SpaceX is one of the biggest companies on the planet, and after years of waiting, retail investors finally got their shot. The rocket maker went public on June 12, 2026 under the ticker SPCX - and this week, options on the stock launched and instantly set a first-day trading volume record.
The flood of orders shows just how badly everyday investors have wanted in on Elon Musk's rocket maker.
For years, the only way to own a piece of SpaceX was to be an early employee, a venture investor, or rich enough to get into a private deal.
Everyone else watched from the sidelines as the company's value climbed into a range once reserved for the largest public tech names.
SpaceX's IPO cracked that door open - the company priced at $135 a share and raised about $75 billion, the largest IPO in history. Shares jumped more than 25% on debut, pushing the valuation above $2 trillion.
Then came options. On Tuesday, June 16, roughly 1.8 million SpaceX contracts changed hands - blowing past Meta's 2012 debut record of about 365,000 contracts. Trade Alert pegged the premium traded at around $2.8 billion, with calls outpacing puts 1.3-to-1.
These trade on a major exchange like any other options contract, which means investors can buy and sell during market hours just like a normal stock option.
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Three things are pulling money in:
Each driver on its own would be enough to pull demand. Together they've made SpaceX one of the most-watched names on Wall Street.
Investors who missed the early Tesla trade don't want to miss this one, and options on SPCX give them a leveraged way to play the story without buying the stock outright.
First-day records don't happen by accident - they happen when demand has been building for years with nowhere to go.
Private-market access has quietly become one of the biggest themes on Wall Street, with retail no longer content to sit out the biggest names. OpenAI, Stripe, and other private giants still hold the kind of attention that used to belong to the next hot IPO - and SpaceX just showed what happens when one of them finally lists.
Every vehicle that cracks the door open - pre-IPO funds, tender offers, IPOs, now options on day-one listings - gets flooded the moment it lists. The SpaceX options debut is just the latest, and probably not the last.
These are leveraged bets on a stock that has only been public for a few days. With a thin float and a fresh listing, SPCX has been moving fast - which makes options pricing more volatile than a seasoned name.
There's also an August lock-up expiration that traders are already hedging around, per Susquehanna - a reminder that new supply can hit the tape and move the stock.
The upside is real for investors who believe in the long-term story, but so is the risk that a sudden drop in the share price sends options prices moving fast.
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