Korean retail investors pour 3 trillion won into SpaceX, but shares give back gains

Korean retail investors — known as "seohak gaemi," or individual investors who trade on US markets — extended their net purchases of SpaceX shares for a fourth consecutive day, with total net buying approaching 3 trillion won.

According to data from the Korea Securities Depository's Seibro portal, retail investors net purchased $136.67 million (209.5 billion won) worth of SpaceX shares on June 17, local time. Total purchases came to $182.47 million, while sales reached $45.8 million.

Cumulative net purchases of SpaceX shares over the four trading days since the company's listing reached $1.9496 billion (2.9887 trillion won), approaching the 3 trillion won mark.

SpaceX has been the most net-purchased US stock by Korean retail investors so far this month, with buying more than six times that of second-ranked Marvell Technology at $309.55 million.

SpaceX shares have fallen for two consecutive trading sessions, pulling average investor returns back to roughly break-even. The stock closed at $184.98 per share on June 18.

That figure is close to the volume-weighted average price of $181.71 over the five trading days since SpaceX's listing, meaning investors who bought in have, on average, barely broken even.

SpaceX debuted at $135 and surged past $200 over three straight sessions before falling for the first time on June 17, dropping 4.95 percent.

Korean retail investors' daily buying volume also shrank from $670.12 million on June 16.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that SpaceX plans to issue $20 billion (about 30.7 trillion won) in corporate bonds, drawing wide attention.

Sources told the FT that SpaceX plans to discuss the bond issuance with Wall Street banks this week.

In early negotiations, the yield on SpaceX's 10-year corporate bonds is expected to be set at 1.35 to 1.5 percentage points above the US government bond rate, sources said.

Proceeds from the bond sale are expected to repay a $20 billion bridge loan that Elon Musk took on after merging xAI and social media platform X — formerly Twitter — into SpaceX in March.

The final interest rate and issuance size will depend on market conditions, sources added.