EchoStar Corp (NASDAQ:SATS) shares are flying on Thursday as SpaceX prepares to go public. EchoStar owns a meaningful stake in SpaceX.
- EchoStar stock is charging ahead with explosive momentum. Why is SATS stock up today?
EchoStar agreed to sell its AWS‑4 and H‑block spectrum licenses to SpaceX for about $17 billion late last year. The structure included up to $8.5 billion in cash and up to $8.5 billion in SpaceX stock valued at signing.
SpaceX also agreed to cover about $2 billion in EchoStar’s interest payments through November 2027, which removed a major financial overhang and strengthened EchoStar’s balance sheet. With the SpaceX IPO in focus on Wall Street, investors are bidding up EchoStar stock on Thursday.
A Strategic Partnership That Extends Beyond Equity
The deal also created a long‑term commercial relationship. Boost Mobile customers will gain access to SpaceX’s Starlink Direct to Cell service through EchoStar’s cloud‑native 5G core. This positions EchoStar as a key player in satellite‑to‑phone connectivity.
EchoStar’s leadership said the combination of its spectrum with SpaceX’s launch and satellite capabilities will accelerate the rollout of direct‑to‑cell services. SpaceX executives echoed that view, saying the partnership supports their goal of eliminating mobile dead zones worldwide.
Because EchoStar received SpaceX stock when the company was valued at about $400 billion, the upcoming IPO at an expected $1.75 trillion valuation could dramatically increase the value of EchoStar’s stake. That potential upside is a major reason traders are rotating into EchoStar.
Critical Technical Levels for EchoStar To Watch
EchoStar is still in a powerful longer-term uptrend, up 627.19% over the past 12 months, and it remains well above its longer moving averages, or about 4.9% above the 100-day SMA and 24.5% above the 200-day SMA. That longer-term structure is also reinforced by a golden cross that printed in July 2025, which often acts as a “trend is up until proven otherwise” signal for position traders.
Near-term, the stock is consolidating: it’s trading about 1.1% below the 20-day SMA and about 0.1% below the 50-day SMA, even though it’s still above the 20-day and 50-day EMAs. That mix often shows a stock digesting gains rather than breaking down, but it also means bulls may want to see a clean reclaim of the short SMAs to keep the near-term trend from getting choppy.
For momentum, MACD is the cleaner read right now: it’s below its signal line and the histogram is negative, which points to cooling upside pressure versus the prior upswing. This means that the MACD compares faster and slower trend momentum. When it’s below the signal line, it suggests buyers need to reassert control to restart the prior acceleration.
- Key Resistance: $137.50 — a nearby ceiling that lines up as a logical stall zone after the recent run toward the upper end of the 52-week range
- Key Support: $117.00 — a nearby floor that sits below current price and can matter if the stock revisits prior demand after the March swing low
SATS Shares Are Skyrocketing
SATS Price Action: EchoStar shares were up 8.76% at $125.34 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro.
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