50%: Why is SpaceX stock dropping — it isn’t; shares rose nearly 50% from the $135 IPO (initial public offering) price after SpaceX’s June 12 offering, leaving early sellers to watch gains accelerate and some retail traders say they missed material upside.
Allen Tran's $60,000 Regret
$60,000: Allen Tran, founder of HaiKhuu Trading, said he bought SpaceX shares on the first trading Friday and sold them the same afternoon, estimating he "left about $60,000 on the table." He described trading-group sentiment this week: "We all feel like idiots for not trying to buy it at $135."
SpaceX IPO Jump Timeline
$135: SpaceX went public on June 12 at $135 a share and raised about $86 billion in the offering, which set the starting price that traders used to measure gains. The first full day after the IPO the stock closed around $161, up roughly 19% from the offer, and continued climbing into the following sessions.
Cursor $60 billion Announcement
4.8%: A 4.8% gain on Tuesday pushed SpaceX past Amazon to become the world’s fifth-largest public company by market value; the stock’s run followed SpaceX’s announcement that it would buy Cursor for $60 billion in stock, a corporate move that traders priced into shares. Aaron Cook described his own trading: "It was just me cutting my risk," after buying one share before the IPO, buying 11 more after, and selling about half as the price climbed. He added rhetorical disbelief: "Who expects 20% [gains] three days in a row?"
19%: The immediate effect for retail holders has been stark — some sellers booked profits yet still regret the opportunity cost. Allen Tran captured that contradiction directly: "I would much rather have done nothing and made more," and "I don’t think anyone expected SpaceX to rally like this," even as his trade was profitable on the day he sold.
15 trading days: Broker rules will also alter how retail participants respond — Fidelity will not let investors who sell within the first 15 trading days participate in future offerings, raising the practical cost of rapid flipping for customers who want access to coming IPOs. The open question remains: what specific factors beyond the Cursor deal drove SpaceX’s continued post-IPO surge?
