By Andrew Bary
Investors were eager to trade SpaceX options on their first day of trading Tuesday as the company's shares gained almost 5% to $201.80, putting them 50% above the initial public offering price of $135 last week.
There were nearly a million SpaceX call options traded Tuesday, which ranked fifth among all options traded that day. It isn't surprising the calls were active since they amount to a bullish bet on the stock.
The call options activity in SpaceX is in the same league as the usual most actives that include Nvidia, Tesla, Invesco QQQ Trust and State Street SPDR S&P 500 Trust.
"The volume is even more notable because weekly options have not been listed yet; those are expected to start trading Thursday, which could further increase short-dated activity and retail participation," wrote Chris Murphy, co-head of derivatives strategy at Susquehanna Investment Group.
Barro n's wrote earlier Tuesday that there likely would be a "trading frenzy" when options trading began in SpaceX options. The first tranche of options expires on Thursday. There is likely to be pressure to list daily, or zero-dated options, given the keen speculative interest in Elon Musk's company.
Murphy noted some bullish call trades include the purchase of 1,500 July calls struck at $300 a share and 6,500 July 325 calls purchased for $7 each. Each call option contract enables the buyer to purchase 100 shares of SpaceX stock. It would take a sharp move higher in the stock for those two call trades to have value in July.
There also were some big "collar" trades Tuesday where investors purchase put options to protect them against a price decline and pair that with a sale of a call option to reduce the cost of the put and limit their upside. There was one large collar trade involving 7,700 contracts for the purchase September 200 puts and sale of September 220 calls. This could be a hedge trade tied to when lockup restrictions end on the stock, Murphy noted.
As long as SpaceX remains volatile and in the news, there is apt to continue to be heavy trading in its options, especially the calls, as more contracts list.
Write to Andrew Bary at andrew.bary@barrons.com
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June 16, 2026 18:25 ET (22:25 GMT)
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