By Paul R. La Monica
In case you haven't heard, SpaceX is about to go public. Buying a new stock at the initial public offering price can be complicated (and sometimes impossible) for everyday investors. But Fidelity is looking to make SpaceX a little more accessible for all of its customers -- not just the superwealthy.
Fidelity said Thursday that it has decided to allow customers with a minimum of only $2,000 in a retail brokerage account to make an order for SpaceX stock at the proposed $135 IPO price.
Fidelity typically asks that customers have a minimum of $500,000 in a trading account to put in a so-called indication of interest for an IPO. But with rivals Robinhood, SoFi, and Morgan Stanley-owned E*Trade not having a minimum requirement, Fidelity might feel the need to be more competitive. ( Charles Schwab, the other broker that will allow clients access to SpaceX at the IPO price, still has a $100,000 minimum.)
Fidelity said it decided to lower the minimum investment because SpaceX is offering more shares to average investors, with plans to allocate 30% of the deal to individual traders.
"Most initial public offerings...offer retail customers only 5% to 10% of the total offering, which significantly reduces the amount of stock available to our retail clients," Fidelity said. "SpaceX has decided to reserve a much higher percentage of the offering...which means there should be more shares available to retail clients."
Fidelity added that this "is why we have decided to reduce IPO eligibility for this offering."
Brian Vendig, a Barron's-ranked advisor and chief investment officer with MJP Wealth Advisors, agreed that Fidelity likely cut the minimum investment to meet the high demand for SpaceX from all of its customers.
"Fidelity is lowering the minimum to try to give access to retail investors and to push back on the perception that only ultra-high-net-worth investors gain these access points," Vendig said. "A smaller minimum makes it attainable to also fit in someone's portfolio and size the position appropriately from a risk perspective."
David Kudla, CEO of Mainstay Capital Management, another Barron's-ranked advisor, says the move by Fidelity might be more about public relations than anything else.
"This provides the optics that shares are available to more investors with this lower minimum," he said.
Kudla added that it's understandable why all the brokerages with an allocation to the SpaceX IPO will try to push it hard to individual investors. Among larger institutional investors, there is some growing skepticism about the company's valuation. The IPO price values SpaceX -- which currently isn't profitable -- at $1.75 trillion.
"Obviously there is a lot of retail interest. It's the biggest IPO in history and it's Elon Musk," Kudla said. Fidelity didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kudla says investors looking for SpaceX exposure might be better off buying exchange-traded funds and other funds that already own the company thanks to investments in private rounds.
"If you want to try and get an allocation at the IPO price, my response is good luck. You can do it with funds instead," he said. "We have enjoyed the run-up." To that end, Kudla owns the Tema Space Innovators ETF and ERShares Private-Public Crossover ETF.
Still, investors need to be careful buying these and other funds that own SpaceX. Many of them have already risen sharply, including the Destiny Tech100 closed-end fund, KraneShares Public-Private AI & Technology ETF, and Fundrise Innovation Fund.
That's why Barron's has already recommended that waiting is probably the best course of action -- especially if you aren't lucky enough to get an allocation at the $135 IPO price from Fidelity or another broker.
Wait for the dust, which should be considerable, to settle first. It's prudent to see what SpaceX's first few earnings reports look like as a public company and to let insiders sell stock over the next few months, after various lockup periods expire, before you dive in.
Write to Paul R. La Monica at paul.lamonica@barrons.com
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June 04, 2026 14:06 ET (18:06 GMT)
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