Elon Musk’s SpaceX smashes first-day options trading record after historic IPO

After smashing multiple records on its market debut on June 12, Elon Musk-led SpaceX continued its historic run as options linked to the stock shattered trading records on their very first day.

Investors traded around 1.8 million SpaceX options contracts on the first day they became available, making it the busiest first day of options trading ever recorded for a newly listed company, according to Reuters. The figure surpassed the previous record of around 364,000 contracts set by Meta Platforms following its 2012 market debut.

In dollar terms, analysts estimated that roughly $2.8 billion worth of options premium changed hands during the session, indicating the intense speculative and institutional interest in the stock.

The most actively traded contracts were call options tied to potential share price targets of $300 and $380, as per the report. Such contracts give investors the right to buy shares at a predetermined price before a specified date and are often used to bet on further upside in a stock.

The record-breaking options debut adds to an already remarkable list of milestones achieved by SpaceX since its blockbuster IPO. The company raised an unprecedented $75 billion through its public offering, making it the largest IPO in history and surpassing the previous global record held by Saudi Aramco in 2019.

The offering valued SpaceX at approximately $1.77 trillion before a single share changed hands, making it the largest debut valuation ever achieved by a newly listed company.

Investor demand remained exceptionally strong once trading began. Shares were priced at $135 but surged nearly 19% on their first day to close at $160.95, pushing the company's market capitalisation above $2.1 trillion. With this, SpaceX became the fastest company in history to cross the $2 trillion valuation mark.

The momentum did not stop there. Within days of listing, the stock had rallied more than 60% above its IPO price, touching levels around $225 and delivering one of the strongest performances ever seen from a mega-sized IPO.

Just three trading sessions after its debut, SpaceX's market value had climbed to roughly $2.7 trillion-$2.8 trillion, overtaking Amazon and briefly surpassing Microsoft to become one of the five most valuable companies in the world.

The listing also created a personal milestone for Elon Musk, whose wealth surged beyond the $1 trillion mark, making him the first person in history to achieve trillionaire status.