3 Lessons Learned From SpaceX for Anthropic IPO Investors This October

Wait ... are you sure you want to buy shares of Anthropic at its IPO? Well, according to The Motley Fool's research, 7 out of 10 of you are planning on it. That's even after what happened to the IPO investors of Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ: SPCX), aka SpaceX.

Actually, what did happen to SpaceX's IPO investors? Here are three lessons we learned from the SpaceX IPO that should be very useful to Anthropic IPO investors in the fall.

Image source: Getty Images.

Lesson 1: IPO day doesn't mean IPO price

Days before SpaceX went public, investors already knew its IPO price: $135 per share.

Once that price was officially set, it couldn't be changed (at least, not without some major headaches!). So, when IPO day rolled around on Friday, June 12, IPO investors paid the expected $135 per share.

However, when SpaceX's shares began trading on the Nasdaq at about noon that same day, they debuted at $150 per share and almost immediately jumped to $168 per share. For the rest of the day, they bounced around between $155.42 and $176.52 per share.

As of this writing, SpaceX's stock is at $151.37 per share, meaning that investors who bought actual IPO shares (at $135) are in the black, but most other day-one investors are in the red.

Anthropic investors should expect a similar price difference between IPO shares and other shares bought on IPO Day.

Image source: Getty Images.

Lesson 2: Pick the right broker

Historically, the vast majority of IPO shares have been reserved for institutional investors. Individual investors were seldom offered a piece of the (true) IPO pie: They had to wait to buy shares on the open market once trading began.

SpaceX's IPO broke with this tradition, reserving about 30% of its IPO shares for retail investors through several different brokerages, including Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) and SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ: SOFI).

There's no guarantee that Anthropic will go the same route, but if so, you'll need the right type of account at the right brokerage.

Robinhood and SoFi Active Investing, for example, allow all their account holders to access IPO shares, regardless of account balances. Major brokerage Fidelity, on the other hand, usually requires $500,000 in household assets to participate in an IPO. Still, it made a special exception for the SpaceX IPO, lowering its threshold to just $2,000.

If you're hoping to access Anthropic IPO shares, make sure your brokerage will receive an allocation you can access.

Lesson 3: Expect volatility

If you think SpaceX shares bounced around on their first day of public trading, their first three months have been a roller coaster!

The stock briefly topped $200 per share on June 16, bottomed out at $108.27 per share in early August, and has averaged about $142 per share overall. That's roughly the midpoint between the IPO price of $135 and the Nasdaq debut price of $150.

There's likely to be more volatility ahead for the newly public SpaceX as it tries to successfully launch its Starship program and build out its AI infrastructure.

As another very high-profile IPO, Anthropic is also likely to have a volatile opening day/week/month/year. Investors should be aware of the risks.

John Bromels has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Nasdaq. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.