Meta description: SpaceX shares have now fallen more than 50% from their post-IPO peak and have traded below their $135 offering price for eight consecutive sessions. Here's what's driving the continued slide.
The rough stretch we flagged for SpaceX stock last week has only deepened. As of Monday's trading, SpaceX (Nasdaq: SPCX) shares are now off roughly 50% from their all-time high, and the stock has traded below its $135 IPO price for eight consecutive sessions — a striking reversal for a company that pulled off the largest IPO in history just seven weeks ago.
The numbers behind the slide
SpaceX was trading around $109.40 in early Monday trading, more than 51% below its post-IPO high of $225.64, which it touched shortly after going public on June 12. The stock's eight straight sessions below its offering price mark a notable psychological milestone — investors who bought at the IPO price are now sitting on losses regardless of how long they've held the stock.
Tesla's troubles are dragging SpaceX down too
Much of the pressure continues to trace back to CEO Elon Musk's other ventures. July has been a difficult month for both of Musk's publicly traded companies, with Tesla shares also under heavy pressure following a disappointing earnings report. The two stocks have moved in tandem for much of the past month, suggesting investors are increasingly treating "Musk-related risk" as a single factor rather than evaluating each company purely on its own merits.
A verdict on AI, not just rockets
Some analysts have framed SpaceX's decline as sending a message well beyond the company itself. A Morgan Stanley report characterized the stock's drop toward $111 a share — roughly 18% below its offering price at the time — as a potential verdict on Musk's ambitious pivot toward artificial intelligence at SpaceX. The implication: if investors aren't rewarding SpaceX's AI ambitions even as the company continues launching rockets and deploying Starlink satellites successfully, it may reflect broader skepticism about AI-related capital allocation across Musk's companies specifically, rather than doubts about SpaceX's core space business.
Starship progress hasn't been enough to offset the slide
It's not for lack of operational milestones. SpaceX successfully completed Starship's 13th test flight on July 24 — its first mission since going public — deploying the newest generation of Starlink satellites. Despite that operational success, the stock has continued sliding, reinforcing that this decline appears to be driven primarily by valuation and sentiment concerns rather than by any specific technical setback.
What investors should watch
- Whether the stock finds a floor near current levels or continues testing new lows alongside Tesla
- Any diversification in investor sentiment between SpaceX-specific fundamentals and broader "Musk company" risk pricing
- Further Starship test flight results, particularly progress toward NASA's lunar landing test flight requirements
- Whether the AI pivot narrative evolves, given Morgan Stanley's framing of the stock's decline as a referendum on that strategy
Bottom line
Seven weeks after the largest IPO in history, SpaceX stock has round-tripped from euphoria to a 50% drawdown — a reminder of just how quickly sentiment can shift for even the most anticipated public listings. With Tesla's troubles compounding the pressure and questions swirling about the payoff from SpaceX's AI ambitions, the stock's next move will say a lot about how durable this selloff really is.
This post is based on reporting from CNBC and Bloomberg as of July 24-27, 2026. This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
