NEW YORK, June 24 - Short sellers have stepped up wagers that SpaceX's share price will fall further after the stock slid from the highs it reached immediately after becoming publicly traded on June 12, according to data from Ortex Technologies released on Wednesday.
Ortex reported that SpaceX's short interest - the number of shares sold short as a percentage of the free-floating shares available to public investors - rose to 13%, up from 8% in the prior session. That movement reflects a swift buildup of bets against the company in the weeks following its market debut.
"Short interest in SpaceX is building remarkably fast for a stock that has only been public a couple of weeks," Ortex co-founder Peter Hillerberg said. The stock had fallen about 30% from a high of $225.64 that it reached days after debuting, a decline that coincided with a broader market selloff and appears to have accelerated interest from short sellers.
SpaceX's reported $2 trillion valuation makes it a natural focus for traders seeking to profit from declines, but the company also attracts strong retail and institutional demand. Hillerberg noted that Musk's well-known history of contesting short sellers in public forums adds another layer of risk for those taking short positions.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trading has calmed relative to the initial enthusiasm that greeted the listing, as investors reassess potential downside. A commonly used metric of shorting demand - the cost to borrow shares - has eased to around 1%, Ortex's data shows. That figure contrasts with a peak near 14% when the shares first began trading, indicating that borrowing costs have normalized even as short interest has increased.
Ortex obtains its short selling figures from daily global institutional stock lending inventories, the firm said.
By comparison, the group of large-cap technology stocks often called the Magnificent Seven - Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla - show only limited short interest. Ortex data indicates roughly 1% to 3% of their free floats are sold short, and their borrow costs are notably lower, in the range of 0.25% to 0.33%.
Utilization, the share of available lendable stock that is currently out on loan, sits near 39%, up from the mid-30s the prior week, according to Ortex. That level suggests there remains a reasonable supply of shares available for lending despite recent activity.
However, several features of the current situation leave short sellers exposed to sudden reversals. The stock's relatively small float means a concentrated group of borrowed shares could force a rapid round of buybacks if traders rush to cover positions. Ortex data shows short interest at roughly 83 million shares against an average daily volume of about 270 million shares. Hillerberg cautioned that if short sellers were compelled to buy back shares en masse, that forced demand could amplify any rally and push prices well beyond what fundamentals would justify - the hallmark of a classic short squeeze.
For now, market participants appear to be balancing the attractiveness of betting against a high valuation and recent price weakness against the operational risks posed by limited float and strong investor interest. The data from Ortex paints a market still finding its footing after the initial listing period.