SpaceX is set to be the largest ever IPO. Everything you need to know

SpaceX officially launched as a publicly traded company Friday morning on the NASDAQ exchange, and Elon Musk’s company carries the largest valuation ever seen for a Wall Street debut.

As of 11:53 a.m. Eastern time, shares of SpaceX were spiking to about $150 compared to the initial price of US$135.

SpaceX has its sights set on some major projects, including more rocket launches both manned and unmanned, construction of AI infrastructure in space along with satellites, ambitions of lunar landings and even missions to Mars.

These projects come at a hefty cost, and the IPO (Initial Public Offering) is expected to provide capital funding for many of these projects depending how popular it becomes.

But what makes this launch so distinct?

“It’s by all accounts a massive, massive company. Not only is it the largest IPO (Initial Public Offering) in history, but it’s the largest by order of magnitude,” says portfolio manager and chief investment officer Josh Sheluk at Verecan Capital Management.

“Typically a company becomes public and it gradually grows in size. Maybe it starts at five billion or 10 billion or 20 billion, or even a hundred billion dollars worth of company. Now you have a company that’s again, potentially IPOing at a $1.75 trillion valuation, which forces it to be one of the largest positions in all these indexes right off the bat.”

SpaceX priced its shares initially at US$135 each, which made the total value of the company approximately $1.75 trillion dollars at the time, and based on the number of shares that will eventually be available to buy. Only about $75 billion worth of the shares that make up that total will be made available today, which could increase demand and send the price higher.

Bloomberg is also reporting that level of demand, or the amount of money buyers are potentially putting forward to buy a piece of SpaceX, is about $350 billion. That’s compared to the approximately $75 billion worth of shares initially listed.

“Most of the shares will become available for sale over the course of the year. And so that might change the balance of supply and demand,” said equity analyst Nicolas Owens at Morningstar speaking to Reuters.

“And then everyone will be monitoring these operational milestones around starship reusability, the commercial model for data centers in space.”

Many day traders on the floor of Wall Street and arm-chair investors alike will be able to get a chance to own a piece of SpaceX while limited shares last.