Three Backdoors For The Impatient Stock Picker
Since SpaceX remains stubbornly private, what is a public market investor supposed to do. You cannot buy the firm directly. But you can look at the companies circling its orbit. I see three listed proxies that could benefit from this situation, though each carries its own specific baggage.
First, we have CME Group itself. They are the architects of this particular casino. Every time a SpaceX futures contract is bought or sold, CME clips the ticket and collects a transaction fee.
If this market develops meaningful volume, CME has essentially conjured a new, durable revenue stream out of thin air. They already dominate global commodity and interest rate derivatives. This is just a new feather in their cap. If the experiment works, they will undoubtedly roll it out for other massive private companies. But if nobody trades the SpaceX contracts, the financial impact will barely make a dent in CME's sprawling empire.
Second, there is Destiny Tech100. This trades under the ticker DXYZ. It is a closed-end fund that holds actual stakes in private technology companies, including SpaceX.
This sounds like exactly what retail investors want. You buy the fund, and you get indirect exposure to the private tech darlings. But there is a monstrous catch. Closed-end funds trade on an exchange at whatever price people are willing to pay. Right now, investors are paying a massive premium over the fund's actual Net Asset Value.
Imagine buying a ten-pound note for twenty pounds, simply because you really like the picture of the King on it. That is what a premium to NAV looks like. People are paying exorbitant prices just to get a taste of SpaceX.
Third, consider Goldman Sachs. This is a delightfully straightforward thesis. When a massive company finally decides to go public, they do not do it alone. They hire an army of investment bankers to underwrite the deal, drum up interest, and manage the complex listing process.
Goldman Sachs is one of the premier equity capital markets franchises on the planet. They have deep, existing relationships across the aerospace and technology sectors. If SpaceX does launch an IPO, the underwriting fees will be astronomical. Goldman is perfectly positioned to capture a large slice of that pie, adding a hefty boost to their advisory revenues.
