The world is buzzing again about something Elon Musk could do, and this time it is the ticker for SpaceX. Polymarket has some interesting insights to offer.
- A poll on Polymarket showed that tickers $SX and $SEX each have 17% odds of being chosen as the SpaceX ticker.
- In 2020, Musk took the world by storm not because Tesla did well or SpaceX launched another rocket, but because he named his son X Æ A-XII Musk.
- SpaceX is working toward a potential listing window in mid- to late 2026.
The world is still anticipating SpaceX’s initial public offering, but something else about the company has ignited interest among people: the letter X and Elon Musk.
The world’s richest man, Musk, has an obsession with the letter X, which is flowing into his founding company, SpaceX’s potential IPO, with chatter on Polymarket heating up about what the company’s ticker will be.
A poll on Polymarket showed that tickers with the letter X gained more favour, with $SPAX receiving 21% of votes, closely followed by $SX and $SEX at 17% each.
However, only the $X ticker garnered 15% of the votes, while $MARS — a planet Musk is quite fond of — saw 14% odds. But like a user on X rightly asked, “Would an exchange even approve a ticker [$SEX] like that?”
Tesla fans would know there is some precedent. The EV company Tesla’s first four models were named ‘S’, ‘3’, ‘X’ and ‘Y’ — Musk couldn’t get the ‘E’ because of trademark issues with Ford.
X And Musk: A Unique Story
Musk really does have a lot of things named “X.” To start with, there’s Tesla’s Model X, a luxury electric SUV featuring Falcon Wing doors, seating for up to seven passengers, and generous cargo space. In fact, when the doors of this vehicle open up, they form an “X” like shape when viewed from the front.
Then there are his other ventures: xAI, the artificial intelligence startup, and rocket maker SpaceX. Founded in 2002, SpaceX was built on Musk’s belief that “a radical improvement in rocket technology was needed to make life multiplanetary.”
Fast forward to 2020, and Musk captured global attention not for Tesla’s performance or another SpaceX launch, but for naming his son X Æ A-XII Musk. The child, born to Musk and musician Grimes, is now five years old. The name X Æ A-XII is pronounced “X Ash A Twelve.”
Under Musk, Twitter Became X
The battle to buy Twitter was a whirlwind one with Musk going all out in April 2022 to buy Jack Dorsey’s blue bird for $54.20 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion. Once the transaction was completed, Twitter’s blue bird disappeared to make way for the letter X in 2023. The company’s domain also changed from twitter.com to x.com following the name change.
SpaceX IPO – Coming Soon
Wall Street has been buzzing for more than a week now, with SpaceX expected to go public at a wholesome valuation of around $1.5 trillion, making it the biggest IPO in history aimed for mid-to-late 2026.
Earlier this week, SpaceX CEO Musk more or less confirmed that media reports about the aerospace firm’s initial public offering are accurate.
According to Payload Space, SpaceX launch revenue rose from about $2.4 billion in 2022 to $3.5 billion in 2023 and $4.2 billion in 2024. But the biggest driver has been Starlink’s satellite internet service, with estimates showing that the segment’s revenue rose from around $1.9 billion in 2022 to $4.2 billion in 2023 and to about $8.2 billion in 2024.
Wall Street’s Interesting Tickers
When SpaceX goes public, it won’t be the only ticker on Wall Street with an interesting ticker. Several companies have tried to hit the mark to make their tickers stand out, and that ties to their essence as a company.
Ferrari, for that matter, trades under the ticker $RACE on the New York Stock Exchange and Euronext Milan. Miner Barrick literally struck gold when it got regulatory approval for trading under the ticker of, you guessed it, $GOLD.
Pet retailer Petco also got through and is trading under the ticker $WOOF, while Shopify, Spotify, and Snapchat were able to bag tickers that start with the first four letters of their company names.
Another notable one has been Pinterest, which got the ticker $PINS, alluding to the fact that people use pictures, ideas, products, and links from its platform to pin on their boards. Robinhood was able to get $HOOD, while Ginkgo Bioworks trades as $DNA, a ticker that reflects what the biotech company does.
What Is Retail Thinking?
Retail sentiment on SpaceX was in the ‘bullish’ territory, with message volumes at ‘extremely high’ levels, according to data from Stocktwits.
Over the past year, SpaceX has seen a nearly 80% jump in users on Stocktwits, adding the company to their watchlist, indicating high retail interest in the space factor.
Peer Echostar stock has jumped over 350% this year, and Rocket Lab stock has more than doubled, jumping 117%.
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