To The Moon

SpaceX’s IPO is getting close. Reuters has reported a tentative timeline of a June 4 roadshow and June 11 pricing, although the final schedule will still depend on SEC review and the actual underwriting process.

But the market has already started trading the story. Since SpaceX’s confidential filing on April 1, the entire commercial space value chain has been repeatedly repriced.

For retail investors, the real question is simple: how can you actually get exposure?

There are not many clean options. So in this post, I’ll walk through the main public-market routes: which ETF genuinely holds private SpaceX exposure, which product looks like a SpaceX proxy but is actually a NAV-premium trap, and which ETFs or single stocks are better understood as “space-sector side bets.”

NASA: The ETF That Actually Holds SpaceX Exposure Through an SPV

The full name is Tema Space Innovators ETF, ticker NASA. It was launched on March 30, 2026 by Tema ETFs. Although the fund is only about two months old, it has quickly become one of the most watched products in the SpaceX trade.

According to Tema’s website as of May 26, 2026, NASA has a net expense ratio of 0.87%, a gross expense ratio of 0.94%, and is actively managed. Assets under management have already reached about $1.53 billion, and ETF.com has reported that it has become the largest pure-play space ETF.

NASA is not just a “SpaceX ETF.” It is a broader bet on the commercial space economy: launch systems, satellite internet, earth observation, and satellite communications. Over the past few years, this theme has moved from PowerPoint speculation to real revenue and cash flow.

SpaceX is the clear leader in this ecosystem, and it is also what makes NASA different from most other space ETFs.

Normally, a public ETF cannot simply hold a large amount of private-company stock because of liquidity and regulatory constraints. NASA gets around this by holding SpaceX exposure through an SPV, or special purpose vehicle. This is a legal and compliant structure, but it is still rare in a publicly traded ETF. Tema’s own positioning is that NASA is the first pure-play space ETF to provide SpaceX exposure through an SPV.

Holdings: SpaceX Is the Second-Largest Company Exposure

Based on the latest disclosed holdings, SpaceX SPV is NASA’s second-largest company exposure if we exclude cash, with a weight of 7.54%. If cash is included, it ranks third.

Either way, SpaceX is one of the most important positions in the portfolio.

The top holdings include:

1. Rocket Lab — medium-launch rockets

2. SpaceX SPV — private SpaceX exposure, roughly 8%

3. Planet Labs — earth observation

4. Intuitive Machines — lunar landing

5. Firefly Aerospace — small launch vehicles

6. AST SpaceMobile — direct-to-device satellite connectivity

7. BlackSky — satellite imagery

8. MDA Space — Canadian space infrastructure

The top 10 holdings account for roughly 60% of the fund. That means concentration is not low. If one of the major holdings sells off sharply, NASA will feel it.

What Happened After Launch

NASA listed on March 30, but trading volume was light in the first couple of weeks. The turning point came on April 1, when Reuters reported SpaceX’s confidential filing. From that point onward, capital started flowing into the fund aggressively. The momentum accelerated again after the public S-1 filing on May 20.

In terms of liquidity, the ETF now trades several million dollars a day on average. For normal retail investors, entering and exiting should not be difficult.

Compared with other public-market options, NASA gives the cleanest SpaceX exposure. Most ETFs cannot access SpaceX private shares. NASA is the exception.

If your goal is simply to find the closest public-market substitute for SpaceX, NASA is probably the most direct choice available right now.

That said, it is not perfect.

The fund is still young. Even though AUM has grown quickly, it does not yet have the same operating history as older space ETFs such as ARKX or UFO.

The fee is also not cheap. A 0.87% net expense ratio is significantly higher than a typical passive index ETF. That is the cost of active management and private-market access.

The portfolio is concentrated. The top 10 holdings make up around 60% of the fund. If names like Rocket Lab or AST SpaceMobile drop hard, NASA will be dragged down as well.

DXYZ: Looks Like a SpaceX Proxy, But the NAV Premium Is the Trap

Many retail investors have treated DXYZ as a SpaceX proxy. This needs to be separated from the NASA discussion.

First, DXYZ is not an ETF. It is a closed-end fund.

Second, its actual SpaceX exposure is much lower than many people think. The common claim on social media has been that DXYZ gives investors roughly 50% SpaceX exposure. That is wrong.

Based on the latest disclosed holdings, DXYZ’s largest position is actually a U.S. Treasury fund at 46.83%. Its SpaceX SPV exposure is 13.51%.

That is not nothing, but it is nowhere close to 50%.

The bigger issue is the NAV premium.

DXYZ trades around $60, while its NAV is only around $11. In plain English, you are paying $60 for roughly $11 of underlying assets. The remaining $49 is sentiment premium.

This is the classic closed-end fund trap.

When market sentiment is hot, a CEF can trade at a huge premium to NAV. When sentiment cools, the premium can collapse. That means the stock price can fall dramatically even if the underlying private holdings do not change much.

DXYZ has already shown this kind of behavior. Its premium has swung violently, at one point falling from more than 200% to around 30%. Retail investors have been burned multiple times by this structure.

So the issue is not simply “Does DXYZ own SpaceX?” It does.

The real question is: are you willing to pay several times NAV for that exposure?

Other Ways to Play the SpaceX IPO Theme

ARKVX is another product that holds private SpaceX exposure, but it is an interval fund rather than a normal ETF. Redemptions are limited and usually only available quarterly. Liquidity is much worse than an ETF. If your account supports it and you are comfortable locking up capital for one to two years, it can be another option.

SMT.L, or Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, is a long-established UK growth trust. SpaceX is reportedly its largest private holding, with Times reporting that it accounts for about 19% of the trust’s assets. That is a higher weight than any U.S.-listed ETF. The trade-off is that investors need access to the London Stock Exchange, accept FX risk, and deal with the trust’s own discount or premium to NAV.

RKLB, ASTS, and PL are the listed stocks most likely to receive spillover attention from the SpaceX IPO. The logic is straightforward: if SpaceX resets the valuation anchor for the commercial space sector, other public space names may also rerate.

But these are not SpaceX substitutes. They are individual companies with their own business execution risks. Buying them means making a second layer of stock-specific judgment within the space theme.

Bottom Line: Know What You Actually Own

The SpaceX IPO is a valuation-anchor event for the entire commercial space sector. But retail investors do not have many clean ways to participate.

The main routes are:

• IPO allocation: some shares may be available to non-institutional investors, but the allocation rate will likely be extremely low.

• NASA ETF: roughly 9–10% SpaceX exposure plus a basket of listed space stocks.

• DXYZ: apparent high exposure, but actual SpaceX weight is about 13.5%, and the product trades at a massive NAV premium.

• RKLB / ASTS / PL: high-volatility single-stock bets on the broader space sector.

My own view: NASA is currently the cleanest public-market SpaceX substitute, but it is not SpaceX itself. What you are buying is the broader commercial space value chain, with SpaceX making up roughly one-tenth of the portfolio.

As for DXYZ, retail investors should be very careful. If you really want to trade it, look at its historical premium and discount to NAV first. Otherwise, you may not be buying SpaceX exposure — you may just be buying market hype at a massive markup.

In the next post, I’ll take a closer look at what SpaceX’s listing could mean for Tesla.

$Space Exploration Technologies Corp(SPCX)$

$Tema Space Innovators ETF(NASA)$ $Destiny Tech100 Inc(DXYZ)$ $Procure Space ETF(UFO)$ $DEFIANCE CONNECTIVE TECHNOLOGIES ETF(UFOX)$ $ARK Space Exploration & Innovation ETF(ARKX)$ $SCOTTISH MORT(SMT.UK)$ $Rocket Lab USA, Inc.(RKLB)$ $AST SpaceMobile, Inc.(ASTS)$ $Planet Labs Pbc(PL)$ $特斯拉(TSLA)$