NEW YORK — SpaceX reaches another test of investor confidence on August 20, as roughly 319 million shares come free from lock-up restrictions and become eligible to trade. So far, the market is treating the milestone as a sign of strength rather than a reason to sell.
Shares of SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) were trading around $143 heading into the unlock, up about 26% from an August 5 low of $105. The resilience follows the pattern set two weeks earlier, when the first and largest tranche of 911.5 million shares became tradeable on August 6 and the stock climbed instead of cratering, echoing the broad optimism analysts have voiced on the AI-driven story.
A Smaller, Calmer Wave
The August 20 release is far smaller than the first, and its arrival amid a rising share price suggests early backers see more upside ahead than reason to cash out. SpaceX went public in June 2026 at $135 a share in one of the largest listings on record, and after an early dip the stock has spent recent weeks rebuilding above that IPO price.
By the end of 2026, roughly 4.9 billion shares are expected to become unlocked in total, a schedule that has drawn intense attention on Wall Street. Yet the muted selling so far points to conviction among the funds and insiders who backed the company before it went public.
Who Still Holds the Keys
Notably, Elon Musk's own shares remain locked until June 2027, keeping the founder's stake off the market well after other holders gain the ability to trade. Major institutional backers disclosed in recent filings include Alphabet and Nvidia, whose sizable positions were revealed just as the constellation of investors around SpaceX came into public view, alongside Nvidia's multibillion-dollar stake.
The steadiness of $SPCX through the unlock windows underscores a broader thesis: investors are buying into SpaceX's expansion across launch, Starlink, and a fast-growing artificial-intelligence business that now includes xAI. Argus Research recently upgraded the stock to Buy and set a $160 price target, citing the company's ability to monetize AI compute capacity at a rapid clip.
What To Watch
With the second tranche now flowing into the market, attention turns to whether the calm holds as larger releases arrive later in the year. For a newly public company still writing its story, each unlock is a referendum on how much long-term believers value the shares.
For now, the tape suggests confidence, with $SPCX firm and comparisons to sibling ambitions at $TSLA never far from the conversation. Whether that steadiness persists through the heavier unlocks ahead will be one of the defining questions for the stock into 2027. Reporting on the lock-up schedule was detailed by CNBC.
