SpaceX Executives ring the Closing Bell on the Nasdaq on the debut of their IPO on June twelfth, 2026.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
SpaceX’s IPO did not simply mint the most important debut in market historical past — it additionally triggered a leveraged ETF historic land seize.
Inside days of SpaceX going public, competing fund companies launched 11 leveraged exchange-traded funds tied to the inventory, with the buying and selling quantity that adopted shattering expectations. There was over $10 billion in levered ETF buying and selling throughout SpaceX’s first week on the inventory market, a shortened vacation buying and selling week which encompassed 4 days via Thursday. It was one among the many many notable market stats that stood out in regards to the deal.
Leveraged single-stock ETFs are designed to ship a a number of of a inventory’s day by day return which is often two instances, both lengthy or brief. Since these funds reset day by day, their returns can drift meaningfully from the underlying inventory.
Leveraged Shares led the cost, with three days of over $1 billion in quantity in its lengthy SpaceX ETF on Tuesday via Thursday, and vital quantity in its brief SpaceX ETF as effectively.
Todd Sohn, chief ETF strategist at Strategas Securities, says the sample is acquainted, even when the size is rare. When a heavyweight title like Nvidia or Tesla will get a leveraged ETF constructed round it, demand exhibits up. SpaceX delivered to the market not simply the most important IPO in market historical past however Elon Musk’s title hooked up to it.
Tuesday’s buying and selling quantity of $4.2 billion in levered SpaceX ETFs was the height day for the week.
SpaceX Levered ETFs, first week buying and selling quantity
- Leverage Shares 2X Lengthy SPCX Each day ETF (SPCH): $4 billion
- Leverage Shares 2X Quick SPCX Each day ETF (SSPC): $2.56 billion
- GraniteShares 2x Quick SpaceX Each day ETF (SNK): $765 million
- ProShares Extremely SpaceX (SPCF): $607 million
- Defiance Each day Goal 2X Lengthy SpaceX ETF (SPCU): $557 million
- GraniteShares 2x Lengthy SpaceX Each day ETF (SPAL): $516 million
- Direxion Each day SpaceX Bull 2X ETF (LOFF): $378 million
- Defiance Each day Goal 2X Quick SpaceX ETF (SPCQ): $345 million
- Tradr 2X Quick SpaceX Each day ETF (SPCG): $339 million
- T-REX 2X LONG SPCX DAILY TARGET ETF (SPAX): $332 million
- Tradr 2X Lengthy SpaceX Each day ETF (SPCM): $251 million
Supply: Strategas Securities, Bloomberg
The SpaceX IPO attracted a excessive degree of curiosity from retail traders, however many have been restricted of their entry to shares. Main issuers of the ETFs warning that these portfolios are designed for classy self-directed merchants, hedge funds, and proprietary buying and selling desks. The merchandise will not be constructed for buy-and-hold retail traders.
Leverage Shares’ chief income officer Paul Marino mentioned a inventory shifting in a single path “compounds and does rather well,” however that flips shortly as soon as the inventory turns extra unstable, and that would be the actual take a look at for traders with these merchandise. SpaceX started the week with two straight days of features, contributing to Tuesday’s peak quantity, however turned damaging over the second half of the week.
After the two-day slide in shares, many traders who purchased SpaceX shares post-IPO have been on the verge of being underneath water.
SpaceX efficiency in first week of buying and selling.
Though the levered ETFs will not be core long-term inventory or bond market holdings the place lowest price typically wins, charges can nonetheless be a differentiator in a crowded market.
Leverage Shares expense ratio of 0.75% got here in beneath most of its friends, which may very well be a think about its early quantity lead.
“Should you’re getting an identical product, I do not care if it is day by day traded or if it is for long run investing. Charges matter,” Marino mentioned.
However GraniteShares CEO Will Rhind, whose SpaceX ETFs have an expense ratio of 1.50%, pushed again on that logic, saying that for merchants holding a place for a number of days, the payment distinction is irrelevant. “Should you’re holding it for a number of days, it is virtually free as an investor,” Rhind advised CNBC.
Defiance is leaning on timing. Its fund was the one leveraged product really buying and selling on IPO day.
“Defiance will at all times be fascinated by being a market chief by way of the brand new single shares,” mentioned Sylvia Jablonski, Defiance ETFs co-founder and CIO. She mentioned the SpaceX ETF is a pure extension of a lineup of leveraged single-stock funds tied to names like Technique and Rocket Labs.
It’s nonetheless an open query as as to whether traders will keep on with these trades as soon as the document IPO momentum fades.
Leverage Shares is betting on what it calls “a sturdy base of customers” no matter potential volatility within the inventory everyday. In the meantime, Anthropic and OpenAI are anticipated to IPO later this yr, which may create extra competitors within the single-stock ETF universe. ETF executives mentioned their companies can be fascinated by levering up the chance in these shares for merchants as soon as they hit the market.
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