SpaceX shares fell sharply on Wednesday, with SPCX dropping 6.7% to $115.26 and trading below its $135 IPO price for the first time since the company began public trading on June 12, 2026. The selloff wiped out the last of the stock's post-IPO premium and placed the market capitalization near $1.52 trillion, down from roughly $1.8 trillion at the offering price.
Three overlapping pressures drove the decline.
August 6 lock-up expiration looms
The most significant near-term overhang is a scheduled lock-up expiration on August 6, when roughly 900 million insider-held shares could become eligible for sale, according to Motley Fool analysis published Wednesday. Lock-up expirations routinely weigh on newly public companies in the weeks before the date as investors anticipate additional supply hitting the market. For SpaceX, the August 6 event will be the first major test of insider conviction at current price levels.
Shares that were granted or purchased before the IPO carry large embedded gains even at $115: the private-market tender offer price from late 2025 was well below the $135 IPO price. That means insiders who received pre-IPO shares still have reasons to sell once the lock-up lifts, even if the stock has retreated below the public offering price.
Starship V3 abort renews reliability questions
SpaceX scrapped a Starship V3 launch attempt on July 16 after four of the booster's 33 Raptor engines failed to ignite one second before liftoff. The abort highlighted what analysts described as a persistent multi-engine coordination challenge in the Raptor system, a concern raised during prior Starship test campaigns. No rescheduled launch date has been announced.