SpaceX targets record $1.75 trillion valuation in June IPO

SpaceX is preparing for a highly anticipated stock market debut expected as early as June 11, with the space exploration company targeting a valuation of $1.75 trillion that would dwarf all previous Wall Street listings, according to filings and reporting from May 2026. Elon Musk's company will trade under the ticker SPCX and is making shares available to retail investors through Robinhood, SoFi and other trading platforms, marking a rare attempt to democratize access to such a large IPO. However, a Reuters analysis of the 50 highest-valued IPOs over the past five years reveals that investors would have been better off buying an S&P 500 index fund approximately three-quarters of the time, with the average IPO gain of 27% falling significantly short of the 53% average return for the S&P 500 over the same periods. University of Florida professor Jay Ritter, who studies IPOs, noted that companies with particularly high valuations as measured by price-to-sales ratios tend to fare the worst long-term. At a $1.75 trillion valuation, SpaceX's price-to-sales ratio would be nearly 100, compared to AI heavyweight Nvidia's ratio of 24, while SpaceX lost nearly $5 billion last year. "Every one of these companies where investors are willing to pay a very high price-to-sales ratio has a compelling story for why the future potentially can be really bright," Ritter said. "But, you know, stuff could go wrong." The analysis found that while AI chip designers Astera Labs and Arm Holdings posted exceptional gains of over 700% and 400% respectively, major disappointments included Didi Global down 74%, Rivian Automotive down 82%, and Figma down 35% from their IPO prices. In a related development, cryptocurrency exchange Binance launched its SPCXUSDT Pre-IPO Perpetual contract on May 22, 2026, allowing users to trade on expected SpaceX valuations before the official public listing. The product is designed to democratize access beyond traditional private market participants, enabling a global base of eligible users to engage with market expectations ahead of the company's debut. "Pre-IPO perpetual futures is another example of how Binance is democratizing access to market opportunities by combining crypto-native infrastructure with major financial events," said Shunyet Jan, Head of Spot and Derivatives Business at Binance. SpaceX's listing is expected to be followed by other high-profile offerings from OpenAI and Anthropic, capitalizing on sustained demand for AI-related companies that has driven U.S. stocks to record highs.