Three different brokers have landed in my inbox this week, all dangling the same rocket-shaped carrot: a slice of the SpaceX IPO.

I can’t recall an IPO being pushed this hard, ever.

At a target valuation of around $1.75 trillion (and probably more), while raising roughly $75 billion, SpaceX will be the largest IPO the world has ever seen — more than double Saudi Aramco’s record back in 2019.

So let me do two things today.

First, tell you why I don’t think you should buy this IPO straight away.

Second, if you think I’m an idiot, and you really, really want a piece of it, I’ll also show you how simple it is to put your hand up.

Why I’m sitting this one out

Let’s start with the price, because it’s the whole problem.

$1.75 trillion is an enormous number for a company that, according to its own prospectus, generated $18.7 billion in revenue last year and lost $4.9 billion doing it.

In 2024 it turned a small profit. In 2025, after Elon folded xAI into the business — something I’ve written to you about several times — it swung deep into the red.

That works out to roughly 94X sales for a company that is losing money.

It doesn’t even have a price-to-earnings ratio because there are no earnings.

Plenty of analysts have run discounted cash flow models using the actual filing and arrived at a fair value somewhere around $780 billion. That’s less than half the asking price. That’s probably a decent yardstick for where it should trade.

So where does the other trillion dollars come from?

I call it the Elon Magic Multiplier.

It appears in no model and follows no methodology.

It’s simply the premium the market bolts on because Elon Musk’s name is on the door — a figure conjured from hype, loyalty, and fear of missing out (FOMO).

Now, I will say this: Starlink is a genuinely brilliant business.

It generated more than $11 billion in revenue last year, serves over 10 million subscribers, and produces real profits.

It’s a gem.

Honestly, I wish Starlink had been spun out and listed on its own.

But it wasn’t.

Strip Starlink away from the rest of the business and the numbers become… horrific.

Most of the losses are coming from Starship and xAI — money being spent to build the future.

I’m all for building the future. I’m all for backing companies doing ambitious things.

But it must be at the right time and for the right price.

For SpaceX, I don’t think Friday’s IPO is either of those things.

That said, while I don’t like the valuation, I also want to be clear: This is not a bad company. Far from it.

It’s also worth remembering that mega-IPOs with this much hype tend to pop hard on day one before drifting back to Earth once the FOMO buyers get filled and reality starts to set in.

Some punters are already betting SpaceX closes above $1.8 trillion on its first trading session.

That kind of froth is exactly what tends to reverse in the weeks that follow.

More often than not, a calmer and cheaper entry appears about a month later, once the circus has packed up and moved on.

Personally, I’d wait at least a few weeks, maybe even a few months before buying any SpaceX stock. Let the dust settle.

But that’s just me.

If you think I’m completely wrong and SpaceX is destined to go “up, up, and away”, then it’s actually quite easy to put your hand up for shares.

If you want a slice anyway, the drill is simple

If you want a piece of history, that’s your call, and best of luck to you.

Musk has set aside an unusually large 30% of the offering for retail investors — roughly three times what you’d normally see on a deal this size.

That means most ordinary investors who want in should be able to apply, even if not every broker is participating.

The process is straightforward.

Step 1: Check whether your broker is offering access.

Many are, including CMC Markets and Hargreaves Lansdown, though not all of them are taking part.

Step 2: Read the prospectus, or at least the disclosure summary your broker points you towards.

That’s where the business and, more importantly, the risks are laid out.

Step 3: Review the terms and conditions.

Check the minimum investment amount (Hargreaves is asking for £1,000 and CMC Markets £500), the usual lack of a maximum, and the application deadline.

Also keep an eye out for any “flipping” restrictions. That’s where your account can earn a few black marks if you buy into the IPO and sell immediately after listing.

Every broker handles this differently, but in general they don’t like investors applying for allocations simply to flip the stock for a quick profit.

You can still do it. Just be aware it may affect your standing for future IPO allocations.

Step 4: Once you’re happy, apply for the amount you want and wait. You’ll find out what you’ve actually been allocated on the morning of 12 June.

Here’s a snippet of what CMC sent me:

SpaceX

Also worth noting…

Applying is not the same thing as receiving.

Demand is going to be ferocious, so even if you apply for a specific allocation, you may be scaled back heavily or receive nothing at all. That’s perfectly normal for a float this hot.

I’d also steer well clear of all the leveraged noise springing up around this — the spread bets, the CFDs, and the crypto “SpaceX tokens”.

Those are wagers on a share price, not ownership of the company itself, and they’ll chew up and spit out inexperienced investors.

If you want SpaceX, buy the actual shares.

And remember what you’re buying.

The dual-class share structure means Musk retains roughly 85% of the voting power. You’re along for the ride, not steering the ship.

The prospectus itself identifies Starship as one of the biggest risks to the entire story. Despite all the excitement, it has yet to deliver a single commercial payload.

If it succeeds, fantastic.

If it fails, the consequences could be severe.

So that’s the “how.”

As for the “if,”… like I said, I’m passing for now.

The business is undeniably compelling, but the valuation is running too hot for my liking, and companies like this have a habit of offering patient investors a better entry point further down the track.

If you want a crack regardless, the door is open and the process is straightforward.

Just go in with your eyes open and only with money you can afford to leave floating around in orbit for quite some time.

Until next time,

Sam Volkering
Investment Director, Southbank Investment Research

PS I’ve got nothing against SpaceX. It’s an extraordinary company.

But the biggest money is rarely made buying the obvious story after everyone is talking about it.

That’s why I’m paying far more attention to what happens on 12 June than I am to the IPO itself.

If SpaceX debuts anywhere near a US$1.75 trillion valuation, I believe Wall Street may be forced to reprice the entire space sector. And one satellite company James Altucher has identified could be one of the biggest beneficiaries.

That’s the opportunity I’m focused on right now.