FTSE Russell on Tuesday introduced fast-track inclusion for large IPOs, allowing companies with investable market cap exceeding the Russell Top 500 threshold to enter indexes starting the fifth trading day after listing — a rule change that clears the path for SpaceX's planned $75 billion IPO, the largest in history.
FTSE Russell on Tuesday introduced fast-track inclusion for large initial public offerings, allowing companies with an investable market capitalization exceeding the Russell Top 500 threshold to enter its benchmark indexes starting the fifth trading day after listing. The change, effective immediately, replaces the previous quarterly review schedule and follows a market consultation held in February.
"Enabling quicker representation of large IPOs strengthens the indexes' role as timely benchmarks of the US market without compromising governance or investability standards," Arne Noack, head of equity and multi-asset indices, Americas at FTSE Russell, said in a statement.
The new framework calculates investable market capitalization using free-float shares available at listing multiplied by the first-day closing price. Qualifying IPOs will typically be added after the market close on the fifth trading day. The Russell Top 500 market-adjusted breakpoint currently stands at $17.5 billion, based on the prior reconstitution. Companies that initially fall short of the standard 5 percent minimum free float or voting rights requirements due to lock-up agreements remain eligible, provided the lock-up structures ensure compliance within 12 months of the addition date.
The rule change arrives weeks before SpaceX's expected public debut, which could be the largest IPO in history. The Elon Musk-led space venture is targeting a $75 billion fundraising round at a valuation of as much as $1.75 trillion, with a roadshow set to begin June 4 and shares expected to list as early as June 12 on Nasdaq. FTSE Russell confirmed that SpaceX's estimated investable market capitalization of roughly $70 billion clears both the $17.5 billion Russell Top 500 threshold and the $13.5 billion fast-entry threshold for its FTSE Global Equity Index Series, making it eligible for inclusion in the Russell Top 50, Russell Top 200, Russell 1000, and multiple FTSE global indexes.
The move mirrors a similar change by Nasdaq earlier this year, which shortened its IPO index inclusion waiting period to 15 days from three months. S&P Dow Jones Indices is still evaluating whether to follow suit. The coordinated shift among index providers reflects a structural pressure: companies are staying private longer and going public at far higher valuations, making quarterly review cycles too slow to capture major market shifts. More than $30 trillion in assets are benchmarked to the affected indexes, meaning passive funds tracking the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 will be forced buyers of any fast-tracked additions on reconstitution day.
The implications extend beyond SpaceX. Crypto-linked names including Sharplink, Forward Industries, Gemini, Bitmine, and Galaxy Digital have appeared on preliminary Russell small-cap inclusion lists for the 2026 reconstitution, which becomes effective June 27. Bitmine alone disclosed 5.28 million Ether in holdings, with combined crypto and cash reserves of roughly $12.6 billion, positioning it as a de facto Ethereum treasury stock that passive Russell-benchmarked funds would be forced to buy. For quant and arbitrage desks that have long traded anticipated Russell inclusions, the addition of crypto equities creates a new transmission channel between passive equity flows and digital asset markets.
Some investors have raised concerns that faster IPO inclusion exposes passive funds to higher volatility before markets have fully priced a new listing. But for FTSE Russell, the calculus is clear: indexes that fail to reflect the largest public companies in a timely manner risk losing relevance as benchmarks. With OpenAI and Anthropic also laying groundwork for their own public debuts, the fast-track mechanism is likely to see repeated use in the coming quarters.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
