How to Invest In SpaceX (SPCX) — And How Not To

SpaceX is the world’s largest space launch provider, accounting for roughly half of all orbital launches worldwide last year

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SpaceNews. SpaceX, China drive new record for orbital launches in 2025. View all sources . It also owns the Starlink satellite internet service, xAI (CEO Elon Musk’s AI company, which developed the Grok chatbot) and the social media site X (formerly Twitter). And it went public on June 12 in the largest initial public offering ever.

The company made its debut on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol “SPCX” at a price of $135 per share

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Securities and Exchange Commission. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Form S-1. Accessed Jun 11, 2026. View all sources , raising $75 billion at an initial market cap of $1.75 trillion

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Reuters. Exclusive: SpaceX plans to set IPO price at $135 per share, targeting record $75 billion raise, source says. Accessed Jun 11, 2026. View all sources . The stock finished its first trading day with a share price slightly above $160, and briefly soared above $225 in the days after its debut, although it has since had a bumpy run and spent much of its first couple of months of trading below its IPO price.

If you want to invest in SpaceX, read on to learn how to do so (and how you might end up with some SpaceX in your portfolio without having to do anything at all). Click here to jump to this section.

But Musk is a controversial figure, and some advisors are wary about the hype around SpaceX. If you don’t want to invest in SpaceX, avoiding it might require more effort than just not buying shares. You may need to avoid certain index funds that are set to include SpaceX due to rule changes from the underlying indexes. Click here to learn more about that.

We’re also discussing the pros and cons of investing in the company, and highlighting some other publicly-traded companies in the space industry. Click here to jump to that.

How to invest in SpaceX

SpaceX shares became available in brokerage accounts on June 12. (If you don't have one of those, you can check out our roundup of the best online brokers for stock trading.) You can also invest in SpaceX through a variety of ETFs and mutual funds — including certain index funds.

Buying individual shares

SpaceX's IPO investors were able to buy shares for $135 each. In the days after the IPO, investors generally had to pay much more than that — sometimes as much as $225 per share. But for much of July, shares were much cheaper.

At least one of the SpaceX IPO brokers, SoFi, charges an additional fee on sales of IPO shares in the first few months of trading

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SoFi. What is the SoFi IPO Flipping policy?. View all sources . (SoFi charges $50 on an investor’s first sale of IPO shares within 120 days of an IPO, and then $5 on subsequent sales.)

Investing in SpaceX via index funds

Certain index funds already contain SpaceX as a result of index rule changes designed to fast-track the inclusion of mega-cap IPOs.

Back in May, Nasdaq announced that the Nasdaq 100 index was changing its rules for newly-public companies. Typically, companies must trade for a “seasoning period” of three months before they become eligible for index inclusion. But Nasdaq is shortening that waiting period to as little as 15 days for companies that rank within the top 40 largest on the Nasdaq exchange and have at least $5 million in average daily trading volume

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Nasdaq. Nasdaq-100 Index® Methodology Changes. Accessed Jun 11, 2026. View all sources . SpaceX was added to the Nasdaq 100 index (and the broader Nasdaq composite index) on July 7

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Reuters. Brokerages line up bullish calls as SpaceX enters Nasdaq-100. Accessed Jul 14, 2026. View all sources .

FTSE Russell, which maintains the Russell series of indexes, also announced in May that its Russell 500 large-cap index would start adding newly-public companies that met its minimum market cap within just five trading days of their IPOs

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London Stock Exchange Group. FTSE Russell introduces IPO Fast Entry enhancements for Russell US Indexes. Accessed Jun 11, 2026. View all sources . (Companies previously had to wait three months before becoming eligible.)

As a result, mutual funds and ETFs that track the Russell 500 index — as well as the more popular Russell 1000 and Russell 3000 indexes, which include the Russell 500 — added SpaceX on Friday, June 26

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London Stock Exchange Group. Russell reconstitution June 2026: Larger leaders, stronger small caps. Accessed Jun 23, 2026. View all sources .

Thematic ETFs with at least 10% exposure to SpaceX

Several thematic ETFs have significant exposure to SpaceX, and some even held private SpaceX shares before its IPO. Below is a list of ETFs that have at least a 10% weighting in SpaceX:

SpaceX single-stock ETFs

In addition, a variety of single-stock ETFs launched on IPO day that use leverage to attempt to deliver some multiple of SpaceX’s daily returns, although advisors caution that these are risky instruments intended for short-term speculation. Below is a list of single-stock ETFs that are designed to return twice the daily return of SpaceX, in order from highest to lowest expense ratio.

If you’re interested in buying an ETF or mutual fund with SpaceX exposure but you don’t have a brokerage account yet, check out our roundups of the best ETF platforms and the best brokers for mutual funds.

Getting a free SpaceX share for your child in a Trump Account (maybe)

Trump Accounts are tax-advantaged investment accounts that the government automatically opens for every child. (You can read more about Trump Accounts here). They're mostly funded with cash; some kids qualify for a $1,000 seed contribution from the government, and relatives, parents and employers can contribute to them as well. But philanthropists can also donate stock to the Trump Accounts of broad groups of children.

On Oct. 19, Elon Musk posted on X that he intended to donate a SpaceX share to every child in America in 2027

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X.com. @elonmusk. Accessed Oct 28, 2026. View all sources . The same day, President Donald Trump endorsed the proposal in a post on his social media site, Truth Social, and added that the stock donation would work through Trump accounts

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Truth Social. @realdonaldtrump. Accessed Oct 28, 2026. View all sources .

For now, the universal SpaceX donation to Trump Accounts is just an idea that Musk and Trump posted about on social media. But if it comes to fruition next year, then every child may get a free SpaceX share via their Trump Account.

How not to invest in SpaceX

Given that some index funds have already added SpaceX, avoiding exposure to SpaceX may be more complicated than simply not buying shares. If you’re an index fund investor who wants to make sure you don’t invest in SpaceX, here are your options.

S&P 500 and DJIA: Not all index funds are adding SpaceX right away

S&P Dow Jones Indices, which maintains the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average indices, among others, announced on June 4 that it will not change its rules to fast-track the inclusion of new mega-cap IPOs like SpaceX in the S&P 500

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S&P Dow Jones Indicies. S&P Dow Jones Indices Consultation on Treatment of MegaCap Companies – Results. View all sources .

This means that S&P 500 ETFs and mutual funds will not include SpaceX for at least one year, which is the customary waiting period for new companies to be added to that index.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has a more holistic methodology for selecting stocks — there’s a committee that chooses them — so it’s uncertain if or when SpaceX might be added to DJIA ETFs and mutual funds. But S&P Dow Jones Indices has not announced any DJIA rule changes that would fast-track SpaceX’s inclusion in that index.

However, S&P Dow Jones Indices also offers total stock market indices, which the company defines as “broad market indices intended to represent the investment universe.” S&P Dow Jones Indices has slightly loosened the rules for inclusion in its total stock market indices, although these may have been set to add SpaceX quickly anyhow due to their broad nature.

Avoiding SpaceX in a Nasdaq or Russell allocation via direct indexing

Suppose you want a Nasdaq index or a broad-market Russell index in your portfolio, but you don’t want it to include exposure to SpaceX. There is a way to have your cake and eat it too in this situation, although it’s a bit complicated and may involve some minimum balance hurdles.

Direct indexing is an investment strategy that involves “reconstructing” an index fund by buying fractional shares of all of its constituent stocks in the same weighting as the index.

It was originally developed as a tax-optimization strategy. Direct indexing makes it possible to harvest tax-deductible losses from specific stocks within an index that have negative year-to-date returns, even when the index as a whole is up. But as NerdWallet strategist Bella Avila noted in a recent article, it also makes it possible to hold an index-like investment minus specific stocks that you want to avoid, such as SpaceX.

There’s a section of our best brokers for tax-loss harvesting roundup that lists brokers that offer direct indexing services with a minimum balance under $100,000.

Don't like the Trump Account donation idea? Check out other investment account options for kids

If you don't like the idea of your child becoming a SpaceX shareholder, you may not exactly be able to opt out of it. Trump Accounts are automatically opened for every child (although parents have to claim them using the official Trump Accounts app), and under the new stock donation rules, parents cannot refuse stock donations and cannot sell donated stocks for five years after receiving them

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Wall Street Journal. Trump Accounts’ Extraordinary Expansion Puts Individual Stocks Into Kids’ Holdings. Accessed Oct 27, 2026. View all sources .

What you can do, however, is prioritize funding other types of investment accounts for your child — like custodial brokerage accounts, custodial Roth IRAs, 529 savings plans, youth accounts, ABLE accounts or special needs trusts — to balance out their SpaceX exposure. Check out our page on investment accounts for kids to learn more.

What's the deal with the Tesla-SpaceX merger plans?

On Oct. 20, Elon Musk said during an earnings call that his other company, Tesla (TSLA), may merge with SpaceX, and that both companies had formed special committees to discuss the idea

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SpaceX. SpaceX Third Quarter 2026 Webcast. Accessed Oct 27, 2026. View all sources .

Based on the current market capitalizations of both companies, a SpaceX-Tesla merger could create a combined entity worth more than $3.6 trillion, which would make it one of the largest publicly-traded companies in the world. However, the plan is still in its early stages and could require months of negotiation to move forward.

What’s the final verdict on SpaceX stock?

Some of SpaceX stock's biggest tailwinds

There’s no question that SpaceX is a leader in the emerging space industry. It’s the largest space launch provider in the world, and its subsidiary Starlink is the largest satellite internet provider in the world

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Ookla. 2025 Global Satellite Broadband Performance Report. Accessed Jun 11, 2026. View all sources , both by comfortable margins.

Since its IPO, SpaceX has gotten a vote of confidence from its own employees. Its first post-IPO lockup period for employee shareholders expired on Aug. 6, releasing hundreds of millions of shares worth hundreds of billions of dollars onto the market

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Reuters. SpaceX stock climbs as shares available for trading more than double. Accessed Aug 20, 2026. View all sources . But the lockup expiration didn't cause a big dip in the stock's price, and in fact, the stock rallied in the following days as retail investors snapped up the newly-available shares at higher prices. (If you're looking to learn more about post-IPO lockup periods from an employee perspective, our team wrote about that topic here.)

SpaceX turned a profit in Q3 2026. The company's most recent earnings report, released on Oct. 20, showed a $2.8 billion profit in the three months ended Sept. 30, 2026, and a $705 million profit over the nine months leading up to that date. The company appears to be on track to turn an annual profit in its first year of trading

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SpaceX. SpaceX Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results. Accessed Oct 28, 2026. View all sources .

But is SpaceX's AI-centric business plan sustainable?

SpaceX expects to make most of its money in AI, not space. That might be a risky bet. The company's prospectus lists a total addressable market (the theoretical maximum amount of revenue SpaceX could take in from a 100% market share for its products) of $28.5 trillion, but only $2 trillion of that is space stuff like launch services and Starlink. The rest — $26.5 trillion — is AI stuff. Its AI subsidiary, xAI, has struggled to win market share from its competitors. Its chatbot Grok trails ChatGPT and Google Gemini in terms of popularity by a significant margin.

What do financial advisors think?

Frank Paré, a California-based certified financial planner, noted that Tesla, Musk’s other publicly-traded company, took nearly 20 years to become profitable — but that wasn’t always an issue for investors.

“During that time, the stock was off the charts,” he said.

Douglas Boneparth, a New York-based certified financial planner, weighed the pros against the cons in an email interview.

The main pro: A solid space business. “This is a real business, not a story stock. Starlink generates most of the company’s revenue and the launch business has no serious competitor,” he said.

The cons: A shaky AI business, an unpredictable CEO and the risk of post-IPO doldrums. “You’re paying roughly $1.75 trillion for it, the largest IPO valuation ever, for a company that still loses money. Perfection is priced in. The xAI merger bolted a cash-burning AI bet onto the rocket business, so you’re not buying the simple version of this company. There’s enormous key-man risk concentrated in one famously distractible person. And history is brutal here. Most hot IPOs underperform the market in the years after their debut,” Boneparth said.

A Nasdaq analysis of IPOs between 2010 and 2020 showed that two-thirds were underperforming the market index by their third year of trading

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Nasdaq. What Happens to IPOs Over the Long Run?. Accessed Jun 11, 2026. View all sources . And John Owens, another New York-based certified financial planner, noted in an email interview that some do much worse.

“The IPO process is a very bumpy ride and [clients] need to be prepared to see the price drop below that level - perhaps permanently. We'll give them examples of prior IPOs that longer-term didn't do so great - like Figma last year that's down over 80%,” Owens said.

All three advisors concurred that investors should keep their SpaceX allocation to 5% or less of their overall portfolio to manage risk.

That might be difficult if you’re heavily invested in Nasdaq index funds, because at its current market cap, SpaceX already makes up nearly 5% of the Nasdaq 100 index. If it recovers its late-June highs, it will make up well over 5% of the index.

So investors with simple portfolios that have a heavy Nasdaq allotment may want to consider direct indexing (if that option is available) or holding a different index fund.

Other ways to invest in the space industry

SpaceX is now the largest publicly-traded space exploration company, but it’s not the only space stock. In fact, there are a variety of well-established companies in the space industry. Below is a list of the top-performing space stocks that have been trading for at least 1 year and have a market cap of at least $1 billion, ranked by 1-year returns.