SpaceX soars 19% on debut, vaults to No. 6 on Nasdaq by market cap

Trading opens at $150, 11% above IPO price

Shares hit $176 intraday, up 30% at peak

Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire

Surge in demand crashes trading platforms

By Jung Yoon-hee, The Herald Business

Elon Musk's aerospace company SpaceX capped what many called the most anticipated initial public offering in history with a blockbuster debut, surging more than 19 percent on its first day of trading to push its valuation past $2 trillion and claim the No. 6 spot on Nasdaq by market capitalization. Musk became the world's first trillionaire in the process.

SpaceX listed on Nasdaq on Thursday and closed its first session up 19.34 percent at $161.11, after opening at $150 — 11 percent above its IPO price of $135.

Based on the closing price, SpaceX's market capitalization stood at approximately $2.1 trillion (3,190 trillion won), placing it sixth among all US-listed companies by market cap, behind Nvidia, Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.

According to Bloomberg, the opening-day gain ranks in the middle of the pack among large IPOs that raised more than $10 billion on US markets. Rivian surged 36.9 percent above its IPO price when it debuted in 2021, Alibaba rose 36.3 percent in 2014, and Visa climbed 35.2 percent in 2008.

Some analysts suggested SpaceX may have deliberately priced its shares low to stoke investor enthusiasm. CNN noted that underpricing at IPO is common practice and can be used to generate buying momentum.

Retail investor demand drove the share price higher throughout the session. SpaceX shares climbed as high as $176 during trading, according to Bloomberg and CNN — a gain of 30.4 percent over the IPO price of $135.

Trading volume on the day exceeded 510 million shares, with total turnover reaching approximately $84 billion.

The frenzy overwhelmed trading platforms, with more than 5,000 service disruptions reported on Robinhood. A Robinhood spokesperson said SpaceX trading drove record traffic to the platform, adding that core systems had been restored and were being closely monitored.

Fidelity received more than 500,000 buy orders within the first hour of SpaceX's listing. Citadel Securities said it processed the highest volume of retail investor trades of any IPO in its history.

SpaceX, which positions AI, satellite communications and aerospace as its core businesses, had been widely billed as the largest IPO of the year.

The offering drew approximately $350 billion (531 trillion won) in subscriptions during the bookbuilding process. Of that total, $250 billion came from institutional investors including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the Kuwait Investment Authority and BlackRock, while retail investor orders accounted for another $100 billion.

Demand was so intense that one-third of institutional investors that placed orders received no shares at all, a detail that drew considerable attention in financial circles.

yuni@heraldcorp.com