SpaceX shares continued to fall on Tuesday, dropping another 4% to $148.39 in premarket trading. This followed Monday’s 16% plunge, which erased about $401 billion in market value, the second-largest single-day loss for a U.S. company, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Nasdaq 100 futures were also down 2.5%, indicating that the broader tech sell-off was worsening. Here’s what caused the big drop and whether it could be a buying opportunity or a sign of deeper trouble.
The sell-off on Monday sped up after SpaceX said it would issue its first investment-grade dollar bonds to pay back a bridge loan. The company did not say how big the bond sale would be. This move reminded investors that SpaceX needs a lot of capital and that, even after the recent drop, its stock is still valued at about 56 times its expected 2026 sales. Analysts do not expect SpaceX to post a full-year profit until 2028.
Wider market conditions are making things harder. Investors worry that big tech companies may soon slow down their spending on AI infrastructure, which could lower demand for the orbital data centers and connectivity services that support SpaceX’s long-term growth. Another concern is Federal Reserve policy. Markets now expect several interest rate hikes in 2026, which would lower the value of future earnings and hit high-growth stocks like SpaceX the hardest.
Some investors are still buying. On Monday, ARK Invest bought about 210,000 SpaceX shares across four of its exchange-traded funds, a stake worth over $32 million at the closing price. The firm has regularly added to its SpaceX holdings since the IPO.
Monday’s drop sent SpaceX shares below $161, which was their closing price on June 12, the day after the company’s record-setting IPO.
