze. Reuters
Both bulls and bears got something this past week. Russell-driven trades pushed SpaceX volume near $19 billion on June 26, with around half of that in the last few minutes. Shares bounced back to $162.00 after ending the session at $153.23.
Passive buyers will have a set date this week. Nasdaq said SpaceX joins the Nasdaq 100 on July 7. Michael Field, Morningstar’s chief equity market strategist, told Reuters the quick move shows there’s demand. But he said, “We think the stock is overvalued.” Reuters
The valuation debate is ongoing. Reuters said last Friday that SpaceX shares were trading at about 107 times forecast 2025 sales. Nvidia Corp. NASDAQ:NVDA traded at 21 times sales. S&P Global NYSE:SPGI has said it won’t change S&P 500 entry rules for SpaceX and won’t consider moving it into major indexes for at least a year.
Elon Musk pushed back Wednesday on a Wall Street Journal story that said SpaceX had shown investors an AI handset prototype ahead of its IPO. Musk called it “Utterly false” on X. Reuters has reported SpaceX invested billions into AI hardware, xAI’s Grok language model, and computing in space. Reuters
The short-term setup is clearer for investors than the longer debate. As of Thursday’s close, Nasdaq-100 demand is expected to lag the current short, but it’s still large enough to impact the float. When the stock opens Monday, shorts are lined up against $31.8 billion notional, and passive index funds have a Tuesday deadline.
