Investor's Corner
Tesla prepares for S&P 500 inclusion: What TSLA investors can expect
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) will officially join the S&P 500 index on December 21. Friday’s market activity may set the stage for TSLA’s grand entrance into the S&P 500 index.
The following are some factors to keep in mind as Tesla enters its final trading day before its formal inclusion into the S&P 500.
Quadruple Witching
Quadruple Witching occurs on the third Friday of the month every quarter in March, June, September and December. During quadruple witching, single-stock options, stock-index options, single-stock futures, and stock-index futures expire.
The last trading day before Tesla enters the S&P 500 index will be a quadruple witching day. Traders told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that heavy volumes from expired options and futures could boost liquidity, resulting in a smooth entry for TSLA into the S&P 500 index. RBC Capital Markets estimates that 3% of about $4.7 trillion assets passively tracking the S&P will trade on Friday.
Dark Pools aka Alternative Trading Systems (ATS)
Dark Pools are private exchanges, usually between entities like big banks or institutional clients. Dark Pools give investors the opportunity to place large orders without disrupting the public exchange price while they were looking for a buyer or seller.
Some Tesla investors have wondered if Dark Pool orders were reflected in TSLA’s recent stock activity, especially in terms of volume. According to Rob Maurer of Tesla Daily, the identities of ATS clients are not disclosed but their orders are reported through consolidated tapes, which are also called tape reports.
Dark Pool orders are immediately recorded on tape reports no later than 10 seconds after execution to the Trade Reporting Facilities (TRFs) run by Nasdaq and NYSE in conjunction with FINRA. FINRA considers Dark Pool orders as Over-the-Counter (OTC) equity transactions. OTC equity transactions executed outside normal market hours must be reported by 8:15 a.m. (EST) by the next market open.
Closing Cross Expectations
According to Nasdaq, Closing Cross orders make up almost 10% of its average daily volume. On-close orders allow investors to specifically request an execution at the closing price.
Closing Cross orders could set the weight and price of TSLA as it enters the S&P 500 on Monday, December 21. Tesla investors believe Tesla’s market activity will significantly increase a few minutes before and after the closing bell. Maurer explained that index tracking funds would probably try to buy shares at the closing price to match the S&P 500’s performance as close as possible.
Tracking Errors
Tracking Errors usually occur when an ETF or hedge fund does not effectively match the performance of its benchmark. Given Tesla’s dedicated retail investors, some traders question whether enough sellers will be available during Friday’s trading to fill the large orders index funds are expected to buy at the market close.
If there aren’t enough sellers to fill buyer orders, it could result in big swings for Tesla shares, reported the WSJ.
TSLA stock closed at $655.90 per share at the closing bell on Thursday. As of this writing, Tesla stocks are up 2.91% at $674.74 per share.
Watch Tesla Daily‘s video below to learn more about Dark Pools and On-Close orders.
The Teslarati team would appreciate hearing from you. Leave a comment down below or email us at tips@teslarati.com. You can reach me at maria@teslarati.com.
Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship Flight 13 aborted at Zero and Musk just told us what broke
Four Raptor engines failed to ignite at T-zero, forcing SpaceX to scrub Starship Flight 13 Thursday.
SpaceX scrubbed the Starship Flight 13 launch attempt Thursday evening at the last possible moment, after four of the Super Heavy booster’s 33 Raptor 3 engines failed to ignite during the startup sequence. The 90-minute window had opened at 6:45 p.m. EDT from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, and the countdown had proceeded without issue all day, with more than 11.5 million pounds of liquid methane and liquid oxygen being fully loaded into the rocket before the automated abort triggered. SpaceX’s launch directors posted on X, “Standing down from today’s flight test attempt,” and shut down the livestream shortly after.
Musk confirmed the root cause within hours. “Some of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort,” he wrote on X. “To be confident of a good flight, 2 Raptors will be removed and replaced. Most probable launch timing is early next week.” SpaceX engineers began draining propellant tanks immediately and Booster 20 was rolled back to its hangar for inspection.
The timing adds a layer of significance that did not exist during any of the previous 12 Starship flights. This is the first time SpaceX has attempted to launch Starship since the company made its stock market debut in June, listing under ticker SPCX at $135 per share. Public investors are now watching every Starship outcome in real time, and a last-second abort carries more visibility than it would have six months ago.
Flight 13 was designed to be one of the most consequential tests in the program’s history. It was set to carry 20 Starlink V3 satellites, the first operational payload Starship has ever attempted to deploy. Six of those satellites carried external cameras to photograph Starship’s heat shield from the outside during flight, which would act as a self-inspection approach SpaceX has never attempted before. The mission also needed to complete a Raptor engine relight in space, a step SpaceX skipped on Flight 12 in May after losing an engine during ascent. That Flight 12 booster also flipped 90 degrees off course during its boostback burn when five engines failed to reignite.
SpaceX has not announced an official next launch date. Musk’s “early next week” window points to July 21 or 22 at the earliest, pending the engine swap and a return to the pad.
Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli responded to rumors of an imminent bankruptcy that was reportedly being mulled after a report stated the automaker was working with the firm AlixPartners to iron out its next steps.
The company felt a massive loss on Wall Street yesterday, as the report essentially pushed the stock down as much as 55 percent on Tuesday.
The report, published initially by Eletric-Vehicles.com, claimed Lucid was essentially in dire straits and was told by AlixPartners, a commonly used restructuring advisor, to either take shares private or file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Lucid’s head of Communications, Nick Twork, immediately challenged the report and stated the company “has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year.”
Now, the company’s CEO is chiming in as well, stating that the report is “so far from the facts that they require a direct response.”
Napoli said:
“Lucid is not considering bankruptcy or a transaction to take the company private. Those reports are false. The Board did not explore either scenario. Period.
As disclosed in our most recent quarterly filing, Lucid has sufficient liquidity to fund its operations well into next year.
We work with outside advisors to improve operational performance and execution. They are not advising Lucid on a take-private transaction or bankruptcy, and any suggestion that they have recommended either course of action to management or the Board is false.
My priority is clear: turn this company around. That is where the leadership team and I are focused.
I look forward to providing a full update during our quarterly earnings call on August 4th.”
🚨 Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli calls rumors of financial issues “so far from the facts that they require a direct response.”
Read his full remarks here: https://t.co/t3Pg1NHvzy pic.twitter.com/LvHUPhO4Qf
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 15, 2026
It seems pretty clear that Lucid is confident things will be okay, and, to be honest, they should not have much to worry about, especially considering the company has been backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) for years. It has solid financial backing, and its sales, while weak, are pretty much right on par with a company of this age.
Lucid also sent a Cease & Desist letter to the publication for their report.
Lucid shares have rebounded nicely and are up nearly 21 percent at the time of publication. As soon as the company dispelled the rumors of bankruptcy yesterday, the stock began to climb back toward more reasonable levels.
Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group has denied rumors of an imminent bankruptcy after a report from this morning sent the stock on a dramatic drop on Wall Street, seeing losses of more than 40 percent during trading hours.
Lucid’s Director of Communications, Nick Twork, responded to the report from Eletric-Vehicles.com, which stated the company’s restructuring advisor, AlixPartners, was asked to review two decisions: taking Lucid shares private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The report also claims AlixPartners told the Lucid board to “concentrate on Gravity production while improving its quality, and to temporarily hold back the Lucid Air, the sedan that has defined the company since its launch.”
Twork said:
$LCID The rumors are completely false. The company has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year, as recently published in its last quarterly filings, and it has not formed any special Board committee to explore the scenarios reported today. Our focus is…
— Nick Twork (@ntwork) July 14, 2026
Shares rebounded after the response to the report, halving its losses as the trading day neared 3 p.m. Eastern.
Lucid has struggled to get its sales off the ground and into more respectable numbers, but the company is in its early years, when things are hard to begin with. It is also backed by several notable investors, including the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has nearly limitless money and likely would not ditch an investment of this size so soon.
Lucid shares were down just 14 percent at the time of publication, a far cry from the 55 percent its losses topped out at during the day.
Elon Musk says your Tesla will start to learn your individual preferences
Ron DeSantis calls out media bias in Tesla crash coverage
