By Paul R. La Monica
It isn't hyperbole to suggest that the SpaceX initial public offering is one of the most eagerly awaited stock market debuts in history. Many individual investors will be clamoring for a chance to buy shares at the IPO price. Here's how retail traders can try to get a piece of the action.
But be warned. Even though there are expectations that SpaceX will make a larger portion of shares available for retail traders than is typically the case with IPOs, there's still a chance that many average investors won't get much, if any, stock before it is expected to begin trading in mid-June.
Five brokerage firms are offering SpaceX IPO shares to their customers: Fidelity, Morgan Stanley's E-Trade unit, Robinhood, Charles Schwab, and SoFi. Large institutional investors and high-net-worth clients will likely get the first chance to purchase available shares. What's left over will be doled out to individual investors.
So if you have an account with a brokerage firm getting a piece of SpaceX, there is an opportunity to put in an order for the stock at the IPO price. Just remember that an order isn't a guaranteed allocation. Also, the rules differ by brokerage.
For Fidelity customers, the SpaceX IPO is only going to be available to brokerage customers with a minimum portfolio balance of $500,000 in regular trading accounts. In other words, your 401(k) balance wouldn't count toward that half a million dollar total.
If you meet those requirements, the next step is to sign up for IPO alerts at Fidelity to find out more information about when the stock will begin trading. Once you've registered, keep an eye out on the IPO calendar for news of when SpaceX shares are available.
After signing up, you'll then be prompted to select the account you want to use to make the order, download the IPO prospectus and put in an indication of interest, which lets Fidelity know the maximum number of shares you'd want to purchase.
The IPO price will be set the evening before SpaceX's trading debut day. That is when customers must confirm their indication of interest. Customers will find out the morning of the IPO if they have received an allocation -- and for how many shares. Fidelity warns though that "this doesn't guarantee you will be allocated shares."
It's worth noting that Fidelity already owns pre-IPO shares in several of its mutual funds, such as Fidelity Blue Chip Growth, Fidelity Contrafund and Fidelity New Millennium. And in what seems like a nod to the retail interest in SpaceX, Fidelity is also hosting a webinar for customers on June 3 at 2 p.m. ET that it is describing as "a beginner's guide to help get in early" to IPOs.
It's a little easier to try to buy shares at other brokerages. Schwab clients must meet "a minimum liquid net worth threshold" of $1o0,000 in brokerage accounts. From there, it's a similar process to the one for Fidelity.
Account holders need to log in and check the calendar of offerings on the IPO page under the Trade tab on Schwab's website. Once SpaceX is on the calendar, investors must submit a conditional offer to purchase, aka the indication of interest, for the stock.
Customers then have to complete an eligibility questionnaire to confirm their eligibility to buy the stock. If approved, the next step is to say how many shares you want to purchase at a specific price range. Once SpaceX prices the IPO, you have to confirm your indication of interest to potentially receive an allocation.
E-Trade, Robinhood and SoFi said they don't have minimum portfolio size requirements to try to buy SpaceX at the IPO price. As is the case with Fidelity and Schwab, customers for these three brokerages need to submit conditional offers or indications of interest to be eligible to receive an allocation. They also all warned that investors may not receive as much, if any, of the shares they have requested.
Fidelity and Schwab didn't respond to questions about how the brokerages would decide which customers would receive shares -- or how many.
E-Trade said in a statement to Barron's that shares are allocated as a proportion of the size of the conditional offer. Robinhood, on the other hand, noted that the company "uses a random selection process to determine who receives IPO shares."
SoFi was the most specific, saying that it takes several things into consideration when deciding who gets shares, such as prior participation in offerings and any violations of SoFi's IPO flipping policy, which discourages users from selling shares of an IPO within the first 30 days after it begins trading. It also said that direct deposits into a customer's SoFi Money account and the amount of assets traders have on the SoFi Invest platform are factors.
So investors with accounts at any of these five brokerages can roll the dice and try to get SpaceX shares at the IPO price. But don't be surprised if you wind up with only a handful of shares -- if you're lucky. It may just pay to wait to see how the stock is trading in the aftermarket before deciding to take a chance on SpaceX.
Write to Paul R. La Monica at paul.lamonica@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 01, 2026 03:00 ET (07:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments