SpaceX Stock Halved... "Estimated Profits of 22 Trillion Won from Short Selling"

Short sellers of SpaceX are reportedly sitting on estimated profits of 15.5 billion dollars (approximately 22.8 trillion won).

Reuters reported this on the 23rd (local time), citing data compiled by financial data analytics firm Ortex Technologies.

SpaceX's stock price peaked at 225.64 dollars during intraday trading on June 16, the third day after its listing, before turning downward.

The closing price on this day was 118.25 dollars, falling well below the initial public offering (IPO) price of 135 dollars.

Ortex co-founder Peter Hillerberg said, "There are no signs at all that short sellers are trying to realize profits," adding, "Rather, they are pushing their bets even harder."

According to Ortex data, 56% of SpaceX's free float (approximately 360 million shares) is currently on loan.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk warned on social media X on the 17th that "the survival probability of companies maintaining significant short positions on SpaceX for a long time is very low," but short-selling bets show no signs of abating.

On August 6, the lock-up period for 911.5 million insider-held shares will expire, potentially releasing up to 116 billion dollars (approximately 171 trillion won) worth of shares into the market.

Analysts note that additional lock-up expirations will cause the number of tradable shares to surge from the current approximately 639 million shares to 5.33 billion shares by early December, leaving room for short sellers to place additional bets.

Reuters noted that while SpaceX has become a target for short sellers skeptical of its high valuation, such bearish bets could be a risky choice considering the strong interest from retail and institutional investors as well as Musk's history of public battles against short sellers.

Musk has clashed publicly with Tesla short sellers on multiple occasions.

In 2018, his "funding secured" tweet hinting at taking Tesla private inflicted billions of dollars in losses on short sellers, and in 2020, after a surge in Tesla stock caused massive losses for hedge funds, he even sold short-shorts (a pun on the word shorts) bearing a mocking phrase directed at short sellers.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.