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SpaceX Shares Slip Below IPO, $1 T Wiped; Shorts Bet $25 B

7/18/2026

30 6 Full Breakdown

Summary

Story summary

SpaceX shares closed at $123.99 on Friday, below the $135 IPO price, erasing $1 trillion in market value.
Short sellers hold about 192 million shares (30% of float) with a $25 billion bet.
SpaceX aborted a Starship launch on July 16 after engine failures and plans an attempt next week.
Over 900 million locked-up shares will trade days after early-August earnings.
Bloomberg analysts rate SpaceX a buy with a $235.34 target, implying about 90% upside.

History

Historical Context

The March 20, 2000 restatement by MicroStrategy triggered a 62 % share plunge, a hallmark of the dot-com bubble burst that erased billions from tech valuations. That collapse, driven by SEC fraud charges that month, set a precedent for later speculative squeezes. Today, SpaceX’s stock faces heavy short interest, echoing the same regulatory-risk dynamics.

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Story summary

SpaceX shares closed at $123.99 on Friday, below the $135 IPO price, erasing $1 trillion in market value.
Short sellers hold about 192 million shares (30% of float) with a $25 billion bet.
SpaceX aborted a Starship launch on July 16 after engine failures and plans an attempt next week.
Over 900 million locked-up shares will trade days after early-August earnings.
Bloomberg analysts rate SpaceX a buy with a $235.34 target, implying about 90% upside.

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