Since the SpaceX IPO was priced at $135 per share with a June 12 Nasdaq debut announced, the story has moved well beyond the roadshow hype — and today two developments deserve serious attention.

S&P Global Holds the Line

S&P Global said Thursday it is NOT changing the rules for entry into the S&P 500. Full stop.

The company had consulted with investors about potentially waiving its seasoning period, loosening minimum float requirements, and scrapping its profitability requirement. Musk's team had reportedly pushed hard for all three. S&P said no to all of them.

The key rule that blocks SpaceX: a company must be profitable under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in its most recent quarter AND in the sum of its four most recent quarters. SpaceX posted a net loss of $4.94 billion in 2025. Revenue rose 33% to $18.67 billion — impressive growth, but irrelevant to the profitability test.

S&P was blunt about it: "Exceptions to the financial viability, seasoning, and IWF requirements should not be granted solely based on market capitalization."

Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth, put it plainly: "Making exceptions because companies are so large and have been private so long yet are still not profitable, didn't make a great deal of sense."

He's right. The S&P 500 is the foundation of trillions of dollars in passive index funds. Forcing those funds to buy into a company losing nearly $5 billion a year — at a $1.75 trillion valuation — would have been an enormous hidden risk dumped on everyday retirement investors who never consented to it.

This was the correct call.

Nasdaq Said Yes — and That Still Matters

Nasdaq, unlike S&P Global, already modified its rules to make it easier for megacap newcomers like SpaceX and Anthropic to join the Nasdaq 100 quickly. That means Nasdaq 100 index funds WILL be forced to buy a meaningful chunk of publicly available SpaceX shares once it lists on June 12.

Getting into the Nasdaq 100 delivers significant automatic buying pressure. Not getting into the S&P 500 removes a much larger wave of forced buying. The two outcomes together mean SpaceX gets a boost — but a smaller one than Musk's team originally pushed for.

Coinbase Launches a SpaceX Speculation Product — With a Catch

Coinbase on Thursday unveiled a "Pre-IPO Perp" — a perpetual futures contract tied to SpaceX's private-market valuation, settled in USDC stablecoin. According to CNBC, Coinbase's head of derivatives Liz Martin described it as "a new asset class, built for this era of markets."

You do NOT own shares. A perp is a derivative. You're speculating on price movement with leverage and no expiration date. You have zero claim on SpaceX equity.

It's NOT available to U.S. traders. Coinbase restricted the product to non-U.S. customers — almost certainly because U.S. securities regulators would have serious questions about it.

Binance already did this. According to CNBC, Binance launched a similar SpaceX pre-IPO perp last month. Coinbase is following, not leading.

Perps account for more than 70% of all trading volume on centralized global crypto exchanges, per CoinGecko data. Coinbase framed this as part of an "Everything Exchange" strategy to keep revenue flowing when spot crypto slows. Bitcoin, notably, dropped to $61,340 Thursday — its lowest level since February 6.

The pitch to retail investors globally is: get exposure to SpaceX before the IPO. The reality is: get leveraged exposure to a derivative tied to a valuation that was set by private market insiders, with no underlying ownership and significant liquidation risk.

Musk's Numbers in Context

Based on SpaceX's updated prospectus, Musk's stake in the company is worth approximately $866.5 billion on paper. Add his Tesla stake of roughly $355 billion, plus options potentially worth over $100 billion, and Musk is mathematically within reach of $1.2 trillion in total paper wealth, per CNBC reporting.

Forbes currently lists his net worth at $826 billion, with Google co-founder Larry Page in a distant second place at under $300 billion.

One important detail buried in the prospectus: Musk must hold all his SpaceX shares for 366 days after the IPO. After that lock-up, per the filing, "Mr. Musk will not be subject to any obligation to maintain his ownership interest in us."

What This Means for You

If you're a regular investor thinking about SpaceX at its June 12 Nasdaq debut, the S&P ruling actually protects you. It means the stock price won't get an artificial boost from trillions in forced passive buying. You're pricing a real company — one losing nearly $5 billion a year — not a mandate-driven feeding frenzy.

If you're a non-U.S. trader eyeing the Coinbase perp product, you should know exactly what you're buying: a leveraged crypto derivative, not a share of the most anticipated IPO in history.