Key Highlights SPCX shares declined 2.6% to $139.65 on Wednesday as investors prepare for a 319 million share lock-up expiration scheduled for August 20. China’s LandSpace achieved a historic
Shares of SpaceX tumbled 2.6% to $139.65 during Wednesday’s trading session, weighed down by dual pressures: an approaching share unlock deadline and a significant achievement by a Chinese aerospace competitor.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., SPCX
The decline came just days after SPCX managed to reclaim territory above its $135 IPO price on August 10—the first closing above the initial offering level since mid-July. Wednesday’s downturn threatened to erase those recent gains.
The primary catalyst behind the selloff was the approaching Day 70 lock-up release scheduled for August 20. This expiration will free approximately 319 million shares currently held by early-stage employees and initial investors, making them available for trading.
This represents the second wave in a carefully structured unlock timetable that will ultimately make roughly 88% of SpaceX’s total 13 billion shares available for public trading by 2027.
The initial wave occurred on August 6, when up to 911.5 million shares entered the tradable market. This release essentially doubled the company’s public float. Remarkably, despite the magnitude of that unlock, SPCX shares climbed 6% in response.
Lock-up periods are significant market events because they dramatically increase the number of shares available for trading. Basic economics suggests that increased supply, assuming steady demand, typically creates downward pressure on share prices.
In a separate development on Tuesday, Chinese aerospace startup LandSpace successfully recovered the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket at the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone located in northwest China. This marked the first successful land-based recovery of an orbital-class booster by any Chinese company.
The Zhuque-3 measures 216 feet in height and boasts a payload capacity of 40,350 pounds to low Earth orbit. By comparison, SpaceX‘s Falcon 9 stands at 230 feet with a payload capacity of 50,265 pounds. Notably, LandSpace’s rocket successfully deployed satellites to orbit during only its second flight.
While SpaceX has successfully completed over 600 booster landings since pioneering the technology in 2015, LandSpace has now achieved one. Though the technological divide remains substantial, China has demonstrated it is no longer at the starting line.
The most significant challenges for SPCX stock remain in the pipeline. A massive 1.3 billion-share unlock is anticipated to coincide with SpaceX’s Q3 earnings announcement in early November.
Following that, the standard 180-day post-IPO lock-up expiration arrives in December, representing yet another substantial wave of shares hitting the market.
CEO Elon Musk’s commanding stake of 6.42 billion shares will remain completely locked until June 2027.
In other news, AI coding company Cognition AI publicly refuted reports suggesting merger discussions with SpaceX, eliminating one avenue of market speculation around the stock.
SpaceX finished Wednesday’s session at $139.65, showing a modest overnight increase of 0.11% to reach $139.81.
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