June 12 : SpaceX is set to begin trading on Nasdaq on Friday after investors poured $75 billion into the world's biggest IPO ever, betting that Elon Musk's lofty space, communications and AI ambitions can justify a $1.77 trillion valuation.

The landmark listing cemented Musk's status as the first trillionaire ever and propelled SpaceX into the ranks of the world's most valuable companies - even though the firm posted a loss of nearly $5 billion last year and generated only a fraction of the revenue brought in by similarly valued tech giants.

The stock's performance will be a test for the so-called "Musk premium," which has been the force behind Tesla's $1 trillion-plus valuation. It will also be closely watched for signals on investor appetite ahead of forthcoming IPOs for AI heavyweights Anthropic and OpenAI.

With SpaceX widely viewed as a dress rehearsal for a new generation of mega-listings, market participants will also be watching how smoothly the debut unfolds. Exchanges and underwriters are under pressure to demonstrate they can handle the listing's extraordinary order volumes and avoid a repeat of the technical failures that marred Meta's 2012 debut.

Shares will likely not trade until the middle of the trading day, as the exchange collects buy and sell orders and underwriters delay trading until supply and demand is balanced. SpaceX priced the IPO at $135 apiece and sold 555.56 million shares.

The record IPO is a culmination of Musk's long-held ambitions in space and technology, and has stood out for rewriting Wall Street's IPO playbook and drawing legions of retail investors into the market.

WORLD'S LARGEST IPO

At $75 billion raised, the deal's proceeds more than doubled that of Saudi Aramco, the previous record-holder, in its 2019 listing. Its sale made SpaceX the first U.S. trillion-dollar debut and seventh-largest U.S. company by market capitalization.

Its valuation could rise further should underwriters exercise their right to sell additional shares, a decision typically made within 30 days after the offering.

Although SpaceX may have to wait for entry into the S&P 500, its expected fast-track inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 will soon make it a major holding for passive funds and ETFs that track the index, creating a fresh source of demand for its shares. It will take about a month before it gets added to that index under Nasdaq's new fast-entry rules, as opposed to a typical wait of as much as ...