SpaceX (SPCX) After Day One: What UK Investors Should Know
IPO priced $135 - closed day one at approx $161 (+19%) - now live on Nasdaq
SpaceX (Nasdaq: SPCX) completed the largest IPO in history on 12 June 2026, raising $75bn at $135/share. Opened at $150, hit $176.52 intraday, closed around $161 (+19%). UK investors can buy SPCX through any UK broker with US market access. ISA eligibility varies by platform - check with your broker. SIPP-eligible as a Nasdaq-listed equity. At $161 market cap is approximately $2.1 trillion. This article is for information only - not financial advice.
What Happened on Day One
SpaceX began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX on 12 June 2026, completing what Nasdaq confirmed as the largest initial public offering in Wall Street history. The company raised $75 billion by offering 555.56 million Class A common shares at a fixed IPO price of $135 per share, valuing the company at approximately $1.77 trillion at listing. The IPO was notable for the unusually large retail allocation - SpaceX set aside around 30 per cent of the public offering for everyday investors rather than the typical 5 to 10 per cent reserved for retail at most institutional-heavy IPOs. This meant investors through platforms such as Robinhood, Fidelity and Charles Schwab in the USA could request allocation at the IPO price.
The stock opened at $150 on 12 June, an 11 per cent premium to the IPO price, before climbing further through the session. It reached an intraday high of $176.52 and closed the first trading day at approximately $161, a 19 per cent gain on the IPO price. As of 13 June 2026 the stock was trading around $160 to $161, with a total market capitalisation of approximately $2.1 trillion. Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell rang the opening bell at Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square, with a simultaneous ceremony at SpaceX's Starbase facility in Texas.
SpaceX's Three Business Segments
SpaceX operates across three main revenue segments. The Space segment covers commercial and government launch services using Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and the Starship system. SpaceX accounts for roughly half of all orbital launches globally, with NASA and the US Department of Defense among its major government clients. The company's reusable rocket technology has significantly reduced the per-launch cost of reaching orbit, and its Starship vehicle is targeting even larger payload capacity for deep-space missions.
The Connectivity segment is Starlink, the low Earth orbit satellite internet service. Starlink generated 61 per cent of SpaceX's total 2025 revenue of $18.7 billion. The network operates over 6,000 satellites and serves commercial, residential and government customers in more than 100 countries including the UK, where Starlink is available as a broadband alternative in rural and remote areas not served by fibre infrastructure. Starlink is the primary commercial revenue engine of the listed business at this stage.
The AI segment encompasses xAI, a vertically integrated artificial intelligence platform that includes the Grok large language model, AI computing infrastructure, and the X social media platform which Elon Musk acquired in 2022. Despite strong revenue growth across all segments, SpaceX reported a net loss of $4.9 billion in 2025, with operating losses of $2.6 billion and total assets of $92.1 billion. The losses reflect heavy ongoing capital investment in Starship development, Starlink satellite manufacturing and launch, and xAI infrastructure build-out.
How UK Investors Can Buy SPCX
SPCX is listed on Nasdaq and is accessible through any UK broker that provides access to US equity markets. There is no restriction on UK retail investors buying US-listed shares. UK platforms offering US market trading include Hargreaves Lansdown, which provides US shares in Fund and Share Accounts, SIPPs and ISAs; AJ Bell Youinvest, which offers US shares across all account types; Interactive Investor, which includes US market access across all plans; Trading 212, which provides commission-free US share dealing; Freetrade, which offers US shares depending on plan tier; and Saxo Bank, IG and CMC Markets, which are professional and advanced retail platforms with full Nasdaq access including the option to trade US equities on margin for eligible investors.
UK investors buying US-listed shares are required to complete a W-8BEN form, available through their broker, confirming non-US tax residency. This form allows investors to benefit from the reduced 15 per cent dividend withholding tax rate under the UK-US double taxation treaty rather than the standard 30 per cent US rate. SpaceX currently pays no dividend, so this is largely procedural at this stage, but it is good practice to have the form on file before the first US equity purchase.
ISA and SIPP Eligibility
Whether SPCX qualifies for inclusion in a Stocks and Shares ISA depends on HMRC's qualifying investment criteria. Shares listed on a recognised stock exchange - which Nasdaq is - are generally ISA-eligible, but newly listed shares can sometimes take a short period to be confirmed eligible by individual platforms. UK investors should check directly with their broker whether SPCX is currently available within an ISA wrapper on their specific platform. For SIPPs, US-listed equities are widely accepted as permissible assets and pension tax relief on contributions applies in the normal way.
Currency Risk for UK Investors
SPCX is priced and traded in US dollars. UK investors buying through a sterling-denominated brokerage account will have their orders converted to USD at their broker's exchange rate, which typically includes a currency conversion charge of 0.5 to 1.5 per cent per transaction depending on the platform. Returns or losses on the investment will be affected by movements in the GBP/USD exchange rate as well as by the share price itself. At a GBP/USD rate of approximately 1.27 as at mid-June 2026, a single SPCX share at $161 costs approximately £127. A 5 per cent depreciation in sterling against the dollar increases the sterling cost of the same position by 5 per cent, and vice versa. Investors holding US equities in a SIPP or ISA over a multi-year horizon should factor currency exposure into their overall portfolio thinking alongside the underlying equity risk.
Valuation Context and Key Risks
At approximately $2.1 trillion, SpaceX is one of the most highly valued companies in the world and would rank among the top five largest companies by market capitalisation globally. Several factors are relevant for any investor considering the stock at current prices. SpaceX is currently loss-making at both the operating and net income level, which means traditional price-to-earnings valuation metrics do not apply in the usual sense - the market is pricing future growth expectations rather than current profitability. Elon Musk holds approximately 42 per cent of equity and 79 per cent of voting control, meaning that minority shareholders have very limited governance influence over the direction of the company. Analyst price targets as of June 2026 range from $63 at the low end to $227 at the high end, with an average of approximately $164, indicating limited consensus on fair value at IPO-adjacent prices. Hot IPOs have historically often underperformed the broader market in the first 12 to 24 months as initial enthusiasm fades and early institutional investor lock-up periods expire, allowing pre-IPO shareholders to sell into the open market. Starlink also faces growing competition from Amazon's Project Kuiper satellite constellation and OneWeb.
