Friday morning, global capital markets held their breath as the Nasdaq opening bell rang. SpaceX completed the largest IPO in history with a fixed offering price of $135 per share, raising a record $75 billion. The stock opened at $150, surged to an intraday high of $176.52, and closed around $161, delivering a 19.22% first-day gain. Its market capitalization instantly surpassed $2.1 trillion, propelling Elon Musk into the ranks of trillion-dollar billionaires.
This “rocket-level” debut not only shattered historical records but also pushed market sentiment from extreme euphoria to deep reflection over the weekend.
This article reviews the SpaceX subscription event through six key dimensions: pricing and first-day trading breakdown, the full xStocks fiasco, pre-IPO perpetual futures volume and Hype platform performance, in-depth analysis of driving factors and valuation, weekend-to-Monday market sentiment evolution, and multi-dimensional investor lessons with long-term outlook.
Pricing and First-Day Trading Recap
SpaceX opted for a fixed offering price of $135, directly locking in $75 billion in fundraising with subscription demand exceeding several times the offering size. On Friday, first-day trading volume exceeded 522 million shares, far surpassing typical large-cap IPO levels. The stock opened at $150, quickly climbed to a high of $176.52, then pulled back modestly but still closed strongly near $160.95.
For platform subscribers, the $135 entry price delivered significant unrealized gains. Taking a 5,000 USDC subscription as an example, participants received approximately 37.037 shares. At the current price of around $180, the position is now worth approximately $6,667 USDC, generating over $1,667 in floating profit — a 33.33% return. This performance underscores the market’s strong confidence in SpaceX’s long-term growth narrative.
The xStocks Fiasco Right Before Opening
Just before the market opened, crypto subscription channels suffered a major setback. Platforms including Binance Wallet, Bybit, and Bitget Wallet launched tokenized SPCXx products based on the xStocks protocol, attracting massive capital inflows. Binance alone collected approximately $557 million in subscriptions from nearly 27,700 wallet addresses.
Cause: xStocks failed to secure sufficient underlying SpaceX shares from IPO underwriters and institutions. Explosive institutional demand, combined with crypto platforms’ weak bargaining power and compliance constraints in traditional capital markets, resulted in a complete shortage of underlying assets.
Timeline: The subscription window ran from June 9–11 with extremely high enthusiasm. As Friday’s opening approached, xStocks confirmed it could not deliver, prompting platforms to issue announcements. User sentiment quickly shifted from anticipation to disappointment.Resolution and Compensation: All platforms implemented 100% full refunds, with principal automatically returned to users. Additional compensation included:
Bybit: 10% APR interest for 4 days
Bitget Wallet: refund of 5% handling fee + $10 gas vouchers + priority access to future tokenized IPO whitelists
Binance: additional airdrop of $1 million worth of SPCXB tokens
Meanwhile, platforms like Gate.io that used independent compliant channels successfully completed proportional allocations. Their users received actual shares and participated in trading.
Pre-IPO Perpetual Futures Volume and Hype Platform Performance
Before the IPO, the crypto market conducted price discovery through perpetual futures. Hyperliquid (Hype), one of the leading platforms, launched the SPCX-USDC perpetual contract in mid-May, which quickly exploded in volume. Cumulative trading volume reached tens of billions of dollars, with peak single-day volume easily exceeding several hundred million. Binance and other CEX perpetual products also contributed significantly. By early June, total open interest across the market exceeded $385 million, with cumulative volume surpassing $2.7 billion.
Hyperliquid demonstrated clear advantages during this period: its decentralized nature allowed retail users to gain leveraged exposure without KYC. Both trading volume and open interest outperformed many CEX products. Even after the IPO, synthetic contracts maintained high liquidity, with single-day volume staying in the hundreds of millions during peak periods. This “shadow market” not only accurately anticipated the 19%+ first-day premium but also continued providing price hedging tools for users after the xStocks failure — highlighting the unique value of DeFi perpetuals in the RWA space.
Driving Factors and Valuation Analysis
Multiple factors fueled the strong first-day performance. Elon Musk’s personal influence, Starlink’s global user expansion, Starship technological breakthroughs, and AI data center synergies formed the core narrative. Retail FOMO sentiment further amplified trading heat.
On valuation, the $2.1 trillion market cap implies a high price-to-sales ratio. While SpaceX commands a significant growth premium, it also faces challenges including pressure to achieve profitability, heavy reliance on government contracts, and execution risks. Compared with historical mega-IPOs, this offering price was relatively conservative, leaving room for future performance.
Weekend-to-Monday Market Sentiment
Social media remained highly active over the weekend, with analysts showing divided opinions. Some focused on profit-taking pressure and technical support levels, while others highlighted upcoming catalysts such as Starship test flights and Musk’s activities. By Monday, the price fluctuated in the $170–180 range, reflecting a balance between excitement and caution. Trading volume and volatility are expected to remain elevated, making key support levels worth close monitoring.
Investor Lessons and Long-Term Outlook
This event offers multiple insights for retail investors: behind the convenience of platform subscriptions lies the critical importance of securing underlying assets. The success of Gate.io versus the complete failure of the xStocks path highlights the value of independent compliant channels. The explosion in pre-IPO perpetual futures also proves that DeFi tools can serve as effective alternatives when traditional IPO access is restricted.
Historical data shows that many large IPOs experience short-term pullbacks after strong first-day gains, with long-term performance depending on fundamental delivery. SpaceX’s story is far from over. Starlink’s scaling, the Mars program, and ecosystem synergies will continue to drive growth. For long-term holders, the current price may represent only the beginning.
The RWA tokenization sector has both exposed its weaknesses and accelerated its evolution through this event. Securing underlying assets and building robust settlement channels will become core competitive advantages going forward.
SpaceX’s IPO is not only a milestone for capital markets but also a profound interaction between Musk’s business empire and global investors. Whether you hold a position or not, this recap reminds everyone: stay rational amid surging emotions and seek long-term value in volatility. How will next week’s trading unfold? Can SpaceX’s rocket keep soaring? Every participant should continue to watch closely.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice. The crypto and stock markets are highly volatile. Investing involves risks. Please conduct your own research and bear full responsibility for your decisions.