Shares fell to a record low of $115.26 on Wednesday as Ortex said 360 million shares, or 56% of free float, were on loan and short sellers showed little sign of pulling back.
Short sellers in SpaceX were sitting on about $15.5 billion in paper profits as of Tuesday after the stock dropped below its $135 IPO price, according to Ortex Technologies, with bearish investors showing little sign of taking profits even as the shares slid to a record low of $115.26 on Wednesday. The stock has retreated from a post-IPO high of $225.64 reached after the company’s mid-June offering. Ortex co-founder Peter Hillerberg said short sellers appeared to be leaning in harder, with roughly 360 million shares on loan, or 56% of the free float. Elon Musk said last Friday that firms holding significant short positions in SpaceX over time had a very low survival probability. The stock’s weakness has partly reflected investor concern over debt-funded AI spending, a theme also highlighted by Tesla’s second-quarter negative free cash flow as the EV maker increased spending on AI infrastructure, battery capacity, robotaxis and next-generation manufacturing.