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Shorting a company led by the richest person on Earth, weeks before its most anticipated stock market debut in years, is a bold move. Trader 0x60a is finding out exactly how bold.
The pseudonymous trader opened a short position worth roughly $5M to $6M in SPCX, a tokenized instrument that provides economic exposure to SpaceX equity, at what turned out to be the lowest pre-IPO price points. As of June 15, 2026, that trade is sitting at a $740K unrealized loss and counting.
What is SPCX and why does it matter
For those unfamiliar, SPCX isn’t actual SpaceX stock. It’s a tokenized wrapper, a crypto-native instrument structured through special purpose vehicles (SPVs) that gives holders economic exposure to SpaceX’s equity value. These tokens exist across multiple blockchains. Paimon operates a version on BNB Chain. Backpack Securities runs one on Solana.
Total directional bets on SPCX reached approximately $276M ahead of key listing events. SpaceX’s speculated IPO valuation is in the range of $1.75 trillion to $1.8 trillion or higher, with a targeted NASDAQ debut around mid-June 2026.
The demand got so intense that multiple major exchanges actually refunded or canceled their tokenized SpaceX share campaigns in early June 2026.
The anatomy of a painful short
SPCX prices surged as SpaceX’s targeted NASDAQ debut approached around mid-June 2026. The short position, opened near the lows, was immediately swimming against a tidal wave of bullish sentiment.
A $740K loss on a $5M to $6M position represents roughly a 12% to 15% drawdown. The position remains open, which means the final damage depends entirely on what happens next.
Tokenized equities are having a moment
The fact that $276M in directional bets accumulated around a single tokenized pre-IPO asset tells you something important about where crypto markets are heading. The exchange cancellations and refunds reveal that the infrastructure for tokenized equities is still catching up to demand.
Tokenized pre-IPO markets effectively create a parallel price discovery mechanism that operates 24/7, globally, without the gatekeeping of traditional secondary markets for private shares.
What this means for investors
Traders considering similar positions should note the asymmetry. The short seller’s maximum gain is capped at 100% (the token goes to zero), but their potential losses are theoretically unlimited — math that gets uncomfortable quickly when the underlying asset is tied to a company valued north of a trillion dollars.
There is also a structural question about what happens to SPCX tokens after the actual IPO. If traditional shares become freely tradeable on NASDAQ, the tokenized versions could see redemptions, conversions, or simply a collapse in premium as the arbitrage opportunity disappears.
For now, 0x60a’s $740K loss serves as a reminder that being early and being wrong can look identical for an uncomfortably long time.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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