SpaceX shares briefly fell below their $150 debut price for the first time on Tuesday before staging a sharp reversal, capping a volatile session that wiped nearly $1 trillion from the rocket maker's market value since last week's peak.
The stock dipped 3% to around $149 shortly after the open, a psychologically significant breach of the price at which SpaceX began trading on June 12. Within hours, shares had reversed course and climbed as much as 5.9%, recovering to around $156 by midday.
The three-day selloff erased nearly 24% of the stock's value from its all-time high of $225.64 set on June 16. Monday alone saw a 16.4% plunge that knocked $400 billion off the company's market cap. At its intraday low Tuesday, SpaceX's market value had fallen to just below $2 trillion, down from $2.9 trillion at the peak.
SpaceX debuted at $150 on June 12 and surged 19% in its first two sessions, briefly becoming the fourth-most-valuable public company ahead of Amazon and Microsoft. That rally evaporated fast. The stock now ranks seventh by market capitalization, ahead of Broadcom.
The broader tech selloff compounded SpaceX's pain. Chip and memory stocks dragged down global markets Tuesday, with Micron plunging 9.2%, Tesla down 4.1%, and Nvidia falling 2.5%.
WedBush analyst Dan Ives described the selloff as a "gut check moment" for the market, citing "added nervousness on the important memory chip trade" ahead of Micron's earnings report.
SpaceX shares are now approaching their IPO price of $135, a level that could test institutional support from major investors. Bespoke Investment Group noted that a basket of space stocks was up 99% year to date before SpaceX priced its shares on June 11.
Since that day, the same basket is down an average of 17%.
The stock's rapid descent from $225 to $149 in just five trading sessions marks one of the most dramatic post-IPO reversals for a megacap company in recent history.
