SpaceX stock lost more than $600 billion in market value over three trading days, a sum nearly equal to half of Bitcoin's $1.3 trillion market cap. Bitcoin BTC $64,168.87 fell less than 1% over the same stretch, holding near $63,600, according to CoinDesk data.
Bond Sale Plan Triggers Selloff
The stock dropped 16% on Monday to $154.60, its lowest since its June 12 debut, taking its three-day decline to about 23%. The trigger was a plan to sell at least $20 billion of bonds, the company's first debt-market borrowing, to fund the artificial-intelligence buildout undertaken when it bought Elon Musk's xAI in February.
SpaceX chose to borrow rather than issue new shares, avoiding dilution. A week ago it was worth nearly $2.5 trillion and had briefly passed Amazon and Microsoft; now it sits just above $2 trillion. Selling continued into Tuesday, with a perpetual futures contract tracking SpaceX on Hyperliquid down another 15% to around $151.
Thin Float vs Deep Liquidity
Part of the move is structural. SpaceX trades on a thin float — only a small share of its stock is available to trade — so each move is amplified. The 16% single-session drop on a single headline reflects that thinness. Bitcoin's market is far deeper and more liquid, which is part of why it took the same week in stride.
Yet the two are still driven by the same engine. Monday's drop was not only SpaceX: The Nasdaq fell 1.3% as investors questioned whether the enormous sums big tech firms are spending on AI will pay off, with Alphabet and Amazon both sliding. That AI-driven risk appetite is what aided crypto's recovery this month, so deeper cracks in it could erode the bid bitcoin has leaned on. So far the selling has stayed inside the stock.
Oil Eases, a Slow Tailwind for Risk Assets
Meanwhile, oil is pulling the other way. The U.S.-Iran peace process keeps advancing, with Washington issuing a 60-day license allowing Iran to sell oil again. Brent crude settled below $78 a barrel. Cheaper oil eases inflationary pressure that has kept the Federal Reserve hawkish, a slow tailwind for risk assets including bitcoin.
That leaves bitcoin drifting rather than breaking, near the lower end of the range it has held all month, caught between a wobbling AI trade and an easing oil picture. For all the talk this year of bitcoin as the speculative bet, it was the newly public megastock that swung 23% in three days while bitcoin held its ground.