!!! NASDAQ and S&P changing seasoning and profitability requirements to manipulate index funds into buying massive IPOs
u/SelfUnmadeMan ·
Reddit — r/investing
· May 28, 2026 at 17:07
· ⬆ 64 pts
· 💬 45 comments
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Summary
The post highlights recent rule changes by NASDAQ and S&P that shorten seasoning periods and remove profitability requirements, which will force passive index funds to quickly buy massive IPOs like SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
The author’s thesis is that this is market manipulation that creates a bubble, exposes passive investors to unproven, cash-burning companies, and ultimately harms retirement accounts.
Quality assessment: Speculation and opinion with some factual basis (rule changes), but lacks quantitative analysis or data; more of a cautionary rant than rigorous DD.
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Traditionally, the major indices have all required a company to have traded publicly for a 1 year seasoning period before listing them on the index. This gives the market time to evaluate a company's stock and allow its price to stabilize after IPO before entering the index. NASDAQ has already reduced its seasoning period to just 15 TRADING DAYS (!!!) and S&P is set to follow by shortening their seasoning period down to six months effective June 8. Additionally, S&P is seeking to remove its requirement that a company be profitable before being listed on the S&P 500 (!!!)
Is it just me or is this sheer insanity, corruption, and market manipulation of the highest order? With SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic all preparing to go public in the near future, these changes will force hundreds of passive index funds to pour trillions of dollars into these companies whose as-yet unproven business models have the potential to drag the entire market down with them. The sheer size of these IPOs will put downward pressure on every other listed company as fund managers rebalance their holdings to include the new titans. Tens of millions of retirement accounts will be unwittingly invested in these new tech companies before their true market value is known--and right now, these companies are BLACK HOLES, each burning through billions of dollars a year without making any return.
This looks to me like a scam, a criminal miscarriage of social responsibility, and a massive risk to passive index fund investors. Ridiculous IPO valuations will enter the NASDAQ with highly inflated value, insiders will cash out, and pensioners (and the rest of us) will be left holding the bag. All without any of our consent.
Am I missing something here? Have the billionaires just invented a new form of collusion in order to fleece us all? Is passive investing about to die at the hands of the indices themselves? How can we protect ourselves from this?
Tell me I am getting all worked up over nothing.
S&P is eliminating the profitability requirement and cutting the seasoning period to six months (effective June 8); NASDAQ already reduced it to 15 trading days. This will force passive funds to buy large, unprofitable IPOs like SpaceX and OpenAI. The forced allocation into overvalued, unproven names could distort index composition, create downward pressure on existing constituents during rebalancing, and increase systemic risk—rationale for a bearish view on the broad market. Author’s implied warning suggests passive index funds (tracked by SPY) may face downside from distorted valuations and eventual correction; shorting SPY captures this systemic risk. Rule changes may be already discounted; IPOs could rally on hype; passive inflows might prop up prices; author’s thesis is speculative and lacks timing. No additional actionable trade ideas explicitly stated or strongly implied.