Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX 0.97%) went public on June 12. In the days since, SpaceX stock has given investors a textbook example of what happens when a widely anticipated initial public offering collides with the laws of supply and demand.

SpaceX priced its shares at $135 and had a goal of raising $75 billion from the offering. The stock opened its first session on the Nasdaq at $150 and closed that day around $161. By June 16, it had surged to an intraday peak of $225.64.

Eventually, though, that early excitement cooled, and SpaceX stock started to give back its gains. By Tuesday morning, it had even moved briefly below that initial $150 price, but by mid-afternoon, shares were hovering around $161 again.

While…