The unlock of more than $100 billion in SpaceX shares—which have meanwhile risen to almost $110 billion—did not help the large number of short sellers who had been waiting on the riverbank for Elon Musk’s corpse to float past. The stock closed trading 6.14% higher and held its price during after-hours trading. This suggests that the simple calculation made by many may not have taken all the factors into account.

Things are never simple in the markets. Investors had already priced in the arrival of the shares, at least in the short term, and it would appear that those who had the opportunity to sell for the first time yesterday… did not do so en masse.

Meanwhile, in Cathie Wood’s funds, SpaceX becomes the second-largest holding by investment amount

Cathie Wood of ARK was perhaps the most determined to increase her positions in $SPCX. She has bought the stock with some regularity since it was listed. Yesterday, despite no further purchases, the stock became the second-largest holding by investment amount—and value—for the ARK funds managed by Cathie Wood.

SpaceX overtook AMD, also thanks to its strong performance while short volumes were increasing. In any case, as often happens during unlocks, the overly simple calculation—more float, more selling—did not work.

• Closing short positions?

There is one aspect that we had already highlighted on the site and that had also been raised by Jim Chanos, one of the most legendary “short” investors in the stock markets. A significant amount of the short positions was probably intended to hedge price movements on the part of those who did not have—and in some cases still do not have—the ability to sell their shares on the market.

=> Our director Alessio Ippolito spoke very clearly about SPCX and also carried out trades that you can follow here on eToro, where he is a Popular Investor and can be both followed and copied with one click.

Has the worst passed?

SpaceX’s journey in the markets will be a long one. Some believe that its fair price is only slightly more than half its current price, while others point out that everything—or almost everything—will depend on the performance of the AI sector as a whole, and of xAI in particular.

During the quarterly results, Elon Musk—as could hardly have been otherwise—proved highly optimistic both about more short-term issues, such as the price at which he will be able to sell computing to others, and about the controversial data center project in space over the medium and long term.

Has he been proven right so far? It is difficult to say, with the price still below the IPO price. Those who thought they could feast on the unlock, however, found themselves in considerable difficulty, at least yesterday.