A live feed shows SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on the day of SpaceX’s initial public offering (IPO) on June 12, 2026, on the Nasdaq Market site in New York City, USA.
Gina Moon | Reuters
Short sellers have rapidly increased their bets on SpaceX, holding bearish positions in nearly a third of the company’s publicly traded shares as the struggling stock hovers around its IPO price.
According to S3 Partners, about 185 million SpaceX shares are currently sold short, representing about 29% of the company’s publicly traded shares, and bearish bets amounting to about $25 billion. The position has ballooned from an estimated 40 million shares (about 5-7% of float) just three weeks ago.
“Since the IPO, we’ve seen continued demand from short sellers who have built speculative positions,” Matthew Unterman, head of research at S3, told CNBC.
The surge in short interest comes as SpaceX stock has struggled after a strong debut. Shares fell about 20% in July, and at one point on Wednesday fell below the company’s offering price of $135 for the first time. The stock was most recently trading around $136 per share.
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This bearish stance comes ahead of a closely monitored lock-up schedule that could significantly increase the number of shares available for trading in the coming months. SpaceX’s initial public offering represents only about 5% of its roughly 13 billion shares outstanding, and the majority of its shares are still subject to lock-up restrictions, according to KeyBanc Capital Markets.
KeyBanc estimated that the first major unlock could come around the time of the company’s second-quarter earnings report, with about 11% of outstanding shares potentially up for sale.
The company said additional tranches of approximately 4% each are expected to be released starting around day 70 post-IPO, with further unlocks tied to performance milestones and third-quarter earnings thereafter.
The largest block remains Elon Musk’s shares, representing about 42% of outstanding shares, which are locked up until June 2027.
The company’s 13th Starship test flight is scheduled for Thursday, which could affect sentiment towards the stock.
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