SpaceX begins trading on Nasdaq today under the ticker SPCX, capping the largest initial public offering on record. The rocket maker offered about 555.6 million shares at $135 each, a raise of roughly $75 billion at a $1.75 trillion valuation, according to its SEC filing. Crypto traders have a direct stake in the outcome. The company disclosed 18,712 bitcoin on its balance sheet, worth about $1.2 billion at Thursday’s price, and onchain markets have spent weeks pricing the debut above the official offer. Polymarket traders now give SpaceX a 64% chance of closing its first session above a $2 trillion valuation.
A pre-IPO perpetual futures contract is a crypto derivative that tracks a private company’s estimated valuation, letting traders bet on the outcome without owning any shares. Those contracts, plus prediction markets, have turned the SpaceX listing into one of the most closely watched events in crypto this year.
Key takeaways
- SpaceX lists on Nasdaq today, June 12, after offering 555.6 million shares at $135 each, raising about $75 billion at a $1.75 trillion valuation.
- The company holds 18,712 BTC, about $1.2 billion, making it one of the largest corporate bitcoin holders to go public.
- Polymarket assigns 64% odds to a first-day close above $2 trillion, and Hyperliquid’s SPCX perpetual recently traded about 22% above the offer price.
- Bitcoin traded near $62,800 Thursday with put options at a premium as traders hedge the debut.
Published: June 12, 2026, 09:15 UTC
Why crypto money is watching the largest IPO ever
The offering, with Goldman Sachs leading the book, has been blamed for weeks of soft crypto prices. The theory is simple: investors sold bitcoin and other liquid assets to free up cash for SPCX allocations. Bitcoin has fallen roughly 20% since SpaceX filed to go public, though most of that decline happened before any shares changed hands.
The buyer base has thinned on two fronts at once. CoinDesk reported that corporate bitcoin buying has collapsed from $500 million per day to almost negligible, and spot bitcoin ETFs only recently ended a record 13-day outflow streak. SpaceX’s own 18,712 BTC, disclosed in its prospectus, adds another wrinkle: a strong debut puts one of the largest corporate bitcoin treasuries inside a $1.75 trillion public company.
Onchain markets price SpaceX above its offer
Synthetic markets have priced this IPO in public view for weeks. The SPCX-USDC perpetual launched May 17 on Hyperliquid through Trade.xyz at a $150 reference price, according to TheStreet. A day later it opened at $216 and touched $230, about 70% above the offer. By June 8 it had cooled to roughly $165, still 22% over $135, on about $29 million in daily volume and $67 million in open interest.
The contracts carry real risk. Holders receive no shares, dividends or voting rights, and prices come from data feeds that can be thin. The Hyperliquid SpaceX contract flash-crashed about 45% on Thursday, CoinDesk noted, even as DefiLlama counted 14 similar pre-IPO markets covering SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic and Quantinuum across Injective, Hyperliquid and Crypto.com. Hyperliquid has become the main venue for the format.
The signals cluster surprisingly tightly. Data firm Allium found that perpetuals from Ventuals and Trade.xyz, along with Polymarket’s implied first-day close, converged on a $1.8 trillion to $2.1 trillion range, per CoinDesk’s Daybook. Polymarket gives just 5% odds to a close above $3 trillion. As CoinDesk put it, “the market expects a strong debut, but not a blowout.” There is precedent for the perps being right: before Cerebras listed in May, Hyperliquid contracts peaked near $320 against a $185 offer, and the stock opened at $350, within about 8% of the synthetic price.
What the debut means for bitcoin
Bitcoin held firm into the listing. BTC rose 2.4% on Thursday to about $62,800 while its market dominance climbed to 59%, extending a rebound that began after the May CPI print. Positioning is defensive rather than fearful. On Deribit, bitcoin and ether puts trade at a premium to calls across major expiries, and the $58,000 put expiring June 13 was the most active contract over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility index sits below 50%, a sign traders are hedging the event rather than bracing for contagion.
Today is the test of the rotation narrative. If the IPO really did drain risk capital from crypto, that money should start flowing back once the allocation frenzy subsides. A first-day close above Polymarket’s $2 trillion line would confirm the onchain consensus and likely embolden the platforms running synthetic listings. A weak debut would hand the win to skeptics, and to anyone who sold the $165 perp. Either way, the next signal to watch is whether ETF flows follow, with BlackRock and Fidelity now controlling most of that market.
Frequently asked questions
How is the SpaceX IPO connected to crypto markets?
SpaceX holds 18,712 bitcoin, and analysts have linked recent crypto outflows to investors raising cash for IPO allocations. Onchain platforms including Hyperliquid and Polymarket also run synthetic markets that price the company’s valuation in real time, before and during the listing.
What happens to bitcoin after the SpaceX IPO?
CoinDesk’s Daybook calls the debut a real-world test of the capital-rotation theory. If the offering drained crypto liquidity, money could return once allocations settle. Options data show hedging concentrated near $58,000, while implied volatility below 50% signals traders expect no major spillover.
Can US traders buy SpaceX pre-IPO perpetual futures?
The SPCX-USDC contract on Hyperliquid trades onchain, often without KYC, and is officially restricted for people in the United States. The contracts convey no shares or voting rights and settle in USDC against valuation data feeds that can be thin and volatile.
