Phase #3: Investors Lose Interest
This is the phase most investors underestimate.
After the IPO frenzy fades, SpaceX will have a problem.
Not a business problem.
An attention problem.
- The financial media will move on to the next hot story.
- The next IPO will arrive.
- The next AI breakthrough will dominate headlines.
- The next market craze will capture investors' attention.
Meanwhile, SpaceX will continue launching rockets, building out data centers, and expanding Starlink.
The company keeps making progress, but the stock doesn't.
I wouldn't be surprised if SpaceX enters a prolonged "dead money" period where investors simply lose interest.
Phase #4: Institutions Buy
This is where the story gets interesting.
While retail investors are moving on, institutions will be just getting started.
Many large funds can't buy meaningful positions immediately after an IPO.
And they don’t want to buy at such inflated prices.
Instead, they wait for the hype to fade and for insider selling to run its course.
By this point, SpaceX will have reported earnings. Investors will have a better understanding of the company's growth rate, margins, and long-term prospects.
The story will no longer be driven by excitement.
It will be driven by fundamentals.
And if SpaceX continues executing, I suspect institutions will begin quietly accumulating shares.
Ironically… this will likely happen when the financial media has stopped talking about the stock and retail investors have moved on to the next shiny object.
Phase #5: Retail Buys Back In
Late… again.
I've been investing long enough to know that human nature rarely changes.
Most investors don't buy when a stock is boring.
They buy when it's exciting.
By the time retail investors become interested in SpaceX again, institutions may have already spent months accumulating shares.
The company will likely have reported several quarters of public financial results.
The stock will be well off its lows.
And suddenly everyone who ignored the stock during the "Investors Lose Interest" phase will decide they need exposure.
That's usually how it works.
People don't chase what has fallen.
They chase what has already gone up.
Let’s Revisit This in One Year
Again... this is just my best guess.
There's a decent chance I'll be wrong.
If you received shares at the IPO price, I wish you the best.
If you didn't, I suspect you'll get an opportunity to buy them at a lower price in the months ahead.
I was 50/50 on requesting shares myself.
In the end, I passed in hopes that this “playbook” pans out.
We'll see if that decision proves wise.
The funny thing is that this entire "playbook" isn't really about SpaceX.
It's about human nature.
It's about investors chasing excitement after prices have already risen and losing interest after prices have already fallen.
That's why similar patterns keep appearing over and over again.
The tickers are always different, but the underlying behavior rarely changes.