The average investor who acquired shares of SpaceX in the open market following its debut has experienced a significant erosion of their gains, as a pronounced pullback has wiped out a substantial portion of the stock’s post-IPO increase. Shares of SpaceX declined by 3.6% on Thursday, settling at just below $184.98 per share. The stock’s five-day volume-weighted average price stands at $181.71 per share. VWAP quantifies the average price at which a security has transacted over the course of the day, adjusted for trading volume, and is extensively utilised by traders to assess the positioning of investors.

The move indicates that the typical post-IPO purchaser is now roughly at a break-even point. The stock surged from its $135 IPO price to an intraday peak exceeding $225 on Tuesday as investors flocked to one of the most awaited public offerings in recent years. Since then, however, shares have retreated by 20%, erasing a significant portion of the gains accrued following the debut. It has returned to the trading levels observed on the second day, Monday. The decline has also reduced the profits for numerous retail investors who accessed the IPO via broking platforms such as Robinhood, Fidelity, and SoFi.

While numerous individual investors obtained merely a small portion of the shares they sought — in certain instances just one or a few shares — those allocations were acquired at the $135 offering price, resulting in profits even following the recent decline. The reversal highlights the rapid change in sentiment that has occurred after the company’s blockbuster debut. After briefly pushing SpaceX’s market value close to $3 trillion, investors have begun reassessing whether the stock’s rapid advance can be justified by fundamentals.