Selling Puts to Buy SpaceX (SPCX) Cheaper: Set Your Own Entry Price

When SpaceX lists — reportedly under the ticker SPCX near a $135 IPO price — the hype could send the stock spiking on day one. Buying into that first-day frenzy means you risk paying the top tick of one of the most emotional listings of the year.

But what if you want to own SPCX only at a price that makes sense to you — and get paid while you wait for it? That is exactly what selling a cash-secured put on SPCX is designed to do.

Note: the SPCX ticker, the $135 figure, and any dates are based on reported expectations and are not officially confirmed. Verify the live ticker, price, and option availability with your broker before trading.

Selling a cash-secured put flips the usual buying process on its head. Instead of paying whatever SPCX is trading at, you name your own price and get paid a premium for your patience.

In one line: you pick a target price below the current price, sell a put at that strike, collect a cash premium upfront, and set aside the cash to buy the shares if the stock falls to your level.

Two outcomes — and you win on both sides of the coin in different ways:

• SPCX stays above your strike: the put expires worthless and you keep the entire premium as income. With first-week implied volatility this high, those premiums can be unusually large.
• SPCX falls to your strike: you are assigned and buy 100 shares at your target price — minus the premium you already collected. That is a built-in discount to a price you already liked.

Here is a fully illustrative, hypothetical example — not a projection or recommendation. Real SPCX premiums will depend on volatility and demand once options list.

Say SPCX spikes to $180 on day one, but you would rather own it near its reported $135 offering area:

• Sell 1 SPCX cash-secured put at the $135 strike, 30 days out.
• Collect a premium of, say, $9 per share = $900 for one contract.
• Set aside $13,500 (100 shares × $135) as your cash security.

Now the two paths:

• If SPCX never drops to $135: you keep the $900. That is roughly a 6.7% return on the cash set aside in 30 days — and you can repeat the process.
• If SPCX falls to $135 and you are assigned: you buy 100 shares at $135, but your effective cost basis is $126 per share ($135 − $9 premium). You bought the stock you wanted, at a discount to the price you were already willing to pay.

An Elon Musk-linked listing will carry enormous retail hype, and that pushes implied volatility — the market's expectation of future price swings — to extreme levels in the early weeks.

For an option seller, high implied volatility is a double-edged sword:

• The upside: richer premiums. The more the market expects SPCX to move, the more you get paid to sell a put.
• The warning: those premiums are large precisely because the expected moves are large. A hyped IPO can fall fast and far.

That is why strike discipline matters more than premium size. The goal is not to grab the fattest premium — it is to sell a put at a price you would genuinely be happy to own SPCX at, and treat the premium as a bonus for your patience.

Selling cash-secured puts is often described as conservative, but on a brand-new, volatile IPO it carries real risks you must respect:

• Assignment in a sell-off: if SPCX drops hard, you are obligated to buy at your strike even though the stock is now worth less. A cash-secured put does not protect you from a decline below your strike.
• Capital is tied up: the cash securing the put is reserved for the life of the trade and cannot be used elsewhere.
• You may not get filled cheaply: if SPCX rips higher and never looks back, you keep the premium but miss owning the shares entirely.
• Wide spreads: brand-new options markets are thin, so entering and exiting can be more expensive at first.

The golden rule: never sell a put on SPCX at a strike you would not be comfortable buying and holding the shares at. If you would not own it there, do not sell the put there.

What happens if you are assigned and now own 100 shares of SPCX? You move to the next phase of the cycle.

Once you hold the shares, you can sell covered calls against them to generate ongoing income — harvesting that same high implied volatility from the other side. Selling puts to get in, then selling calls to earn income, is the full wheel strategy, one repeatable cycle.

And if buying 100 shares outright is too much capital, the LEAP stock-replacement strategy shows how to control SPCX for a fraction of the cost.

This is part of our SpaceX options series. Put the full picture together:

• Start here: When SPCX options will start trading — the launch-date timeline and overview.
• Trade it on a budget: control SPCX with LEAP options for a fraction of the cost.
• Learn the mechanics: our full guide to the cash-secured put strategy.

Want help applying this to your own account size and goals? You can schedule a free strategy call or explore the coaching program. Educational only — there is no obligation.