'Elon always has some sort of trick up his sleeve': Retail traders who bought SpaceX tell us how they're handling the volatility
You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
,andAlex Nicoll
You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
2026-06-26T09:10:01.237Z
SaveSaved
Loading audio narration...
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Log in.
SpaceX hype has come back down to earth since the company's colossal IPO two weeks ago.
Judging by the stock price, the mania around Elon Musk's rocket company has waned considerably, with shares barely above the $150 level when trading began on June 12. The stock ended Thursday's session down 32% from its peak, though still up about 13% from the $135 IPO price.
The decline doesn't seem to have fazed many retail traders, though. Those who spoke to Business Insider said they're still believers in Musk's space company. Even those who flipped for a quick profit said they're eagerly awaiting another good buy-the-dip moment to load up again.
Elon's true believers
Walid Diab, a 38-year-old consultant based in the United Arab Emirates, was among a large group of Elon Musk fans racing to get their hands on the stock on the day of the IPO. Right as the stock was zooming toward $170, he bought $25,000 worth of shares. He sold around $14,000 worth of his holdings several days later, netting a small profit of about $1,300, according to screenshots of his brokerage account.
Walid Diab, an investor based in the UAE, got in on SpaceX on day trading kicked off.
Courtesy of Walid Diab
Diab says he's holding on to the other half of his SpaceX investment for the long run. He sees SpaceX less as an AI play and more as a "logistics company," an area in which he believes it has nearly no competition.
"You can only come up with the conclusion it can only go up from this point," he said. "Elon — one of the things I always admired about him is whenever the stock seems to be going down, Elon always has some sort of trick up his sleeve."
Prashant Mishra, a 36-year-old retail investor based in the UK, got in and out of SpaceX on the first day of the IPO. He and his wife requested to be part of the initial public offering and invested £1,000 each. Mishra says they were largely drawn to the company by Musk's persona.
Explore BI Games \
\
Take a smarter break in your day - and see how far you get.\
\
Play now\
\
Prashant Mishra and his wife both participated in the SpaceX IPO and netted a small profit on their investment.
Courtesy of Prashant Mishra
"If he was not there, I would not have bought [the stock] at such a high valuation," he said, pointing to how the company lost money in 2025, according to its S-1 filing.
Mishra and his wife sold for a small profit. Brokerages can penalize investors for flipping, or making a quick buck selling shares of a newly public company, but Mishra said he was anticipating a crash and preferred to get out while he could, though he plans to become a long-term investor down the line.
"There are no regrets that way," he said.
Mishra said he's considering a future purchase of as much as £10,000, and that he hopes for a return of 15%-25% on the investment over the years.
"Short term, it may go negative, but I believe — a lot of people believe — that as we go along, in the long-term it's going to make really, really good money," he added.
The wait-and-see crowd
Jonathan Walters, a 39-year-old investor who has been trading for more than 15 years, also bought into the stock on the day of the IPO and exited his position a few days later.
Walters says he's bullish on the company long-term and is "absolutely" looking for opportunities to purchase it again for the long run, but he's waiting for the valuation to significantly drop before doing so. Otherwise, the company needs to "miraculously start making a ton of money," he said.
"When I saw the stuff about building data centers in space, I was like, 'This is just a loss of money,'" he said, referring to the sprawling ambitions outlined in SpaceX's S-1 filing.
Walters thinks the stock could plummet to as low as $63 a share by the time the lock-up period for early investors expires, though he's willing to buy as soon as it drops to $130 a share.
Raj Dass, a trader and wealth manager based in South Africa, was also eager to get in on the IPO. Though he knows flipping IPOs is risky, he thought the trade would be worth it, given SpaceX's immense hype and the timeline for the stock to join major indexes.
Raj Dass, an investor who bought SpaceX on day one, says he leans more bearish on the stock's long-term trajectory.
Courtesy of Raj Dass
On SpaceX's fourth day of trading, he purchased around $17,500 worth of the stock and sold it several hours later, around the time it hit $180 a share. In the end, he said his profit amounted to "lunch money."
Dass said he's more concerned about owning the stock for too long, as he knew many traders would rush to get out once it looked like the stock had peaked.
Dass describes himself more as a SpaceX bear. He said he would consider investing for the long term if its valuation dropped to attractive levels, though he feared the stock would never do so given the hype surrounding Musk. Otherwise, he would like to see the company at least start moving toward profitability.
"Look, investing is always a valuation game. So you can only really say, 'What's the value now and do I buy it at this value?' What I'd like the value to be, it may never get there," he said.
The YOLO trade
On the riskier side of the investment spectrum, one Reddit user posted about pouring the entirety of their Roth IRA — approximately $315,000 — into SpaceX at $211 per share. The post documenting the trade was classified as "YOLO" in the Wall Street Bets subreddit.
Although the stock has since fallen close to $150, the user — who withheld their name but told Business Insider they're a software engineer in their early 30s — said the slide hasn't altered their investment thesis.
"Has it changed my outlook? Definitely not, there's no movement in the company's stock price that would really change my outlook on the company as a whole. The valuation is definitely rich and I wish I could've gone in at a better price, but to me it's an inevitability that the company catches up to its lofty valuation eventually," they said.
The trader explained that their view is tied to their investment horizon. "I can't access my Roth for another like 35 years, theres plenty of time for SpaceX to catch up to its valuation in this span."
Read comments
Read next
Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know
Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know
Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know
Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know
You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Follow
Jennifer Sor is a reporter at Business Insider. She covers financial markets and the economy, with a focus on retail investing, job trends, and the pursuit of wealth. She regularly speaks to famed forecasters and top investors in markets, including Gary Shilling, Nouriel Roubini, and Larry McDonald. Her work has also been featured in outlets such as Forbes, Bloomberg Opinion's "Money Stuff," and SiriusXM Business Radio. Prior to her time at BI, Jennifer covered tech and business news at the San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Business Journal. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a bachelor's degree in economics and English.Have an interesting story to share? Please reach out to her at jsor@businessinsider.com or @jennreports.81 on the encrypted messaging app Signal. She can also be reached on LinkedIn.Story highlights
- 'Culling of the herd': Consulting could be headed for a decadelong shift that'll make it harder to climb its career ladder
- Companies are cracking down on your AI job search
- Inside the private clubs for Gen Z and millennial traders serious about making money in markets
- Retreats, coaching, and therapy: Inside the $1 billion cottage industry cashing in on the retail-trading phenomenon
- Day traders who quit their careers and gave up school tell us their biggest regrets
- The lab-grown diamond boom is over
Naomi Buchanan
You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Follow
Naomi Buchanan is a Market Reporting Fellow at Business Insider covering financial markets and the economy. Prior to BI, Naomi covered markets news with a focus on Big Tech and AI at Investopedia. She has also worked at Yahoo Finance as part of the video uploading team and at Storyful, a News Corp. company, doing breaking news video verification.Naomi graduated from Fordham University with a double major in international political economics and Francophone studies as well as a minor in African studies.Have an interesting market story to share? Reach Naomi by email at nbuchanan@insider.com.
Alex Nicoll
You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Follow
Alex is a reporter at Business Insider writing about private equity, alternative asset management, and the impact of these growing sectors on the wider world.Previously, he covered real estate and real estate technology for Business Insider. Some previous highlights include his coverage of the real reason Zillow Offers closed, remote work surveillance at a real estate data giant and a real estate's scion new cryptocurrency that's backed by gold he says is buried near Las Vegas.Before joining Business Insider in 2019, he worked for Bridgewater Associates and Peloton. He is also the secretary of the Insider Union.He welcomes any and all reachouts, prioritizes his source's safety, and has a long record of working with confidential sources to tell deeply reported, complicated stories.Get in touch! Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at @alexnicoll.01 using a non-work phone, email at anicoll@businessinsider.com or alexonicoll@protonmail.com , or Twitter DM at @nicollsanddimes . (PR pitches by email only, please.)
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Log in.
Jump to
Something went wrong, please try again.
Follow Following
Every time publishes a story, you’ll get an alert straight to your inbox!
Look out for an alert in your inbox the next time publishes a story!
Every time a new story is published, you’ll get an alert straight to your inbox!
Look out for an alert in your inbox the next time a new story is published!
Enter your email
Sign up
By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
More stories by More stories from
Read Original at Business Insider →