SpaceX Enters Nasdaq-100 as Crypto Markets Already Price Exposure

SpaceX's entry into the Nasdaq-100 on July 7 marks a significant milestone for the company, which has been trading in parallel on crypto rails since its initial public offering (IPO) on June 12. The estimated $4.3 billion in passive buying tied to the inclusion is arriving into one of the strangest market structures any stock has ever had.

The company's entire public life has run concurrently with crypto markets, where its valuation was traded around the clock for weeks before the IPO priced. Its shares exist simultaneously as Nasdaq stock, redeemable tokens on Solana, tracker certificates on half a dozen exchanges, and cash-settled perpetual futures that liquidated more than $50 million in positions during one bad 48-hour stretch.

The listing broke records and brokers, with SpaceX selling 555.6 million Class A shares at $135, raising $75 billion, the largest IPO in US history. The company dual-listed on Nasdaq's Texas exchange under the same ticker and allocated 30% of the offering to retail investors instead of the usual sliver near 10%.