Wall Street buckles up for SpaceX liftoff, hoping for a glitch-free ride

Wall Street firms are scrambling to prevent technical disruptions during SpaceX’s highly anticipated $75 billion IPO, set to debut on Friday. The event follows Facebook’s 2012 IPO chaos, which cost market-makers hundreds of millions due to trading system failures, prompting Nasdaq and other exchanges to stress-test their platforms extensively. Executives at Nasdaq, Citadel Securities, and Jane Street have run simulations and upgraded infrastructure, while Morgan Stanley serves as the stabilization agent to ensure orderly trading. Nasdaq has overhauled its flagship IPO technology, Bookviewer, and implemented a backup trading platform to mitigate risks. The exchange also hosted weekend mock IPOs for clients to simulate the process. S&P Global, which facilitates allocations for institutional investors, has scaled its infrastructure with AI support to handle the massive order volume, describing the deal as unprecedented in size. The 2012 Facebook IPO saw Nasdaq pay $42 million in claims after a technology failure disrupted trading, with participants estimating $500 million in losses. The exchange also faced a $10 million SEC fine. Similarly, BATS Global Markets abandoned its own IPO attempt in 2012 due to technical glitches. Traders and brokers are balancing high-profile client events with behind-the-scenes efforts to avoid another market disruption. Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel, called the SpaceX IPO an historic event, warning that trading issues could negatively impact investor confidence and upcoming IPOs from companies like Anthropic and OpenAI. Market participants acknowledge lingering concerns from past failures, with one Wall Street executive noting ‘scar tissue’ from Facebook’s debut. The focus remains on ensuring a glitch-free launch for SpaceX, given its scale and the broader implications for Wall Street’s IPO market.