{"id":4930,"date":"2026-07-16T16:23:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T16:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.finznest.com\/blog\/short-sellers-load-up-against-spacex-as-stock-retreats-back-to-ipo-price\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T16:23:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T16:23:39","slug":"short-sellers-load-up-against-spacex-as-stock-retreats-back-to-ipo-price","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.finznest.com\/blog\/short-sellers-load-up-against-spacex-as-stock-retreats-back-to-ipo-price\/","title":{"rendered":"Short sellers load up against SpaceX as stock retreats back to IPO price"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"RegularArticle-ArticleBody-5\" data-module=\"ArticleBody\" data-test=\"articleBody-2\" data-analytics=\"RegularArticle-articleBody-5-2\"><span class=\"HighlightShare-hidden\" style=\"top:0;left:0\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-108321157\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<p>A live feed shows SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on the day of SpaceX&#8217;s initial public offering (IPO) at the Nasdaq MarketSite, in New York City, U.S., June 12, 2026. <\/p>\n<p>Jeenah Moon | Reuters<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Short sellers are rapidly increasing their bets against <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-1\">SpaceX<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span>, driving bearish positioning to nearly one-third of the company&#8217;s public float as the struggling stock hovers around its IPO price.<\/p>\n<p>About 185 million SpaceX shares are now sold short, representing roughly 29% of the company&#8217;s publicly tradable float and about $25 billion in bearish wagers, according to S3 Partners. The position has ballooned from an estimated 40 million shares, or roughly 5% to 7% of the float, just three weeks ago.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are seeing continuous demand from short sellers building speculative positions since the IPO,&#8221; Matthew Unterman, head of research at S3, told CNBC.<\/p>\n<p>The surge in short interest comes as SpaceX shares have struggled after an initially strong debut. The stock has fallen about 20% in July and briefly slipped below its $135 IPO price on Wednesday for the first time. The stock last traded around $136 apiece.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Collapsible-proliveCollapsableContainer\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"256\" height=\"256\" viewbox=\"0 0 256 256\" aria-labelledby=\"title desc\" role=\"img\" focusable=\"false\" preserveaspectratio=\"xMinYMin\" class=\"Collapsible-stockChartIcon\"><title>Stock Chart Icon<\/title><desc>Stock chart icon<\/desc><g transform=\"translate(1.4065934065934016 1.4065934065934016) scale(2.81 2.81)\"><path d=\"M 87.994 0 H 69.342 c -1.787 0 -2.682 2.16 -1.418 3.424 l 5.795 5.795 l -33.82 33.82 L 28.056 31.196 l -3.174 -3.174 c -1.074 -1.074 -2.815 -1.074 -3.889 0 L 0.805 48.209 c -1.074 1.074 -1.074 2.815 0 3.889 l 3.174 3.174 c 1.074 1.074 2.815 1.074 3.889 0 l 15.069 -15.069 l 14.994 14.994 c 1.074 1.074 2.815 1.074 3.889 0 l 1.614 -1.614 c 0.083 -0.066 0.17 -0.125 0.247 -0.202 l 37.1 -37.1 l 5.795 5.795 C 87.84 23.34 90 22.445 90 20.658 V 2.006 C 90 0.898 89.102 0 87.994 0 z\" transform=\" matrix(1 0 0 1 0 0) \" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M 65.626 37.8 v 49.45 c 0 1.519 1.231 2.75 2.75 2.75 h 8.782 c 1.519 0 2.75 -1.231 2.75 -2.75 V 23.518 L 65.626 37.8 z\" transform=\" matrix(1 0 0 1 0 0) \" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M 47.115 56.312 V 87.25 c 0 1.519 1.231 2.75 2.75 2.75 h 8.782 c 1.519 0 2.75 -1.231 2.75 -2.75 V 42.03 L 47.115 56.312 z\" transform=\" matrix(1 0 0 1 0 0) \" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M 39.876 60.503 c -1.937 0 -3.757 -0.754 -5.127 -2.124 l -6.146 -6.145 V 87.25 c 0 1.519 1.231 2.75 2.75 2.75 h 8.782 c 1.519 0 2.75 -1.231 2.75 -2.75 V 59.844 C 41.952 60.271 40.933 60.503 39.876 60.503 z\" transform=\" matrix(1 0 0 1 0 0) \" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M 22.937 46.567 L 11.051 58.453 c -0.298 0.298 -0.621 0.562 -0.959 0.8 V 87.25 c 0 1.519 1.231 2.75 2.75 2.75 h 8.782 c 1.519 0 2.75 -1.231 2.75 -2.75 V 48.004 L 22.937 46.567 z\" transform=\" matrix(1 0 0 1 0 0) \" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n<div class=\"Collapsible-proLivePlayerCloseOrExpand\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><iframe title=\"SpaceX one month\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/appchart?symbol=SPCX&amp;range=1M&amp;type=mountain&amp;embedded=true&amp;$DEVICE$=undefined\" height=\"460\" scrolling=\"no\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border:0;width:100%\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>SpaceX one month<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>The bearish positioning comes ahead of a closely watched lockup schedule that could substantially increase the number of shares available for trading over the coming months. SpaceX&#8217;s initial public float represented only about 5% of its roughly 13 billion shares outstanding, leaving the vast majority of stock still subject to lockup restrictions, according to KeyBanc Capital Markets.<\/p>\n<p>KeyBanc estimated the first major unlock could come around the company&#8217;s second-quarter earnings report, when about 11% of outstanding shares may become eligible for sale. <\/p>\n<p>Additional tranches of roughly 4% each are scheduled to be released beginning around day 70 after the IPO, followed by further unlocks tied to performance milestones and third-quarter earnings, the firm said. <\/p>\n<p>The largest block remains Elon Musk&#8217;s stake, representing about 42% of shares outstanding, which is locked up until June 2027.<\/p>\n<p>The company&#8217;s\u00a013th Starship test flight is slated for Thursday, an catalyst that could influence sentiment toward the shares.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ArticleBody-googlePreferredSourceContainer\" data-module=\"GooglePreferredSource\" data-id=\"RegularArticle-GooglePreferredSource-5\">Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A live feed shows SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on the day of SpaceX&#8217;s initial public offering (IPO) at the Nasdaq MarketSite, in New York City, U.S., June 12, 2026. Jeenah Moon | Reuters Short sellers are rapidly increasing their bets against SpaceX, driving bearish positioning to nearly one-third of the company&#8217;s public float as the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1685,3636,254,3637,1853,1578,2029,229],"class_list":["post-4930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-ipo","tag-load","tag-price","tag-retreats","tag-sellers","tag-short","tag-spacex","tag-stock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.finznest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.finznest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.finznest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finznest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finznest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.finznest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finznest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.finznest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finznest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finznest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}