Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author | Azuma (@Azuma_eth)

SpaceX, the commercial space giant owned by Musk, is expected to officially conduct its IPO this Friday.

Multiple foreign media have previously reported that SpaceX plans to issue approximately 556 million new shares at a price of $135 per share, raising about $75 billion, which corresponds to a company valuation of about $1.75 trillion. If the transaction is completed as planned, it will exceed the record set by Saudi Aramco in 2019, becoming the largest IPO in global history.

As the absolute focus of the global capital markets today, although some Wall Street research institutions still have differences regarding SpaceX's high valuation of $1.75 trillion, this does not affect the frenzied emotions of investors. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and several other Wall Street investment banks have even engaged in a "price war" to compete for underwriting positions, lowering the underwriting fee to a rare below 0.75%—whereas the traditional IPO underwriting fee usually ranges between 4% - 7%.

However, for most ordinary investors, the real question is not whether to be optimistic about SpaceX, but how to actually buy into SpaceX.

Traditional brokerage channels often have higher thresholds, limited quotas, and uncertain allocation rates, and with the accelerated integration of the crypto industry and traditional finance, investment channels related to SpaceX are also becoming increasingly rich. From IPO subscription activities launched by CEX to Pre-IPO equity tokens and various types of pre-market contract products, different types of investors are competing for this "ticket" to SpaceX in various ways.

Participation Pathways Overview

Compliant Brokers: Mainstream Channel, But Not Everyone Can Participate

For qualified investors, participating in SpaceX's IPO through traditional brokers is still the most mainstream channel. Investors can obtain real shares at a price close to the issue price and are protected by a mature securities regulatory system. However, these channels often have qualification restrictions based on region, asset size, etc., and star IPOs like SpaceX typically experience oversubscription, meaning the final allocation is still highly uncertain.

CEX IPO Subscription: The Channel Closest to Mainstream Brokers

Besides traditional brokers, several crypto exchanges including Kraken, Bybit, and Gate have recently launched SpaceX IPO subscription activities.

The three platforms share a generally similar model, where both Kraken and Bybit's subscription partners are Kraken's stock token issuance platform, xStocks. For subscriptions, users must first complete KYC certification and submit a subscription application during the subscription period, locking in the corresponding funds—if they ultimately receive an allocation, they can obtain SpaceX-related rights at a price near the IPO issue price; if they do not receive an allocation or only partially receive it, the remaining funds will be returned to their accounts.

If users successfully subscribe on Kraken or Bybit, they will receive SPCXx. SPCXx is the 1:1 tokenized representation of SpaceX equity, but it only provides price exposure and does not carry voting rights or dividend rights. In other words, users do not receive the actual stock.

Nevertheless, compared to the Pre-IPO platform or pre-market contract markets mentioned later, subscribing through these channels has distinct advantages—particularly on price. According to current rules of Kraken, Bybit, and Gate, users can participate in subscriptions at the IPO issue price, plus an additional 5% underwriting fee (making costs relatively higher than compliant brokers); if the IPO is ultimately priced at $135, the actual subscription cost will be approximately $141.75. This means investors have the opportunity to obtain exposure to SpaceX at a cost close to the issue price, without bearing excessive secondary market premiums.

However, this channel still has certain barriers and quota restrictions. While not as harsh as compliant brokers, Kraken, Bybit, and Gate have set KYC requirements and regional participation restrictions, and Bybit also requires participation to be limited to VIP users; as for quotas, allocations are determined by the final underwriter rather than CEX or xStocks, and there is no guarantee of receiving an allocation after subscription.

Pre-Market Coin Stocks and Contracts: The Best Channel to Get On Board

If you do not want to participate in a "luck-based, wait for allocation" subscription gamble and prefer for your funds to be "ready to buy at any time," then pre-market (Pre-IPO) coin stocks and contracts are currently the most flexible participation channels.

The greatest advantage of pre-market coin stocks and contracts compared to previously mentioned brokers and CEX subscription channels is flexibility. Users do not have to wait for allocation results and there are no quota restrictions; as long as the market has enough liquidity, they can theoretically open any size position in SpaceX at any time, but since pre-market trading essentially activates secondary market speculation in advance, such products often have a certain premium over the proposed IPO pricing, meaning the cost of establishing a position will be higher than $135.

Currently, the pre-market-related products available on the market can be roughly divided into two categories. The first category is coin stock products launched by platforms like PreStocks, Jarsy, and Tessera; the second category consists of contract products launched by platforms such as Binance, OKX, Bitget, and Hyperliquid.

Coin stock products typically adopt an SPV (special purpose vehicle) holding model, where the platform or third-party entities hold the corresponding shares and then issue mapped rights to users. The advantage of coin stocks is their relatively simple structure, lacking complex mechanisms such as leverage, funding rates, or rebase, but these products often suffer from limited liquidity issues, and there has also been some controversy regarding the compliance of the SPV holding model recently, so users are not strongly advised to choose this channel.

Compared to coin stock products, pre-market contracts typically offer better liquidity, more flexible trading mechanisms, and richer strategic choices. In addition to going long, investors can also participate in price speculation through shorting, making this a more convenient channel for users who are accustomed to trading on CEX or DEX.

However, users should note that the pre-market prices for SpaceX on platforms like Binance, OKX, Bitget, and Hyperliquid are not completely aligned. This phenomenon arises because different platforms have independent price discovery mechanisms, but more crucially, the capital data and valuation conversion methods used by each platform are not entirely the same—for instance, OKX currently uses the capital data from the S-1 filing (12.52 billion shares), while Binance is about to adjust to the post-IPO fundraising capital data (13.08 billion shares).

Recently, as the details of SpaceX's IPO have gradually become clearer, each platform has successively made rebase adjustments regarding the relevant capital data to correct the previously used capital metrics. However, due to differences in adjustment timing and standards, there are still certain price discrepancies between different platforms, and there have been some cross-platform arbitrage opportunities during this period.

Therefore, for investors hoping to position themselves in SpaceX through pre-market contracts, it is essential not only to pay attention to the prices on each platform but also to understand the capital scale corresponding to the products, the logic of valuation calculations, and the historical rebase situations. Otherwise, seemingly identical prices may actually represent different valuation levels.

Post-Market Chase: Waiting to Observe Might Not Be a Bad Idea

Of course, if you still have concerns about various pre-market speculations, choosing to wait until SpaceX officially goes public before deciding whether to participate is also a reasonable choice. After all, when SpaceX truly lands on the public market, investors will face a market with a more transparent price discovery mechanism and more unified trading rules.

For users, the trading channels available will further increase at that time. Referring to the current situation of already listed U.S. stocks, platforms like Binance, OKX, Bitget, Hyperliquid, Ondo, xStocks, and Backpack have all launched relatively mature coin stock or related derivative products.

After SpaceX's listing, the market's understanding of core data such as capital scale and valuation metrics will also unify, and the price discrepancies among different platforms will likely gradually converge. For investors who are not in a hurry, waiting for the market to complete price discovery before deciding whether to get on board may be a more prudent approach.

Significance of the Era: Top Unicorns Finally Open Doors to Retail Investors

Looking back, the reason why SpaceX's IPO attracts so much attention is not only because it may break fundraising records in the global capital market but also because it embodies many investors’ imaginations of “the next era-defining company.”

For a long time, top unicorns like SpaceX have typically belonged only to institutional investors, venture capital funds, and a few high-net-worth individuals. The times when ordinary investors could participate usually came years after the company went public. This time, whether through traditional brokers, CEX subscriptions, pre-market coin stocks, or pre-market contracts, an increasingly rich array of participation channels is allowing more people the opportunity to join this capital feast early.

Of course, different channels correspond to varying costs, risks, and uncertainties, but at least, retail investors finally have the hammer to break through the barriers of capital.

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