SpaceX's smooth debut, Elon Musk's road to trillionaire, set new template for mega IPOs

SpaceX's landmark Nasdaq debut proceeded smoothly, easing market anxieties and establishing a new template for upcoming mega-IPOs from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.

Trading systems at underwriting banks, exchanges, and market makers successfully processed millions of client orders, a stark contrast to Facebook's disastrous 2012 IPO. "People go back to the Facebook ... days and 'was this going to turn into one of those companies,' but I honestly think the banks in the US did a fantastic job, the SpaceX crew did a fantastic job telling the story when they did their rounds. And as you can see, it went extremely smoothly," said Jeff Parks, CEO of Stack Capital Group, which holds a significant stake in SpaceX.

Citadel Securities reported that SpaceX's debut generated the highest retail order activity for an IPO auction ever. Lead underwriter Morgan Stanley managed the market opening, tasked with ensuring an orderly rollout amid unprecedented investor demand. Charles Schwab reported processing over a million orders in the first few hours of trading, a substantial figure compared to past IPOs. Weeks of system stress-testing by Wall Street traders, brokers, and exchanges preceded the event, preparing for the blockbuster listing.

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People go back to the Facebook ... days and 'was this going to turn into one of those companies,' but I honestly think the banks in the US did a fantastic job, the SpaceX crew did a fantastic job telling the story when they did their rounds. And as you can see, it went extremely smoothly.