The three major indices are making a rare exception for SpaceX! Russell will be added to SPCX early on June 18, with Nasdaq 100 and MSCI to follow within two weeks.

SpaceX listed on the NASDAQ on 6/12 (SPCX). To allow SpaceX to quickly enter index inclusion, FTSE Russell, the NASDAQ 100, and MSCI each revised or invoked their existing “fast track” rules: Russell is expected to take effect after the 6/18 close, MSCI around 6/26 to 6/29, and the NASDAQ 100 as early as early July.
(Background: Today (the 12th), SpaceX officially goes public and rings the NASDAQ opening bell! Investors can’t miss the “Four Key Time Nodes”)
(Additional background: S&P refuses to loosen the rules for SpaceX: the largest IPO in history still has to wait a year before it qualifies to knock on the door of the S&P 500)

Table of Contents

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• Russell: 5-day fast track, effective after the 6/18 close
• MSCI: Invokes existing 2007 rules, effective around 6/26 to 6/29
• NASDAQ 100: Early July, three steps, three time points
• Governance retirement-fund rebound, S&P stands pat
• Outlook: 6/26 is a key observation node

From listing to inclusion in major global benchmark indices, SpaceX took less than three weeks—unprecedented in passive investing. Russell (FTSE Russell), the NASDAQ 100, and MSCI have all revised or invoked the existing fast track provisions to get Elon Musk’s highly watched public company into index constituents as soon as possible.

Russell: 5-day fast track, effective after the 6/18 close

For now, Russell’s actions are the fastest. On 2026/5/26, FTSE Russell approved a single-batch inclusion rule for an “IPO fast track.” The core provisions are as follows:

• Eligible large IPOs can be included as early as the 5th trading day, via a single-batch adjustment.
• The investment market capitalization must be above the market-cap breakpoint for Russell Top 500 at the last rebalancing.
• The IPO must be fully underwritten.
• The minimum free-float and voting-rights thresholds still apply, but lock-up positions are granted a 12-month grace period.

After the close on 6/18, SpaceX will be officially included in indices such as the Russell 1000 and Russell Top 200, and on the same day, the CRSP index will also be included. The market expects approximately $10 to $16 billion of passive buying inflows on that day.

MSCI: Invokes existing 2007 rules, effective around 6/26 to 6/29

MSCI’s path is different from Russell’s. On 6/8, MSCI announced it would invoke the “large IPO early inclusion” rule that has existed since 2007, rather than setting a new rule for SpaceX. Under this rule, large IPOs are included in the Global Standard indices (Standard), covering the ACWI and World indices, at about the 10th trading day. Based on 6/12 as the listing date, the expected effective window is 6/26 to 6/29.

NASDAQ 100: Early July, three steps, three time points

The NASDAQ 100’s “fast inclusion” new rule took effect on 2026/5/1, with a three-step process:

• 7th trading day (around 6/23): Eligibility assessment; newly listed companies must fall within the top 40 by total market capitalization among existing constituents.
• 10th trading day (around 6/26): Announcement of whether they will be included.
• 15th trading day (around 7/3 to 7/6): Official inclusion takes effect.

In addition, fast inclusion does not require removing existing constituents, so the index can temporarily exceed 100 stocks. The weight cap uses the lower of “fully includable market cap” and “3x liquidity-adjusted market cap”; and it is also necessary to confirm that the three-month average daily trading value is at least 5 million US dollars.

For passive buying inflow estimates, BNP Paribas estimates about $8 billion will flow in in the first month; SpotGamma estimates $22 to $27 billion; if all index events are included, the total scale of passive fund inflows could reach about $30 billion.

Governance retirement-fund rebound, S&P stands pat

The cost of the fast track is that governance-structure issues get brushed over quickly. SpaceX adopts a dual-class share structure: Class A shares have one vote per share, while the B shares held by Musk and a small number of core insiders have ten votes per share. Critics argue that this is a governance design that is “the most management-friendly” in history.

In 2017, FTSE Russell set a “minimum 5% voting rights” rule for constituent stocks, specifically to prevent companies with similar structures from entering broad-based indices; S&P still maintains a policy that “new constituents may not have different classes of voting rights.” SpaceX’s dual-class structure originally might not have met the existing voting-rights requirements for Russell broad market indices.

Opposition voices have spread from institutional investors to the political level. New York City Comptroller Mark Levine publicly wrote to FTSE Russell, arguing that SpaceX should follow the standard quarterly rebalancing (6/26) rather than the compressed 5-day fast track. New York State Comptroller DiNapoli and CalPERS CEO Frost also publicly oppose; pension fund managers from New York, Maryland, and Illinois jointly sent letters expressing concerns on 2026/6/10; and Senator Elizabeth Warren and the Senate Banking Committee have requested that all index providers submit written explanations by 6/26.

The core objection focuses on one point: the index providers’ rule revisions effectively force passive funds such as retirement funds to buy into a company that is highly controlled by its founder, with no room for passive investors to choose.

In addition, S&P 500’s stance provides a stark contrast. It refuses to loosen the rules for SpaceX, still requiring a full 12 months of listing history before a company is eligible to apply for inclusion. The major three indices have broken out differently, and S&P has not broken the line—this dividing line is worth continued monitoring.

Outlook: 6/26 is a key observation node

In the coming weeks, two main threads are worth tracking.

First, 6/26 is the deadline by which Senator Warren has asked index providers to provide explanations, and it is also the window in which MSCI may take effect, as well as the time point when the NASDAQ 100 will announce its decision. If the governance explanations from the index providers cannot convince Congress, it is not impossible that later pressure could emerge on legislative or regulatory fronts.

Second, the stance of the S&P 500. At present, all three major indices have activated fast track procedures, except that S&P keeps the 12-month threshold. If SpaceX’s stock price remains high after listing, whether S&P will face greater pressure in the subsequent normal inclusion process will be a longer-term observation point.