SPECIAL EDITION · SpaceX (SPCX) · 2026-06-16 — final, at the 4:00 PM ET close
📊 Day one, final: ≈1.72 million contracts traded · $2.48 billion in total premium · stock ranged ≈$200–$226.
Today was the first day of listed options trading on SpaceX (SPCX) — and traders showed up with every kind of bet at once: hedges, income plays, upside lottery tickets, and big-volatility wagers. Because the contracts only started trading today, open interest began at zero — so 100% of this flow is brand-new positioning.
Let's walk through the biggest trades on the tape — and the distinct bets behind them.
🛡️ Risk reversals — the day's biggest tickets (hedge, or bearish bet?)
Sell upside calls, buy downside puts — these were the largest structures of the day, and two landed big in September: a ≈$153M one at midday and a second ≈$58M one in the final 15 minutes. This shape has two very different meanings, and the options tape cannot tell them apart.
| Time (ET) | Side | Contracts | Strike | Expiry | Price | Premium | Printed as |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12:44:58 | SELL | 18,488 | $225C | 26-09-18 | $42.36 | $78.3M | auction |
| ↳ | BUY | 18,488 | $205P | 26-09-18 | $40.30 | $74.5M | auction |
| 15:46:20 | SELL | 7,641 | $220C | 26-09-18 | $32.63 | $24.9M | auction |
| ↳ | BUY | 7,641 | $200P | 26-09-18 | $42.83 | $32.7M | auction |
| 12:44:38 | SELL | 1,052 | $225C | 26-09-18 | $42.10 | $4.4M | multi-leg |
| ↳ | BUY | 1,052 | $205P | 26-09-18 | $40.05 | $4.2M | multi-leg |
| 12:44:38 | SELL | 732 | $225C | 26-09-18 | $42.15 | $3.1M | multi-leg |
| ↳ | BUY | 732 | $205P | 26-09-18 | $40.10 | $2.9M | multi-leg |
| 10:21:29 | SELL | 1,000 | $175C | 26-07-17 | $48.84 | $4.9M | auction |
| 14:27:11 | BUY | 1,500 | $180P | 26-08-21 | $22.39 | $3.4M | floor block |
| ↳ | SELL | 750 | $300C | 26-08-21 | $17.51 | $1.3M | floor block |
| 12:44:18 | SELL | 257 | $225C | 26-09-18 | $42.56 | $1.1M | multi-leg |
| ↳ | BUY | 257 | $205P | 26-09-18 | $39.75 | $1.0M | multi-leg |
⚠️ Read this responsibly — it could be either:
- 🛡️ a protective collar: a downside hedge on SpaceX shares the trader already owns (very plausible for an early holder who can finally hedge), or
- 🐻 an outright bearish bet: a synthetic short with no stock behind it.
The two look identical on the options tape — the stock leg, if any, is invisible to us. So don't read this as confirmed bearish conviction. Treat it as a large defensive/short-leaning structure of unknown intent.
💵 Bullish income — selling puts to get paid
Selling puts collects premium up front — a "happy to own SpaceX cheaper, paid to wait" stance. Quietly the most directionally bullish flow of the day.
| Time (ET) | Side | Contracts | Strike | Expiry | Price | Premium | Printed as |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:30:02 | SELL | 200 | $350P | 27-01-15 | $169.50 | $3.4M | lit |
| 09:40:13 | SELL | 200 | $350P | 27-01-15 | $169.00 | $3.4M | lit |
| 10:43:27 | SELL | 1,000 | $150P | 27-06-17 | $33.51 | $3.4M | block cross |
| 14:24:46 | SELL | 501 | $200P | 26-12-18 | $48.10 | $2.4M | lit |
| 09:36:09 | SELL | 200 | $300P | 26-08-21 | $111.80 | $2.2M | auction |
| 11:44:43 | SELL | 900 | $165P | 26-09-18 | $20.70 | $1.9M | floor block |
🎰 Upside lottos — buying far-out calls
Cheap, far-out-of-the-money calls: small risk, big payoff if SpaceX rockets.
| Time (ET) | Side | Contracts | Strike | Expiry | Price | Premium | Printed as |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:23:46 | BUY | 6,532 | $325C | 26-07-17 | $7.00 | $4.6M | floor block |
| 11:50:05 | BUY | 253 | $100C | 28-01-21 | $132.94 | $3.4M | multi-leg |
| 11:33:37 | BUY | 621 | $215C | 26-07-17 | $32.16 | $2.0M | auction |
| 14:28:26 | BUY | 500 | $250C | 26-08-21 | $28.08 | $1.4M | multi-leg |
| 09:55:43 | BUY | 399 | $220C | 26-07-17 | $35.00 | $1.4M | sweep |
| 09:42:39 | BUY | 395 | $210C | 26-07-17 | $34.50 | $1.4M | sweep |
🎢 Big-move bets — straddles & calendars
Buying calls and puts (straddle), or the same strike across expiries (calendar) — wagers on a large move / rising volatility, no opinion on direction.
| Time (ET) | Side | Contracts | Strike | Expiry | Price | Premium | Printed as |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14:10:24 | BUY | 2,500 | $200P | 26-08-21 | $32.40 | $8.1M | floor block |
| ↳ | BUY | 2,500 | $200P | 26-07-17 | $21.85 | $5.5M | floor block |
| 10:13:57 | BUY | 2,004 | $220P | 26-07-17 | $33.80 | $6.8M | auction |
| ↳ | BUY | 2,004 | $220C | 26-07-17 | $30.20 | $6.1M | auction |
📏 Range & spread bets — condors & verticals
Multi-strike condors and vertical spreads — defined-risk bets that SpaceX settles into a band or moves only so far.
| Time (ET) | Side | Contracts | Strike | Expiry | Price | Premium | Printed as |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:19:44 | BUY | 4,620 | $210P | 26-07-17 | $27.75 | $12.8M | auction |
| ↳ | SELL | 1,566 | $245C | 26-07-17 | $20.42 | $3.2M | auction |
| ↳ | SELL | 1,566 | $255C | 26-07-17 | $17.70 | $2.8M | auction |
| ↳ | SELL | 783 | $265C | 26-07-17 | $15.51 | $1.2M | auction |
| 10:06:59 | MID | 825 | $230P | 26-06-18 | $24.30 | $2.0M | multi-leg |
| ↳ | MID | 825 | $225P | 26-06-18 | $20.89 | $1.7M | multi-leg |
| ↳ | SELL | 825 | $220P | 26-06-18 | $17.73 | $1.5M | multi-leg |
| ↳ | BUY | 825 | $215P | 26-06-18 | $14.82 | $1.2M | multi-leg |
| 11:24:34 | MID | 1,504 | $205C | 26-06-18 | $16.20 | $2.4M | multi-leg |
| ↳ | MID | 1,504 | $210C | 26-06-18 | $13.80 | $2.1M | multi-leg |
| 09:33:20 | BUY | 500 | $220P | 26-06-18 | $27.40 | $1.4M | auction |
| ↳ | MID | 500 | $215P | 26-06-18 | $23.60 | $1.2M | auction |
How it printed: lit = took the displayed market · sweep = took multiple exchanges · auction = price-improvement · floor block / block cross = negotiated · multi-leg = packaged spread. "↳" = legs of the same trade.
📊 Two ways to size a bet — and why they disagree
The same trade can look tiny or huge depending on the yardstick:
- Net premium = cash actually paid/collected (capital at risk). The big risk reversal nets to only ≈$4M (the call sale funds the puts).
- Directional premium = dollars committed to a direction, counting both legs. There the risk reversal is a ≈$153M downside-tilted position (hedge or bearish — see the ⚠️ note above).
By net premium the straddle and short calls top the list; by directional premium the risk reversal dwarfs everything. Neither view alone tells the whole story.
🔗 The DXYZ connection
SpaceX is the largest holding (≈16%) of the Destiny Tech100 fund (DXYZ) — so SPCX's brand-new options tape is now the most direct, real-time read on what drives DXYZ day-to-day. See our same-day DXYZ options flow breakdown, where a desk wrote puts to collect income near the fund's NAV.
🤔 The takeaway
The options debut isn't a one-way trade — it's a full spectrum of views: two giant risk reversals (hedges or bearish bets — the tape can't say which), bullish put-selling for income, cheap upside lottos, big-move straddles, and range-bound condors. The downside-leaning structures actually got bigger into the close, but the crowd as a whole positioned every which way the first chance it got.
⏳ Come back tomorrow
Because these options only began trading today, tomorrow's pre-market (≈6:30 AM ET) brings the very first open-interest snapshot for SpaceX options — the definitive confirmation of how much of today's flow stuck as real open positioning. We'll update the verdict then.
📚 More whale trades, fully decoded: browse our Unusual Option Trades hub for daily institutional flow and case studies.
Market commentary, not investment advice. Options carry risk; the positions described are read from public exchange data and may be hedges rather than directional bets.
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