SpaceX stock plunge to $111 wipes $35 billion from Elon Musk’s fortune in 24 hours

The euphoria around SpaceX has given way to violent disillusionment. In a matter of weeks, SPCX stock went from being the largest IPO in history to a correction that erased hundreds of billions of dollars in valuation. This decline does not only affect shareholders. It also reduces the fortune of Elon Musk and revives questions about the valuations of technological giants, several of which have made bitcoin a strategic asset on their balance sheet.

A historic correction of SpaceX’s SPCX title on the markets

This Thursday, July 23, marks a dark turning point for the public listing of the aerospace giant. During the morning session, SpaceX (SPCX) stock slipped to near the $110.99 mark, trading around $111, before stabilizing its price slightly above $112. Such a level reflects a net decline of 18% compared to the IPO price initially set at $135.

The contrast is all the more striking since the market entry, which took place on June 12, had made it possible to raise $85.7 billion thanks to the exercise of the over-allotment option by business providers, propelling the price to $160.95 at the close of the first session. Buoyed by initial investor enthusiasm, the stock climbed to an intraday high of $225.64 on June 16, briefly pushing the market capitalization past $2.6 trillion. The decline towards 111 dollars thus erases approximately 51% of this maximum valuationbringing the company’s overall value to nearly $1.5 trillion and reducing its capitalization by more than $1 trillion.

This rapid decline, accelerated by profit-taking after closing at $135.27 on July 15 and a decline of 6.7% on Wednesday, can be explained by the speculative dynamic and the structure of negotiable capital:

• A low initial volume of shares in circulation: the scarcity of securities available at the time of the IPO supercharged the initial rise before accelerating the downward volatility during the first massive sales;
• The Short Sellers’ Offensive: According to Ortex Technologies, bearish positions generated approximately $15.5 billion in virtual profits during this decline;
• Massive pressure on stock borrowing: nearly 360 million titlesrepresenting approximately 56% of the freely tradable volume of shares, were lent to bearish speculators;
• The questioning of multiples: investors doubted a valuation reaching almost 40 times the turnover estimated for 2026.

Operational doubts, financial losses and the ordeal of lock-up

Beyond stock market dynamics, technical turbulence and imminent financial deadlines are damaging investor confidence. On July 16, SpaceX had to abort less than a second before takeoff on the 13th^th test flight of its Starship, after the failure on start of four of the 33 Raptor engines of the Super Heavy booster. Elon Musk said two engines would require replacement before the next attempt rescheduled for Thursday evening. From an accounting standpoint, the situation is just as demanding. The data surrounding the results announcement reveals a net loss of $4.9 billion for the full year 2025, supplemented by a loss of $4.28 billion for the first quarter of 2026. Thus, the pressure is likely to intensify when the first post-IPO quarterly performance is published, scheduled for August 4 after the close.

The August 6 deadline constitutes a second major financial challenge for the stability of the company. On this date, corresponding to the second trading day following the presentation of results, the end of the lock-up period could release up to 911.5 million restricted shares on the secondary market. At the current price of $111, this potential liquidity injection equates to a supply surplus exceeding $100 billion. Investors will therefore scrutinize Starlink’s revenue growth, the pace of rocket launches and the intensity of capital expenditures to assess the group’s ability to absorb this mass of shares without suffering a further deterioration in its valuation.

The impact on Elon Musk’s wealth and the bitcoin anchor

This negative situation weighed on the personal assets of its founder. According to the rankings compiled by Forbes on July 23, Elon Musk’s net worth shrank to around $715 billion, recording a colossal loss of $35.2 billion in a single day, a drop of 4.69%. This decline results from a double direct shock, since Tesla simultaneously experienced a plunge of around 14% during the same morning to trade near $322.

While this contraction in fortunes does not alter Musk’s executive control over SpaceX or force him to liquidate his holdings, it erases the historic threshold of $1 trillion in net worth that he briefly crossed the day after the IPO.

In this context of high volatility in growth stocks, SpaceX’s posture towards cryptos remains scrupulously observed by the ecosystem. The company maintains its rank of 8^th largest public institutional holder of bitcoin, with cash valued at 18,712 BTC on its balance sheet. As the firm approaches the deadlines of its financial and operational calendar, the strength of its business trajectory will determine its ability to preserve this strategic asset in the face of the profitability constraints demanded by traditional investors.