SpaceX Lockup Expiration: Every SPCX Unlock Date, Checked
Since August, up to about 3.9 billion SpaceX shares have come out of lockup. In SEC filings, exactly one insider sale shows up.
No single date marks the SpaceX lockup expiration. The prospectus releases locked shares in 17 steps: the main 180-day lockup ends on December 8, 2026, an extended lockup lasts until results for the quarter ending June 30, 2027 come out, and Elon Musk's 6.4 billion shares unlock on June 12, 2027. Each date below was checked against the prospectus itself.
Read this as a summary of public filings, not investment advice.
When does the SpaceX lockup expire?
December 8, 2026 is when the main SpaceX lockup expires, the 180th day after the June 11 prospectus date. That day brings up to 328.4 million or 797.6 million shares, depending on an early-release test in August. For some holders an extended lockup runs into mid-2027, and Elon Musk's shares remain locked until June 12, 2027, 366 days after the prospectus.
A few trackers say December 9. Their count starts on June 12, the day SpaceX filed its final prospectus with the SEC.
The prospectus leaves no doubt, though. It lists "December 8, 2026 (180th day after the date of this prospectus)," and the prospectus carries a June 11, 2026 date.
SpaceX began trading on Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas as SPCX at $135.00 a share. It sold 555,555,555 Class A shares and gave underwriters an option on 83,333,333 more.
How many SpaceX shares unlock, and when?
Across two pools, SpaceX's lockup releases shares in 17 scheduled steps. Tranches from the 180-day pool unlocked after each of the first two earnings reports and on set days from day 70 to day 180. A separate extended pool, which leaves out Musk, releases after each earnings report into mid-2027. For the 180-day pool, the largest single step followed the third-quarter results: up to 1.3 billion shares.
Each row below comes from the "Shares Eligible for Future Sale" table in the 424B4 prospectus:
| When | Shares eligible | Pool |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd trading day after Q2 2026 results (released Aug 4) | Up to 911.5 million | 180-day, excludes affiliates |
| Same day, only if a price test was met | Up to 455.8 million more | 180-day |
| Aug 20, 2026 (day 70) | Up to 319.0 million | 180-day, 7% |
| Sep 9, 2026 (day 90) | Up to 319.0 million | 180-day, 7% |
| Sep 10, 2026 (day 91) | Up to 59.1 million | Affiliates |
| Sep 24, 2026 (day 105) | Up to 328.4 million | 180-day, 7% |
| Oct 9, 2026 (day 120) | Up to 328.4 million | 180-day, 7% |
| Oct 24, 2026 (day 135) | Up to 328.4 million | 180-day, 7% |
| 2nd trading day after Q3 2026 results (released Oct 20) | Up to 1.3 billion | 180-day, 28% |
| Dec 8, 2026 (day 180) | 328.4 million or 797.6 million | Rest of the 180-day pool |
| 2nd trading day after Q4 2026 results | Up to 351.9 million | Extended, 20% |
| Mar 18, 2027 (day 280) | Up to 176.0 million | Extended, 10% |
| 2nd trading day after Q1 2027 results | Up to 351.9 million | Extended, 20% |
| May 17, 2027 (day 340) | Up to 176.0 million | Extended, 10% |
| Jun 12, 2027 (day 366) | Up to 351.9 million | Extended, 20% |
| Jun 12, 2027 (day 366) | Up to 6.4 billion | All of Musk's shares |
| 2nd trading day after Q2 2027 results | Up to 351.9 million | Rest of the extended pool |
SpaceX's 8-K filings supply the earnings-linked dates: the August 4 report covered the quarter ended June 30, and the October 20 report covered the quarter ended September 30. October 24, day 135, was a Saturday.
Count everything released through day 135 plus the post-third-quarter tranche and you reach up to about 3.9 billion shares eligible for sale so far, leaving out the 455.8 million in the price-tested row.
Every day count lines up with the June 11 prospectus date. August 20 is day 70, September 9 is day 90, and December 8 is day 180.
The 7% tranches don't share one size, either. In the prospectus, the day-70 and day-90 releases come to 319.0 million shares and the later ones to 328.4 million.
What happened to SpaceX's early-release price trigger?
The prospectus promised an extra 455.8 million shares early if SpaceX stock closed at least 30% above the $135 IPO price, at $175.50 or higher, on at least five of the ten trading days ending on August 4, the first earnings release. According to third-party trackers, the test failed. In that case those shares stayed locked, and December 8 brings the larger 797.6 million figure.
SEC filings don't record the closing prices, so this is the trackers' finding rather than mine.
Both outcomes are written into the prospectus. December 8 brings "up to (i) 328.4 million shares... if the Additional Release Shares were released... or (ii) up to 797.6 million shares if the Additional Release Shares were not released."
When I asked Perplexity, it said the extra shares didn't unlock because SPCX was below its $135 IPO price. The bar was 30% above that price, not the price itself.
Have SpaceX insiders sold since the lockup ended?
SEC filings show a single insider sale since SpaceX listed. Gwynne Shotwell, its President and COO, filed a Form 144 on September 22, 2026 for 342,170 shares, then sold exactly that number the same day for about $52.5 million, at weighted-average prices between $151.15 and $154.72. She made the sale under a 10b5-1 trading plan adopted on June 23, 2026.
Her filings lay out the whole trail:
- Form 144, filed September 22: 342,170 shares, about $51.96 million in market value, through Morgan Stanley Smith Barney's executive financial services desk
- Form 4, filed September 24: options exercised for 342,170 shares on September 22
- The same Form 4: 342,170 shares sold in five lots, averaging $153.57
Every figure matches to the share. The Form 144 named 342,170 shares, the option exercises covered 342,170, and the five sales total 342,170.
Post-IPO insider sales end there. SpaceX's filing list since the IPO shows 1 Form 144, 3 Form 4s and one amendment, 1 Form 3, and 4 Schedule 13G ownership reports.
A Form 4 from Musk does show an 11,390-share sale, but it's dated April 2, 2026, before the IPO. That isn't lockup selling.
Why doesn't most lockup selling show up in SEC filings?
Most shares leaving the SpaceX lockup belong to people who never have to report a sale. SEC rules require a Form 144 only from affiliates such as officers and directors, and only when they plan to sell more than 5,000 shares or $50,000 in three months. Form 4 covers officers, directors and 10% owners. Employees and non-affiliated investors can sell unlocked shares without filing either one.
When the SEC updated Rule 144, it said so directly: "Non-affiliates no longer need to file Form 144."
So a tracker can say 1.3 billion shares unlocked, and EDGAR still won't tell you who sold. A Form 144 appears only when an affiliate plans a sale, and a Form 4 arrives within two business days after an insider trades.
That's what makes the visible filings worth following. A Form 144 from an executive is advance notice of a planned sale.
Funds leave a slower trail. Institutional managers file their holdings on Form 13F within 45 days of each quarter's end, which puts third-quarter positions due by November 14, 2026.
A fund that sold unlocked SPCX shares during the quarter would report a smaller stake there. The filing itself is explained in what is a 13F.
Supply also shows up in the share count. In its 10-Q, SpaceX reported 8,246,541,218 Class A and 5,334,522,491 Class B shares outstanding as of October 15, 2026.
Who holds the largest SpaceX stakes?
SpaceX's largest Class A holders appear in four Schedule 13G filings, each reporting holdings as of June 30, 2026: Elon Musk at 48.4% on a fully converted basis, Google LLC with its parent Alphabet at 7.2%, Antonio Gracias at 6.5%, and a group of 58 Founders Fund entities. Musk's filing reports sole voting power over 6,418,547,515 shares.
The percentages rest on different bases, so don't add them together. Musk's footnote assumes every one of his Class B shares converts to Class A.
A 13G is the short form for holders above 5% who aren't seeking control, and 13D and 13G filings covers how they work. These four came in between August 11 and August 14, 2026.
The filings can't tell you whether those holders will sell after an unlock. Any large holder who is also an affiliate would file a Form 144 first.
When does Elon Musk's SpaceX lockup end?
June 12, 2027 is when Elon Musk's SpaceX lockup ends, the 366th day after the prospectus. That day up to 6.4 billion shares become eligible, covering all of his holdings, including Class A stock from converted Class B and 350 million Class B shares underlying options. The prospectus offers his shares no early-release steps before that date.
The vote is his, too. According to the prospectus, he'd hold about 82.4% of the voting power after the offering.
Altogether, shares locked for more than a year come to 7.8 billion, every one of Musk's included.
That doesn't mean he'll sell. An unlock makes shares eligible for sale; it doesn't put them on the market.
The schedule isn't fixed, either. In the prospectus, Goldman Sachs "may release any of the securities described above at any time, subject to applicable requirements." An early waiver would shift these dates.
What is an IPO lock-up period?
An IPO lock-up period is an agreement that keeps existing shareholders, such as founders, employees and early investors, from selling for a set time after a company goes public. Underwriters set the terms, and the prospectus discloses them. In the simplest version everything releases on one date, often 180 days out, while SpaceX releases in steps tied to earnings and calendar days.
Once the lockup lifts, some holders can also ask the company to register their shares for sale. According to SpaceX's prospectus, holders of about 12.2 billion Class A shares, counting shares from converted Class B stock, carry those registration rights.
A 2004 study of 172 lock-up expirations on Germany's Neuer Markt found significant negative abnormal returns and a 25% increase in trading volume10008-X) around expiration. It's an older, single-market sample, so read it as history rather than a forecast.
Other companies stagger too. Anthropic's S-1, filed October 26, 2026, spreads its lockup across 23 release dates, and I walked through it in Anthropic's S-1.
How do you track SpaceX insider sales as they're filed?
To track SpaceX insider sales, watch two SEC filings for SPCX: the Form 144 notice an affiliate files before selling, and the Form 4 reporting the trade within two business days. Edgrapi's /v1/form144/SPCX and /v1/insider/SPCX return both as JSON. On October 28, 2026 they returned Shotwell's notice along with her matching sale.
This printed the notice and the sale:
import requests
API = "https://api.edgrapi.com/v1"
HEADERS = {"X-API-Key": "YOUR_KEY"}
notices = requests.get(f"{API}/form144/SPCX", headers=HEADERS, params={"limit": 20}, timeout=60).json()
for n in notices["filings"]:
print("144", n["filed"], n["seller"], n["total_shares_to_sell"], round(n["total_market_value"]))
trades = requests.get(f"{API}/insider/SPCX", headers=HEADERS, params={"limit": 20}, timeout=60).json()
for f in trades["filings"]:
sold = sum(t["shares"] for t in f["transactions"]
if t["code"] == "S" and t["date"] >= "2026-06-12") # after the IPO only
if sold:
print("4 ", f["filed"], f["owner"], sold, "shares sold")Output:
144 2026-09-22 Gwynne Shotwell 342170 51958514
4 2026-09-24 Shotwell Gwynne 342170 shares soldKeep the date filter. Drop it and Musk's pre-IPO sale from April appears, looking like lockup selling.
Prefer not to poll? An Edgrapi webhook on SPCX pushes each new insider filing to your server, and the SEC filing webhooks guide walks through setup.
Watch December 8, then the filings
Mark December 8, 2026, then follow SPCX's Form 144s and Form 4s instead of the unlock headlines. Executive sales surface there first, and most other selling won't surface at all. To pull the filings yourself, get a free Edgrapi key and query SPCX.
Frequently asked questions
When does the SpaceX lockup end?
According to the prospectus dated June 11, 2026, the main 180-day SpaceX lockup ends on December 8, 2026. For some holders an extended lockup keeps releasing shares until results for the quarter ending June 30, 2027 come out, and Elon Musk's shares stay locked until June 12, 2027.
How many SPCX shares unlock on December 8?
On December 8, 2026, up to 328.4 million SpaceX shares unlock if an early price-triggered release happened in August, or up to 797.6 million if it didn't. Trackers report the August price test failed, pointing to the larger figure, though that rests on closing prices SEC filings don't show.
When can Elon Musk sell SpaceX stock?
Elon Musk's shares stay locked until June 12, 2027, the 366th day after the SpaceX prospectus. That day up to 6.4 billion shares become eligible, covering everything he owns. Eligibility isn't a sale, and any sale he makes afterward shows up on Form 4 within two business days.
Did the SpaceX early lockup release trigger?
For the early release, SPCX needed to close at $175.50 or higher, 30% above the $135 IPO price, on five of the ten trading days ending August 4, 2026. Trackers report the test failed, so the extra 455.8 million shares would stay locked until December 8. SEC filings don't record the closing prices.
What is a lock-up period in an IPO?
A lock-up period is an agreement barring existing shareholders, such as founders, employees and early investors, from selling for a set time after an IPO. The prospectus discloses its terms. Some release everything on one date, while SpaceX and Anthropic release shares in stages tied to earnings and calendar dates.
Why don't SpaceX lockup sales show up on EDGAR?
Only insiders report. Affiliates such as executives file a Form 144 before selling more than 5,000 shares or $50,000 in three months, and officers, directors and 10% owners file a Form 4 after trading. Per the SEC, non-affiliates no longer need to file Form 144, so most unlocked selling stays out of filings.