SpaceX unlocks new tranche of shares for trading as post-IPO lockup schedule rolls on

SpaceX is opening the gates on another batch of shares. Roughly 319 million shares are set to unlock on August 20, 2026, marking the second tranche in what amounts to a carefully choreographed post-IPO lockup schedule designed to avoid flooding the market all at once. The release follows an initial unlock of up to 911.5 million shares on August 6, which went about as smoothly as a Falcon 9 landing. Shares actually rose approximately 6% that day, a signal that investors weren’t exactly rushing for the exits when given their first real chance to sell. The IPO that made history SpaceX went public in June 2026, selling around 639 million Class A shares at $135 apiece. That raised roughly $85.7 billion. The company, trading under the ticker SPCX on Nasdaq, structured its post-IPO share release as a multi-stage process rather than a single lockup expiration. By the end of 2026, approximately 4.9 billion shares are expected to be unlocked in total. Why the market isn’t flinching The most telling data point so far is what didn’t happen on August 6. When the first and largest tranche of 911.5 million shares became tradeable, the stock climbed rather than cratered. No significant selling was...