SpaceX executives ring the closing bell on the Nasdaq market for its IPO debut on June 12, 2026.
Adam Jeffrey | CNBC
SpaceX’s IPO not only marked the biggest debut in market history, it also sparked a historic land grab for leveraged ETFs.
Within days of SpaceX going public, competing fund companies launched 11 leveraged exchange-traded funds tied to SpaceX, and their trading volumes shattered expectations. SpaceX stock’s first week on the market, an abbreviated four-day holiday trading week ending Thursday, saw more than $10 billion in leveraged ETF trades. This was one of many notable market statistics that stood out regarding this deal.
Leveraged single-stock ETFs are designed to deliver a multiple of the daily return of a stock (typically twice as long or short). These funds reset daily, so their returns can vary significantly from the underlying stocks.
Led by Leveraged Shares, SpaceX Long ETF volume exceeded $1 billion in the three-day period from Tuesday to Thursday, and SpaceX Short ETF saw significant volume as well.
Todd Thorne, chief ETF strategist at Strategas Securities, said the pattern is familiar, even if the scale is unusual. When a major company like Nvidia or Tesla acquires a leveraged ETF built around it, demand appears. Not only did SpaceX bring to market the largest IPO in market history, but Elon Musk’s name was also added to it.
SpaceX ETF leveraged trading volume on Tuesday was $4.2 billion, the day’s peak.
SpaceX Leveraged ETF, first week trading volume
Leveraged Shares 2X Long SPCX Daily ETF (SPCH): $4 billion Leveraged Shares 2X Short SPCX Daily ETF (SSPC): $2.56 billion GraniteShares 2x Short SpaceX Daily ETF (SNK): $765 million ProShares Ultra SpaceX (SPCF): $607 million Defiance Daily Target 2X Long SpaceX ETF (SPCU): $557 million GraniteShares 2x Long SpaceX Daily ETF (SPAL): $516 million Direxion Daily SpaceX Bull 2X ETF (LOFF): $378 million Defiance Daily Target 2X Short SpaceX ETF (SPCQ): $345 million Tradr 2X Short SpaceX Daily ETF (SPCG): $339 million T-REX 2X Long SPCX DAILY TARGET ETF (SPAX): $332 million Tradr 2X Long SpaceX Daily ETF (SPCM): $251 million
Source: Strategas Securities, Bloomberg
SpaceX’s IPO attracted a lot of interest from retail investors, but many retail investors had limited access to the stock. Major issuers of ETFs warn that these portfolios are designed for sophisticated independent traders, hedge funds and proprietary trading desks. These products are not built for buy-and-hold retail investors.
Paul Marino, chief revenue officer at Leverage Shares, said that when stocks move in one direction, “there’s a compounding effect that works out really well,” but the situation quickly reverses when stocks become more volatile, making it a real test for investors in these products. SpaceX started the week with two consecutive days of gains, contributing to Tuesday’s peak volume, but turned negative later in the week.
Two days of stock price declines left many investors who bought SpaceX stock after the IPO in jeopardy.
Stock chart iconStock chart icon
SpaceX performance in first week of trading.
Leveraged ETFs are not core to long-term holdings in stock and bond markets, where low costs are often a priority, but fees can still be a differentiator in crowded markets.
Its leveraged equity expense ratio of 0.75% is below most of its peers, which may be a factor in its early volume lead.
“If you’re getting a similar product, I don’t care if it’s traded daily or for a long-term investment. Fees are important,” Marino says.
But Will Lind, CEO of GraniteShares, whose SpaceX ETF has an expense ratio of 1.50%, rejects that logic, saying the difference in fees is irrelevant for traders who hold positions for several days. “If you hold it for a few days, it’s essentially free for you as an investor,” Lind told CNBC.
Defiance is all about timing. That fund was the only leveraged product that actually traded on the day of the IPO.
“Defiance is always interested in becoming a market leader in terms of new individual stocks,” said Sylvia Jablonski, Defiance ETF co-founder and chief information officer. He said the SpaceX ETF is a natural extension of its lineup of leveraged single-stock funds tied to names like Strategy and Rocket Lab.
Questions remain about whether investors will stick with these deals after the record IPO momentum wanes.
Leverage Shares is betting on what it calls its “enduring user base,” regardless of the potential fluctuations in stock prices on a daily basis. Meanwhile, Anthropic and OpenAI are planning IPOs later this year, which could increase competition in the single-stock ETF world. ETF executives said ETF companies will be interested in leveraging that risk for traders once these stocks hit the market.
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