For years, the question of whether SpaceX would ever go public felt like one of those things people joked about more than expected. “Maybe next year” became a common phrase in financial circles. That wait ended yesterday morning when Space Exploration Technologies, trading under the ticker SPCX, made its public debut at $135 per share, instantly valuing the company at roughly $1.77 trillion. According to Yahoo Finance, the stock has since risen further, currently trading at $160.88, up 19.17 percent for the day.
To put that valuation into perspective, most companies that cross the trillion-dollar mark take decades to reach it. Apple took nearly 40 years as a public company before hitting that milestone. SpaceX achieved a similar valuation on its very first day of trading. It is no surprise that many people are now asking the same question: how do I get in on this?
Why You Likely Didn’t Receive the $135 Price
If you are only hearing about this now, there is a good chance the early entry point has already passed you by. 
According to reporting from financial outlets including CNBC, the $135 offering price was reserved for investors who requested an allocation in advance through one of five participating brokerages: Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Robinhood, SoFi, and E*TRADE. That window has now closed.
Even those who lined up early were not guaranteed shares at that price. The IPO was reportedly close to four times oversubscribed, meaning demand significantly outstripped the number of shares actually available at the offering price. For everyone else, the path forward is the same: buying on the open market, just like with any other publicly traded stock.
There is one detail worth noting here. Retail investors (ordinary people) buying through everyday brokerage accounts were allocated an unusually large portion of the offering—roughly 30 percent. Most IPOs typically set aside only 5 to 10 percent for retail participation. SpaceX’s structure was notably more generous in that regard, even if the price you are seeing today is no longer the IPO price.
How to Actually Buy SPCX Today
The process itself is straightforward and works exactly like purchasing any other publicly listed stock.
First, you will need a brokerage account that supports trading US stocks; platforms such as Bamboo, Afrinvest, Raenest, Chaka, and Trove are commonly used for this. If you do not already have an account, you will need to create one and fund it with enough money to cover the shares you intend to buy.
From there, search for the ticker symbol SPCX within your platform. This will pull up SpaceX’s live stock chart and current pricing. Once you have decided how many shares you want, you can place your order.
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A Word on Order Types
Given how volatile a stock like this is likely to be in its first days of trading, the type of order you place is worth paying attention to.
A market order takes whatever price is currently available, which, on a debut this hyped, can shift by several dollars within seconds. You might click “buy” at one price and end up paying noticeably more by the time the order executes.
A limit order, by contrast, allows you to specify the maximum price you are willing to pay. The trade will only execute at that price or better. For a stock experiencing this level of volatility, financial commentators generally recommend using limit orders to avoid the risk of overpaying in a fast-moving market.
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Should You Actually Buy It?
Being able to buy a stock does not automatically mean it is a good idea to buy it.
According to analysis circulating across financial media, including commentary referencing Morningstar’s valuation models, there is a meaningful gap between SpaceX’s IPO price and what some analysts consider its fair value. Morningstar reportedly pegs SpaceX’s fair value at closer to $780 billion, less than half of the $1.77 trillion price tag the IPO commanded.
The skepticism is not about the company’s underlying business. SpaceX genuinely dominates the global rocket launch market by a wide margin, and Starlink (its satellite internet division) has become a significant and growing revenue generator. By most measures, this is a real, operationally impressive business that has earned a premium valuation.
The question is whether the current price reflects a premium or something closer to hype. At nearly 100 times sales, some analysts argue the math simply does not support the current price, and that once the initial excitement around the listing settles, the stock price may come back down toward a level more in line with the underlying business fundamentals.
SEE ALSO: Why is Elon Musk Angry With His Country of Birth, South Africa?
If You Decide to Go Ahead
For anyone still considering a purchase, a few practical points are worth keeping in mind.
Diversification matters more than ever with a stock this volatile. Financial experts generally recommend limiting any single stock, particularly a high-volatility IPO, to a small portion of your overall portfolio. Putting a large share of your savings into one newly listed stock, no matter how exciting the company, carries real risk regardless of how strong the underlying business may be.
SpaceX going public is a genuinely historic moment for financial markets. Whether it is the right moment for your portfolio specifically is a separate question, and one worth thinking through carefully rather than letting the noise of the headlines make the decision for you.
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