SpaceX Valuation Surpasses $2 Trillion in Nasdaq Debut

SpaceX shares soared on Friday, propelling the rocket company's valuation above $2 trillion, as trading commenced on the Nasdaq after a record-setting initial public offering.

The Elon Musk-led space company's stock jumped more than 19% to $160.95 a share, putting its market value at roughly $2.1 trillion. At its session high, the stock traded at $176.52.

"This was a successful launch, no doubt about it," said Jay Woods, chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets. "The public demand is there, so that's a good thing. But now we'll wait to see if it can hold that open price, or was it an euphoric retail crowd driving it."

More than 500 million shares exchanged hands in SpaceX's debut session, dwarfing all other IPOs seen this year.

SpaceX opened at $150 per share, marking a roughly 11% gain over its $135 IPO price. But that number was lower than the $175 level initially shown in indications of interest to trading desks.

"You have to give it a full trading day, which will be next week," Woods said. "The initial thoughts on the trading desks were that it could get up to $200."

Friday's debut officially crowns Musk as the first trillionaire on record. The IPO is expected to mint thousands of new millionaires and multiple new billionaires.

Goldman Sachs climbed more than 2% in Friday's session, with traders applauding its role as lead-left bookrunner on the SpaceX transaction. Goldman was the second-biggest gainer in the Invesco KBW Bank ETF (KWBW) .

But shares of space industry stocks tumbled as investors shifted focus to SpaceX. Redwire and Rocket Lab slid more than 11% and 10%, respectively, in Friday's session. The Procure Space ETF (UFO) dropped 7%.

Tesla , another Musk-led company, swung between gains and losses in Friday's session. The electric vehicle maker — which is a top stock among retail investors — is worth less than SpaceX by market cap.

Retail traders raced to get in on SpaceX's IPO given their broad support for Musk following Tesla's success. Yet SpaceX allocated a smaller-than-expected portion of its IPO to the retail class, a source told CNBC.

Still, SpaceX was the most-bought stock by retail traders on net in Friday's trading, data from VandaTrack shows. It was also among the most-discussed stocks in Reddit 's popular WallStreetBets forum in the days leading up to the IPO, according to meme stock tracker Breakout Point.

"Market sentiment is reflecting a book that looks like it was pretty robust," said Dan Alpert, founding managing partner of Westwood Capital. "The folks who only got a portion of the shares they asked for are now looking for a stable market in which to buy."

Multiple big investors have quietly built out stakes in SpaceX as a private company for nearly two decades. But some market participants have raised red flags about investing in SpaceX into the IPO, citing concerns over valuation and potential growth obstacles for the Starlink business.

SpaceX's debut is expected to kick off a wave of high-profile IPOs. Anthropic and OpenAI both confidentially filed prospectuses with regulators in recent weeks.

SpaceX Operations Chief Gwynne Shotwell told CNBC in an exclusive interview that she "wasn't sure we would go public." But she said the current moment "actually feels like the right time."

— CNBC's John Melloy and Tobias Burns contributed to this report.