Rocket Lab’s 23% Weekly Rout Deepens After Director’s $5M Stock Sale as SpaceX IPO Looms

A brutal week for Rocket Lab shareholders ended with an exclamation point on Friday: the stock plunged nearly 8% in a single session, capping a 22.87% weekly decline that dragged the space contractor’s shares to $110.66. The sell-off came just days after the company hit an all-time high of $151.00 on May 27 — leaving the stock roughly 26.7% below that peak.

Adding to the bearish mood, a board member cashed out nearly $5 million in shares just as the slide accelerated. Alexander R. Slusky, a longtime director, sold 40,000 shares at $123.60 apiece on June 2 through his investment vehicle Abalone Cove LLLP. The transaction, disclosed after Friday’s close, still leaves him with around 335,000 shares indirectly. It was the biggest insider sale at Rocket Lab in months, and while the bulk of the week’s losses preceded the filing, market participants will be watching closely when trading resumes on Monday.

Slusky was not the only insider taking money off the table. Between May 28 and June 1, several top executives — including the general counsel and chief operating officer — sold shares worth a combined $18 million, all executed through pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plans. While such programs are designed to avoid accusations of improper timing, the concentration of selling near a 52-week high has nevertheless raised eyebrows.

Beyond the insider activity, the broader space sector has hit turbulence. Market chatter pegs a potential SpaceX initial public offering for June 12, 2026, prompting investors to rotate capital ahead of what would be a heavyweight new competitor on public markets. An unrelated engine explosion at rival Blue Origin in late May has also dampened speculative enthusiasm, serving as a stark reminder of the operational hazards inherent in the launch business.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Rocket Lab USA?

Yet for all the noise, Rocket Lab’s underlying business tells a different story. The company reported a record order backlog of $2.2 billion after its first-quarter 2026 results, with quarterly revenue running at roughly $200 million. The Space Systems division now contributes more than the legacy launch segment — evidence of the firm’s successful transformation into an integrated space platform. That pivot was underscored in May by a fresh $90 million contract from the U.S. Space Force to build and operate two geostationary satellites, Rocket Lab’s first foray into the GEO market. The same month saw the company complete its ninth dedicated Electron flight for the Synspective constellation.

Upcoming milestones may help refocus investor attention. On June 10, Rocket Lab is scheduled to launch the “Curveball” suborbital mission from Wallops Island, Virginia, under the HASTE program for government and intelligence clients. That launch belongs to a growing defense portfolio that is increasingly defining the company’s role as a prime contractor. On the development front, the larger Neutron rocket is progressing through engine qualification tests after overcoming a tank rupture during a pressure test in January. The first Neutron flight is still on track for the fourth quarter of 2026.

Technically, the stock has cooled sharply from overheated levels. The relative strength index now sits at 46.6 — well below the overbought threshold but not yet flashing a buy signal. At $110.66, the shares trade roughly 15% above their 50-day moving average of $96.15 and more than 50% above the 200-day line. Despite the weekly bloodbath, Rocket Lab is still up nearly 45% year to date and has more than quadrupled over the past twelve months.

The key near-term catalyst will be confirmation of the SpaceX IPO date and how the market absorbs that event. For now, the technical support around the 50-day average at $96 looms as a potential floor — one that could be tested if Monday’s open brings another wave of selling prompted by the director’s disclosure.