SpaceX proxy stocks lit up this week as retail and institutional traders scrambled to build exposure ahead of the company’s public debut, with options volumes in EchoStar, AST SpaceMobile, and a handful of space-themed ETFs running at multiples of their recent averages.
| Name | Thursday Move | Options Volume vs. Avg |
|---|---|---|
| EchoStar (SATS) | +11% | 11x 30-day average |
| AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) | +12% | ~$140M in options traded |
| Virgin Galactic (SPCE) | Higher | 3.5x calls vs. puts |
| Procure UFO ETF | Up ~119% past year | Supply bottleneck forming |
| Defiance JEDI ETF | Up ~35% past year | Buying ASTS, SATS, Spire |
The IPO priced at $135 a share, implying a valuation of roughly $1.75 trillion. At that figure, Seeking Alpha’s analysis puts the price-to-revenue multiple at approximately 94x, a level that makes even the most expensive software companies look conservatively priced. Whether that multiple is justified or absurd, traders were not waiting for the debate to settle.
“There’s a ton of short-dated call buying in these names as a way to get long SpaceX,” said Danny Kirsch, head of options trading at Piper Sandler. “I have no doubt part of it is retail demand but there is definitely institutional demand for SATS.”
EchoStar gained another 5% in early Friday trading, extending Thursday’s 11% surge. Options volume in the ticker ran at more than eleven times its 30-day average, according to Cboe’s LiveVol data.
EchoStar’s SpaceX Proxy Stocks Case Has Real Cracks
The SpaceX proxy stocks narrative around EchoStar has a foundation traders are not always pricing. The Colorado-based company carries a heavy debt load, and its auditor raised a going-concern flag as recently as March 2026, casting doubt on the company’s ability to operate without restructuring or fresh capital. That is not the profile of a clean proxy play.
Still, the commercial ties to SpaceX are real. EchoStar filed an 8-K in September 2025 announcing a spectrum sale and commercial agreement with SpaceX, then followed with a November 2025 filing disclosing a deal to sell its full unpaired AWS-3 spectrum license portfolio to the rocket company. Those agreements, plus an estimated 3% ownership stake in SpaceX itself, explain why the stock is catching bids. They do not resolve the balance sheet question.
FMR LLC, the parent of Fidelity, holds a 10.1% stake in EchoStar, which signals that at least some institutional money has been positioned here for reasons beyond a short-term IPO trade. Kirsch said institutional demand for SATS is genuine, not purely retail momentum.
ETF Demand Creates Its Own Feedback Loop for SpaceX Proxy Stocks
A separate mechanism is amplifying the moves: space-themed ETFs are being flooded with new money from investors who cannot access SpaceX directly and are running out of time to act.
The Procure Space ETF (UFO) operates under an 80% investment policy requiring it to hold companies that derive at least half their revenue or profits from the space industry, tracking the S-Network Space Index. When fresh cash pours in, the fund has to buy its index constituents, whether or not the underlying valuations make sense. Morningstar data shows AST SpaceMobile represents roughly 4.91% of UFO’s portfolio, making it one of the fund’s larger holdings.
Cory Johnson, chief market strategist at Epistrophy Capital Research, described the dynamic plainly: “People who can’t buy SpaceX or didn’t think they could get enough quick enough have been plowing money into these ETFs and so these funds are having to buy shares of AST, EchoStar, Spire, etc. It has nothing to do with the quality of these companies, demand for their products, or their cash flows.”
AST SpaceMobile has its own near-term catalyst regardless of the SpaceX trade: its satellites are expected to launch on a SpaceX rocket in the coming week. Thursday, the stock climbed 12% alongside nearly $140 million in options activity.
SpaceX options begin trading Tuesday. Implied volatility in EchoStar already sits at 97 and AST’s at 129, numbers that price in significant movement before expiry. Anthony Denier, Group President and US CEO of Webull, wrote that SpaceX “has the potential to become one of the most actively traded options names among retail investors,” pointing to the high share price, volatility, and the put option as a more practical bearish vehicle than a borrow-constrained short.
Tuesday’s open in SpaceX options is the first real test of whether this week’s proxy frenzy translates into sustained volume or quickly fades once investors have a direct instrument to trade.
