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For investors who were able to land SpaceX IPO shares โ€” or buy the stock as it began trading โ€” the opening day and successive trading sessions were a thrill ride.

SpaceX stock (SPCX) opened at $150 and climbed past $160. Another near-20% gain the following Monday saw Elon Musk's spaceflight, satellite communications, and AI company achieve a high orbit of $192.50. By its third trading day, SpaceX surpassed Amazon to become the fifth-largest publicly traded company by market value.

To the moon, right?

Yet, as any savvy investor knows, things can get ugly fast. As the saying goes, hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

Read more: Create a stock investing strategy in 3 steps

If you received shares in the IPO, be aware of the penalties for IPO flipping. Many underwriting brokers limit IPO investors from selling their shares within 15 or 30 days of opening day. Violating trade policy may result in being prohibited from participating in future offerings (such as the upcoming Anthropic and OpenAI IPOs), though there are no federal penalties.

Whether SpaceX's trajectory is high, low, or just bouncing on and off the atmosphere, you will want a strategy in place.

Every investor's dream: The stock soars and you're along for the ride. Still, there are strategies to consider:

Have a plan to take some profits along the way in a tax-efficient manner.

Ensure your SPCX doesn't overwhelm your overall investment portfolio. Consider rebalancing your holdings regularly to maintain the SpaceX exposure you are comfortable with.

If SpaceX stock hits a price ceiling and stays there, how will you react? Ask investors who bought Tesla after its run-up to a trillion-dollar market valuation in 2021, following a massive order of Model 3 sedans from Hertz. The stock topped $407 a share. Now, four-and-a-half years later โ€” after a lot of chart action along the way โ€” it's still there.

If you believe in space as the "final frontier," you stick with it.

This is the real test. If SPCX takes a dive, will you be prepared? The key is to avoid panic selling and have a strategy in place. Your choices include:

Use stop-loss or trailing stop orders to maintain a profit. You may not be able to monitor the market constantly, so having a stop-loss or trailing stop order at a predetermined target price will help you protect the profits of at least a portion of your SpaceX holdings.

Buy the dip. It takes some courage to buy more shares when a stock is in free fall, but it's one choice to consider.

Make sure the rest of your portfolio is well-positioned so that a SpaceX setback won't affect your overall wealth-building plan.

Consider selling a portion of your SPCX holdings to offset taxable gains elsewhere in your portfolio.

Prepare for volatility: Using options can provide a profit cushion during SpaceX price swings. There are several option strategies that you can employ to provide some measure of downside protection, including an option collar, protective puts, and spreads. Learn more with this Yahoo Finance video on options trading.

Many insiders who hold pre-IPO SpaceX shares are subject to a lockup that prohibits them from selling their stock until after the company's first quarterly earnings report. There are other tranches with different lockup expirations. As those deadlines roll off, the stock may see some volatility.

The SpaceX S-1 amendment includes a notice that it "may issue additional shares for a variety of corporate purposes." Some observers are taking that as a hint of a possible merger with Tesla and other opportunities that may dilute shares. That could cause the stock price to slump, at least temporarily.

As SpaceX is added to the Nasdaq index, tracking funds could cause another price bump. That's expected to happen in the next two weeks.

And there is one major factor to consider when thinking about selling: taxes. Will you be triggering a long- or short-term capital gain or loss?

Investing is difficult enough without considering the mental toll of sudden, frequent stock gyrations. Knowing your investment risk tolerance will help you achieve your long-term financial goals โ€” and perhaps reduce some of the stress.

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