SpaceX shares dropped below their $135 IPO price for the first time on July 15, hitting an intraday low of $132.15. For a company that raised $75 billion in the largest IPO in history barely a month ago, that’s the kind of milestone nobody puts on a poster.

The stock closed slightly higher at $135.27, clinging to its listing price like a climber who just barely caught the ledge. But the broader trajectory tells a more uncomfortable story: shares have fallen roughly 11% from their initial listing price and a full 40% from early highs above $225.

Here’s the thing. This isn’t just a traditional equity story. SpaceX holds 18,712 Bitcoin on its balance sheet, valued at approximately $1.29 billion. That makes every wobble in SPCX shares a data point for crypto markets too.

From stratosphere to gravity check

When SpaceX priced its IPO at $135 per share on June 12, it was the kind of event that makes financial history textbooks. The $75 billion raise valued the company at approximately $1.8 trillion, putting it in the same atmospheric layer as Apple and Microsoft on day one.

The pullback from those highs has been steady and unsparing. A 40% decline from peak to the July 15 intraday low represents the kind of drawdown that separates conviction holders from tourists. The decline has occurred alongside broader weakening sentiment in AI and high-valuation tech sectors, suggesting this is partly a macro story about risk appetite rather than anything SpaceX-specific.

The crypto connection nobody is ignoring

SpaceX’s 18,712 Bitcoin holding creates a direct transmission mechanism between traditional equity volatility and crypto markets. At roughly $1.29 billion, it’s one of the larger corporate Bitcoin positions on any public company’s balance sheet.

The pre-IPO market offered its own crypto-native preview of this volatility. Perpetual contracts linked to SpaceX traded on platforms including Hyperliquid at premiums as high as 60% above the eventual IPO price. In English: crypto traders were so bullish on SpaceX pre-listing that they were willing to pay $216 or more for synthetic exposure to a stock that would debut at $135.

Those positions have been underwater for a while now. The gap between pre-IPO perp pricing and current share value represents a painful recalibration for speculative traders who treated SpaceX like a momentum trade rather than a long-term equity position.