A bright start to the month faded as investors grew cautious about the Federal Reserve commitment to do whatever it takes' to stamp out elevated inflation. 

Nonetheless, the benchmark ASX 200 index gained 0.6% throughout the course of the month, with reporting season largely turning out to be a better-than-expected affair. While a number of companies highlighted the detrimental impact that inflation is having, many listed businesses seem to be in robust shape, with growth levels still encouraging for the most part.

The energy sector was one of the few bright spots last month, with coal, oil and gas, and uranium stocks all among the best performers thanks to buoyant energy prices.

How did the Selfwealth community respond to last month developments? Let take a look.

What are the most popular ASX shares and ETFs?

One of the biggest movers last month, BHP (ASX: BHP) may have only risen one spot into third place among the most held ASX stocks, but a 12.4% increase in BHP holdings across the community clearly outpaced the 5% gain in the underlying stock.

While iron ore prices have been wavering in recent times, and even dropping below US$100 per tonne at the start of September, it seems a growing number of Selfwealth members bought into the stock strong full-year results and ahead of its ex-dividend date.

BHP results included record underlying earnings and free cash flow, with its coal division the quiet achiever due to soaring coal prices, supporting dividends that came in above expectations. It has also proposed a capacity upgrade for its Pilbara operations, opening the prospect to encouraging growth in the near and long-term.

Meanwhile, ANZ (ASX: ANZ) leapfrogged Macquarie Group (ASX: MQG) to reclaim its place among the big four banks. In fact, holdings in ANZ grew by approximately 8% last month, whereas Macquarie Group remained largely flat as its share price retreated by 2%. On the face of it, Selfwealth members appear to be backing the banks in the rising interest rate environment, but ANZ recent equity raising also played a role as investors were afforded the opportunity to increase their holdings as the bank looks to buy Suncorp (ASX: SUN). This would suggest shareholders are largely in favour of the move, albeit regulatory hurdles remain.Woodside Energy (ASX: WDS) is the only energy name in the top 20 most held ASX stocks on the Selfwealth platform, despite the energy sector being one of only two sectors year-to-date to post a positive return. In fact, with a return of over 35%, the sector is well ahead of the next best placed corner of the market, utilities, which has risen around 10% so far.

On the contrary, if the energy sector hasn't caught the attention of Selfwealth members, then it may be because they're backing lithium to become the future energy source for decades to come.

A record four lithium stocks feature in the top 20 most held ASX stocks on the Selfwealth trading platform. This follows a sharp rally for the segment, with results from the likes of Pilbara Minerals (ASX: PLS), which delivered an inaugural profit in excess of half a billion dollars, leading to surging confidence for battery metals names. Pilbara Minerals moved higher into 13th place, but was followed by its peers in Liontown Resources (ASX: LTR), 16th, Core Lithium (ASX: CXO), 17th, and a resurgent Lake Resources (ASX: LKE), in 20th spot. In total, at the end of August there was just shy of $200 million worth of shares in these four lithium stocks on the Selfwealth platform, with growth exploding across each stock by as much as 25% or more last month.

1. CBA - Commonwealth Bank

2. CSL

3. BHP

4. WBC - Westpac

5. NAB - National Australia Bank

6. ANZ - Australia and New Zealand Banking Group

7. MQG - Macquarie Group

8. NEU - Neuren Pharmaceuticals

9. AFI - Australian Foundation Inv

10. FMG - Fortescue Metals Group

11. TLS - Telstra

12. WDS - Woodside Energy Group

13. PLS - Pilbara Minerals

14. WES - Wesfarmers

15. RIO - Rio Tinto

16. LTR - Liontown Resources

17. CXO - Core Lithium

18. ARG - Argo Investments

19. WOW - Woolworths

20. LKE - Lake Resources

It was a mixed state of affairs for the most popular ETFs across the Selfwealth community, because while the list remains the same since February trading action, there were varying performances among the cohort.

ETFs with international exposure like the Vanguard MSCI Index International Shares ETF (ASX: VGS), Vanguard U.S. Total Market Shares Index ETF (ASX: VTS), and Vanguard All-World ex-U.S. Shares Index ETF (ASX: VEU) largely underperformed, with US and European markets posting negative returns last month on fears about the global economy. 

In particular, the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq recorded their biggest August decline in seven years.

1. VAS - Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF

2. VDHG - Vanguard Diversified High Growth Index ETF

3. VGS - Vanguard MSCI Index International Shares ETF

4. IVV - iShares S&P 500 ETF

5. VTS - Vanguard U.S. Total Market Shares Index ETF

6. A200 - BetaShares Australia 200 ETF

7. NDQ - Betashares Nasdaq 100 ETF

8. VEU - Vanguard All-World ex-U.S. Shares Index ETF

9. VHY - Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF

10. DHHF - BetaShares Diversified All Growth ETF

ASX share trading activity

Backing up earlier comments around swelling interest in BHP last month, the iron ore titan was the most traded stock on the Selfwealth platform in August. 

Almost $77 million of BHP shares swapped hands throughout the month, with nearly two-thirds being buy orders. And across more than 1,200 trades in the Big Australian', three quarters were buy orders.

While its peer has regularly featured atop the list of the most popular stocks in any given month, this is the first time ever that BHP has taken out top honours.

In terms of the most popular ETFs, we saw the Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (ASX: VAS), Vanguard Diversified High Growth Index ETF (ASX: VDHG), and the Vanguard MSCI Index International Shares ETF (ASX: VGS) attract approximately 7,000 trades during August, with in over 6,000 trades being buy orders.However, not all investors from the Selfwealth community are on the same page about the outlook for the ASX. The Betashares Australian Equities Strong Bear Hedge Fund (ASX: BBOZ), which effectively bets on a falling local share market, was the fourth most popular security last month, and buy activity outweighed sell activity. This suggests there is not only caution in some corners of the community, but also some conviction in a negative outlook given the leveraged nature of this product.Old-time favourite Zip Co (ASX: ZIP) is still generating plenty of interest, despite the company share price being a former shadow of itself at more than 90% off all-time highs. For the second month in a row, the stock makes it onto the list of the most traded ASX shares by Selfwealth members, however, its followers are clearly split right down the middle. 

Around $20 million worth of ZIP shares were traded in August, compared with $16 million the month prior. That was despite its share price sinking 15.8%, which suggests the stock is increasingly becoming a drawcard for short-term traders, as opposed to long-term investors.

Another stock drawing a mixed crowd of followers was Flight Centre (ASX: FLT). Edging into the top 20 most traded stocks by value, with around $18.5 million worth of FLT shares traded, the stock has found itself at the centre of a valuation dilemma as bulls and bears weigh up whether its current market cap already reflects the huge revival in the travel sector. The industry resurgence has shown little signs of slowing, at least as confirmed by Flight Centre nearest peer, Webjet (ASX: WEB), with its bookings now back at pre-pandemic levels.

1. BHP - BHP (Buy-Sell Ratio: 63.5%)

2. ANZ - ANZ (Buy-Sell Ratio: 52.8%)

3. LKE - Lake Resources (Buy-Sell Ratio: 51.3%)

4. BBOZ - Betashares Australian Equities Strong Bear Hedge Fund (Buy-Sell Ratio: 53.6%)

5. MQG - Macquarie Group (Buy-Sell Ratio: 52.7%)

6. VAS - Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (Buy-Sell Ratio: 68.8%)

7. CSL - CSL (Buy-Sell Ratio: 47.4%)

8. CBA - Commonwealth Bank (Buy-Sell Ratio: 50.8%)

9. FMG - Fortescue Metals Group (Buy-Sell Ratio: 52.5%)

10. RIO - Rio Tinto (Buy-Sell Ratio: 51.2%)

11. PLS - Pilbara Minerals (Buy-Sell Ratio: 42.4%)

12. NAA - ETFS Ultra Long Nasdaq 100 Hedge Fund (Buy-Sell Ratio: 48.0%)

13. NAB - NAB (Buy-Sell Ratio: 47.5%)

14. WBC - Westpac (Buy-Sell Ratio: 46.6%)

15. VGS - Vanguard MSCI Index International Shares ETF (Buy-Sell Ratio: 58.3%)

16. SNA - ETFS Ultra Short Nasdaq 100 Hedge Fund (Buy-Sell Ratio: 48.2%)

17. NDQ - Betashares Nasdaq 100 ETF (Buy-Sell Ratio: 68.8%)

18. ZIP - Zip Co (Buy-Sell Ratio: 49.3%)

19. BBUS - BBUS U.S Equities Strong Bear Fund (Buy-Sell Ratio: 53.2%)

20. FLT - Flight Centre (Buy-Sell Ratio: 49.4%)

That all for this Trade Trends report, stay tuned for the next edition this time next month!