Three days after going public, retail investors poured in $370 million—SpaceX's ability to attract capital surpasses the "Magnificent Seven" of U.S. stocks.

Three days after going public, retail investors poured in $370 million—SpaceX's ability to attract capital surpasses the "Magnificent Seven" of U.S. stocks.

SpaceX's IPO is reshaping the flow of retail investors' funds.

According to Vanda Research data, in the first three trading days after SpaceX went public, the net buying amount of its shares by retail investors reached $369.8 million, surpassing the total net buying during the same period for the "Tech Seven Giants"—Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Google, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla.

As of Wednesday’s closing, SpaceX stock was priced at $191.82, up more than 40% from the IPO price of $135. Retail investors who bought SpaceX at the IPO price are now seeing a paper gain of about 45%.

It is notable that this concentrated influx of funds occurred against a backdrop of generally cautious sentiment among retail investors. Vanda data shows that even including SpaceX’s IPO effect, last week’s weekly net buying by retail investors in single stocks reached its lowest level since March 2020.

SpaceX’s strong ability to attract funds did not lead other stocks to rise simultaneously. For the market, this means retail investor capital is highly concentrated on a single stock rather than creating a broad-based rising effect—a phenomenon that deserves close attention.

Crushing the Seven Giants: Retail Investors Pumped $370 Million in Three Days

Vanda Research data reveals the staggering scale of retail investor inflows after SpaceX’s IPO. In the first three trading days, retail investors’ net buying of SpaceX shares reached $369.8 million, while Nvidia saw a net buying of only $88.2 million during the same period.

Even more striking, Tesla and Apple—two companies long at the top of retail investor favorites—actually saw net selling over the same period. Vanda pointed out in its research report:

"Over the past three trading days, the scale of retail buying for SPCX was roughly equal to the combined buying for Nvidia, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, QQQ, and SPY. Notably, we excluded Tesla and Apple, as both stocks actually saw net selling."

Even when combining the total buying of the 'Seven Giants' with the two most popular index ETFs—State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust—their combined total was only roughly equal to SpaceX.

Before SpaceX started trading, Nvidia had long held the top spot as retail investors' favorite stock, and retained this position even in the week before the IPO. However, once SpaceX went public, this landscape immediately shifted.

According to MarketWatch, a Vanda spokesperson stated:

"SpaceX did not drive a broad market rally—retail inflows to other AI-related stocks were weaker than expected. What we see is a sharp focus of capital on a single stock, with limited spillover effects."

This phenomenon shows that retail investors are not generally increasing their positions in risk assets, but are instead making concentrated bets on SpaceX. Meanwhile, retail investors are increasingly turning to index ETFs and thematic ETFs to seek broader, more diversified market exposure.

At the same time, it is noteworthy that SpaceX’s capital influx happened exactly as retail investors overall were becoming more conservative.

Vanda data shows that last week, the weekly net buying of single stocks by retail investors hit its lowest level since March 2020—a period marked by dramatic market turbulence following the outbreak of COVID-19. This week, activity in single-stock buying has rebounded slightly compared to last week, but SpaceX is the main driver behind this rebound.

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