The euphoria surrounding SpaceX’s public debut collided with reality this week as the company simultaneously launched options trading and unveiled a record-breaking artificial intelligence takeover. The stock, which skyrocketed 50% in its first three sessions, suffered its first notable pullback on Wednesday — but the real story lies in the billions being deployed both in the market and on the acquisition front.
The Cursor Gambit: $60 Billion in Stock
On June 16, the same day options began trading, SpaceX filed an 8-K with the SEC confirming its acquisition of Cursor, the developer behind the popular AI coding tool, for $60 billion entirely in equity. The price tag nearly doubles Cursor’s last private valuation of $29 billion and reflects the startup’s rapid revenue growth: more than $4 billion in annualized sales, with $2.6 billion coming from enterprise clients including Nvidia, Stripe and Adobe.
SpaceX plans to leverage Cursor’s technology for space-based AI data centers, which management describes as “Gigasat” factories. The unit will operate as an independent subsidiary, and Sequoia Capital partner Roelof Botha — newly appointed to SpaceX’s board — will oversee the integration. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.
Options Debut and the First Setback
Trading in SpaceX options kicked off on June 16 with extraordinary volume. Roughly 1.6 million contracts changed hands on day one — nearly five times the previous record set by Facebook at its 2012 IPO. The launch provided much-needed price-discovery tools for a stock that, until then, had only 4% to 5% of its shares in free float. That tight supply had made the equity highly susceptible to meme-stock-style swings.
The added liquidity coincided with a broader market selloff after the Federal Reserve signaled a possible rate hike. On June 17, SpaceX shares closed at $191.82, down roughly 5% from the prior session. The market capitalization nevertheless stood at approximately $2.5 trillion, well above the $135 IPO price from June 12.
ETF and Index Demand Looms
Institutional demand is already building. The Procure Space ETF (ticker: UFO) added SpaceX with a 6.2% weighting on June 17, while the WisdomTree Space Economy UCITS ETF plans to include the stock by the end of June at an initial 5.5% — a figure that could eventually exceed 10%.
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The company also expects to join the Russell 1000 and Russell 3000 within five trading days of its listing, a development that should trigger further passive buying. Looking further ahead, SpaceX is slated for inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 in July 2026, following adjusted exchange rules for large new listings.
Musk’s Share Conversion and Tesla Merger Talk
A Form-4 filing on June 18 revealed that Elon Musk converted approximately 3.32 billion shares into Class A stock. He sold only 11,390 shares at $105.32 apiece. Musk continues to hold over 526 million shares directly, giving him 82.4% voting control.
Speculation about a potential merger with Tesla is intensifying. Wedbush analysts assign an 80% probability to such a combination within the next twelve months, arguing the merged entity could command a market value of roughly $4 trillion. SpaceX management points to existing manufacturing and software synergies.
Valuation Divide and the Road Ahead
Analyst views on fair value are sharply split. Morningstar pegs the stock at $63, calling the current price substantially overvalued. Other Wall Street firms have set price targets as high as $310, betting on SpaceX as a prime beneficiary of the AI and satellite communications markets — segments the company says represent over 90% of its addressable opportunity.
Those bullish forecasts come despite a net loss of $4.9 billion in the last fiscal year. SpaceX is also pouring $55 billion into a chip fabrication plant in Texas, underscoring its massive capital requirements. The first quarterly report as a public company is expected in September.
ARK Invest bought 3.29 million shares for roughly $444 million in the first days of trading, a vote of confidence from Cathie Wood’s team. The next major catalyst will be the closing of the Cursor acquisition, after which investors will be watching whether the company’s ambitious revenue target of $11 trillion by 2030 — dismissed by some as fantasy — can gain any concrete footing.
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