Retail investors sold a net $4.5 million of SpaceX stock on August 7, the first net-selling day since the company's June initial public offering. The reversal followed two days of dip buying and comes as shares still trade below their IPO price.
Retail investors who had defended SpaceX through its post-IPO run turned net sellers on Friday, the first such reversal since the company's June debut. Mom-and-pop traders sold a net $4.5 million worth of shares on August 7, the first negative reading since SpaceX went public on June 12, according to Vanda Research data.
Sam North, a market analyst at eToro, said a shift from persistent buying to selling is rarely about one catalyst, usually reflecting "a mix of profit-taking, position fatigue and investors reassessing the risk-reward."
Selling stays small next to record buying days
The outflow looks modest against SpaceX's own trading history. The highest single-day net buying reached $144.6 million on June 16, dwarfing Friday's $4.5 million in sales.
Just two days before the reversal, individual investors bought the dip as shares slumped 13.6% on August 5, the fourth-highest net-buying day since the IPO. That decline followed SpaceX's first-ever quarterly earnings report as a public company, in which the company touted faster returns from AI spending, though concerns remained about how long its profitable Starlink business would keep bankrolling those costly investments.
Shares still trade below their IPO price
The stock surged as much as 67% above its $135 IPO price in June before giving back those gains and falling more than 22% below its debut price in August. Shares have closed below the IPO price every day since July 16 and were up 2.4% to $136.3 in premarket trading on Monday.
Small investors have been central to SpaceX's history on the public markets, as at least 30% of the shares made available at debut were set aside for retail buyers.
Retail attention hasn't faded
SpaceX was the sixth most trending ticker on Stocktwits on Monday morning and the second most mentioned ticker on Reddit's r/WallStreetBets over the past week, according to sentiment aggregator SwaggyStocks. Liquidity has also shifted: the number of SpaceX shares available for public trading more than doubled after the first of several lockup restrictions expired last week.
Source: Reuters
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