SpaceX Stock Has Suddenly Gone Quiet. Options Traders Are Betting on What Comes Next.

Shares of SpaceX have gone from one of Wall Street's wildest new stocks to being remarkably quiet, something investors might not have expected from a company headed by Elon Musk.

After a volatile public-market debut that sent shares soaring before a sharp reversal, SpaceX stock has spent roughly three weeks trading in a narrow range around $140, CNBC noted.

The change is striking given the contrast with SpaceX's first weeks as a publicly traded company. Shares closed their first trading session at $160.95 and later surged above $225 before tumbling below $105, according to market data.

Now, the stock is hovering close to $140. That stability has caused implied volatility, a measure commonly used to gauge expected stock swings and options pricing, to collapse.

The options market reflects that new reality. SpaceX weekly options expiring Sept. 25 were pricing in a move of approximately $16, equivalent to an implied swing of about 11%. Current options-chain data also show implied volatility in the mid-50% range for several September contracts.

One possible explanation is SpaceX's rapid transition from a highly speculative IPO to an institutional holding. The company has been added to major indexes, including the Nasdaq-100, forcing funds that track those benchmarks to buy and hold the stock. SpaceX's addition to the Nasdaq-100 had already been expected to generate significant new demand for shares.

Institutional interest also remains significant. A recent Goldman Sachs analysis found SpaceX among a small group of stocks in which both hedge funds and mutual funds were overweight relative to the S&P 500.

Options traders, however, appear divided about what comes next. CNBC reported that open put contracts still outnumber calls, with a put-to-call open-interest ratio of about 1.1. But trading activity has recently shifted toward bullish bets.

Of roughly 500,000 SpaceX options contracts traded Thursday, about 335,000 were calls, according to SpotGamma data cited by the outlet. Approximately 168,000 of those calls were likely purchased, compared with about 75,000 puts bought.

The seven most heavily traded contracts were all calls. The most popular was a $144 strike call nearing expiration, effectively betting on another short-term increase in SpaceX shares.