SpaceX shares opened above their $135 IPO price on Nasdaq, as payments and digital asset data pointed to strong investor activity before the company’s market debut.
The Elon Musk-led space and satellite company sold 555 million shares at $135 each, raising $75 billion and valuing the business at around $1.77 trillion at IPO. Shares opened at $150, 11% above the IPO price.
For fintech firms, the listing has also provided a view of how retail demand can appear before market trading begins. TrueLayer, the Pay by Bank provider, said UK consumers increased investment account top-ups in the two weeks leading up to the IPO, while Talos, a digital asset trading technology provider, said SpaceX-linked perpetual futures had already created a synthetic market for price discovery before the stock opened.
Retail investors funded accounts before debut
TrueLayer said average Pay by Bank top-up volumes across its financial services vertical rose 27% in the two weeks to 11 June, compared with the previous two-week period.
The company said it did not see a comparable increase across ecommerce or iGaming, suggesting the rise was specific to investment and trading platforms.
Because TrueLayer processes Pay by Bank payments for investment and trading platforms, it said the data gave an early read on how retail investors were preparing for the listing before market activity appeared in trading data.
Francesco Simoneschi, CEO and co-founder of TrueLayer, said: “Retail investors are getting their accounts ready, and we can see it on the payment rails. Top-ups to investment platforms and retail brokers are up 27 percent, which tracks closely with the surge of retail interest around the SpaceX IPO.”
Separate research from strategic insight agency Opinium also suggested strong awareness among UK investors before the IPO. The survey of 785 UK investors, carried out between 5 and 9 June, found that 72% had heard of the SpaceX IPO. It also found that 15% had either applied for shares or planned to buy them on the day of the listing, rising to 25% among Gen Z and Millennial investors.
Pre-IPO perps build market signal
Digital asset trading infrastructure also played a role before SpaceX shares began trading.
Talos said pre-IPO perpetual futures linked to private companies such as SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic are creating 24/7 synthetic markets before public listings. The firm said these markets enable participants to express views on expected valuations before shares become available on public exchanges.
Ahead of the debut, Talos said SpaceX-linked perpetuals traded above the IPO price, with more than $215 million in open interest and $2.2 billion in cumulative volume across Hyperliquid, Binance and other venues.
Tanay Ved, senior research associate at Talos, said: “CBRS demonstrated that a synthetic perp can trade within a few percent of the eventual cash open, allowing participation in continuous valuation discovery.
“With the SpaceX IPO nearing, liquidity, open interest, and execution quality in SPCX have been building across Hyperliquid and major exchanges, illustrating how trillion-dollar deals can develop deep perp markets even before listing.”
Talos said the growth of pre-IPO perpetuals reflects demand for 24/7 price discovery beyond digital assets, as crypto market infrastructure extends into private company valuation and equity-linked trading.
Valuation and governance questions remain
The first-day rise came despite questions over valuation and governance.
Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, founded by former Hargreaves Lansdown director Alex Davies in 2016, said the rally reflected both demand and scarcity, with a small proportion of shares available to public investors.
“This is a rally being driven as much by hype and scarcity as fundamentals,” Streeter said. “With just over 4% of the company’s shares made available to public investors, demand far outstripped supply, helping fuel this sizeable first-day pop.”
She said investors were backing SpaceX’s future across reusable rockets, satellite connectivity and wider technology ambitions, but added that the company would need to turn those expectations into financial performance.
Morningstar, the investment research and data company, also pointed to governance concerns around SpaceX’s dual-class share structure.
Lindsey Stewart, director of institutional content at Morningstar, said the structure would allow Musk to retain control with “only a small fraction of the economic interest”, which some asset owners view as extreme.
“What stands out is that this is not just a debate about valuation, but about accountability,” Stewart said.
For fintech firms serving investment platforms and trading infrastructure, SpaceX’s debut shows how major listings can create signals before the opening trade.
