The potential initial public offering (IPO) of SpaceX is becoming a landmark event on Wall Street, generating millions of views for its rocket launches on YouTube and igniting a social media storm.
Traders are investing thousands of dollars speculating on the company's future stock ticker symbol, betting on whether it will join the ranks of America's top corporations. As the world's highest-valued private company, SpaceX has achieved a level of social media buzz rarely seen for a firm that hasn't even filed IPO paperwork.
On the prediction market platform Polymarket, users are placing bets on topics including SpaceX's target valuation, the exchange it will list on, and its ticker symbol. As of Friday, the total trading volume for these bets had surpassed $15.2 million.
Data from the prediction platform indicates a 25% probability that SpaceX will choose the single letter "X" as its ticker, a significant drop from 60% a month ago.
The single-letter ticker was previously held by U.S. Steel for over a century. The symbol became available after the company was acquired by Japan's Nippon Steel last year and delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.
Elon Musk's social media platform was also renamed from Twitter to X in 2023.
Matthew Tuttle, CEO of Tuttle Capital Management, suggested that a more fitting ticker would be "SPCX"—which also happens to be the ticker for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) managed by his firm.
Tuttle has stated he is willing to sell the "SPCX" ticker to SpaceX.
"I haven't heard from Elon yet, but my phone line is open, and I'm still hoping to get that call," he said.
Beyond "X", other ticker options being discussed on Polymarket include "SPAX" and the controversial "SEX". However, users assign a roughly 70% probability that the company will ultimately select a different symbol.
From the 'Magnificent Seven' to a 'Super Eight'?
SpaceX is reportedly targeting a valuation of $1.75 trillion for its public listing. If achieved, it would become the sixth-largest company in the U.S. by market capitalization, surpassing Tesla at $1.4 trillion and Meta Platforms (META) at $1.39 trillion.
This has sparked market speculation about whether a SpaceX IPO could reshape the so-called "Magnificent Seven" cohort—a group comprising several of America's largest companies by market value.
Todd Sohn, Chief Investment Officer at CrossCheck Capital, stated, "Once the company goes public, the 'Magnificent Seven' will certainly expand. It might be called the 'Great Eight,' the 'Super Eight,' or get a new acronym altogether."
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