Key takeaways: 

• Tesla and Nvidia remained clear favourites across the Selfwealth community on nearly every metric. 

• In line with the market, there were some signs of an ‘unwinding’ in AI-related trades. 

• Selfwealth investors bought CrowdStrike shares  in the immediate aftermath of the company’s global software outage.  

Before the significant volatility that rocked markets at the start of August, there were mixed results across Wall Street in July, with tech shares losing momentum through the month. 

While the Dow Jones advanced 4.4%, and the S&P 500 managed to eke out a gain of 1.1%, the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.8%, with signs of an ‘unwinding’ in the AI trade that has powered much of the bull market over the last 12 months. Also proving influential last month were the global IT outage and earnings season. 

These were the shares making an impression across the Selfwealth community throughout July.  

US share trading activity 

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) retained top spot for the most actively traded US share in the Selfwealth community, but it was Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) that made an impression on investors, moving into second place.  

Over the month, trades in TSLA increased by approximately 65%, which coincided with a near seven-month high for the stock. In early July, the electric vehicle manufacturer released its Q2 deliveries report, and while the report indicated a year-over-year decline in deliveries, TSLA shares rallied, suggesting the results may have exceeded market expectations. 

Elsewhere, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) trades were up nearly 60%, with over 70% of said trades being buys. Those numbers were enough to see the tech giant rank 4th for trade volumes in July, which is the highest result we’ve seen for AMZN across the Selfwealth community since last September. Amazon was among several tech shares that weighed on the Nasdaq, before shedding further year-to-date gains during the tech sell-off at the start of August.  

Perhaps the most high-profile story from last month relates to what has been described as the worst IT outage in history. On July 19th, cybersecurity specialist CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) deployed a faulty software update that led to an estimated 8.5 million Windows computers around the world going offline.  

CRWD shares were down nearly 40% for the month, but trading interest spiked in the immediate aftermath of the outage, and nearly 70% of Selfwealth trades last month were ‘buys’, with some investors seemingly viewing the sell-off as a buying opportunity. 

Rounding things out, Palantir (NYSE: PLTR), gained six spots to make the top 10, Nike (NYSE: NKE) finished the month in 15th spot, and with the highest buying conviction of any popular trade, while Petco Health and Wellness (NASDAQ: WOOF) made its first-ever appearance. 

In the case of WOOF, shares in the pet retailer and services specialist have garnered support among Reddit investors over recent months. One of the key reasons behind this interest is the stock’s high level of short interest – over 20% of WOOF’s float was being shorted at the start of July – which has been a focal point for this investor segment in the past. 

 Eyeing leverage to two of the market’s biggest names, a small cohort of investors underpinned trading activity in ETFs offering geared exposure to Tesla and Nvidia. 

As it were, four of the top ten most actively traded US ETFs related directly to these two companies, while a further two ETFs offered indirect exposure to Nvidia by way of broader tracking of the semiconductor space.  

Meanwhile, buying conviction in the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: VOO) rose 11.4 percentage points compared with June, which suggests the community had a favourable outlook for the US stock market before the sell-off at the beginning of August. 

Despite their popularity in terms of trade volumes, Nvidia and Tesla both recorded net outflows in terms of money flow last month, which suggests investors with larger holdings were doing the selling, while buyers took up smaller positions. 

Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA) was the 8th most traded US stock by value in July, slipping from 4th a month prior. In addition, the total value of money flow in MARA nearly halved over the month, with bitcoin-related trading interest cooling after a bumper period for the asset class. 

With the weakest buying conviction of any top 20 name, nearly two-thirds of all money traded in Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS) related to selling activity. Although 'thinly’ traded in the community last month, ZS shares slumped nearly 7%. Prior to that, the share had rallied more than 30% off its recent lows, and with banking giant Mizuho cutting the stock to a “neutral” rating, some investors may have taken their money off the table. 

Similarly, GameStop (NYSE: GME) also recorded a weak level of buying conviction in July, at least when measured by money flow. Less than 40% of trades by value were ‘buys’, and the stock shed nearly 10% of its value during the month. Just a month prior the stock recorded a buy-sell ratio of 70.8%. Combined with a 21-percentage point decrease in the buy-sell ratio for trade volumes, the data hints at the possibility that some investors changed their mind as GME shares fell to a two-month low. 

Which US shares are the most held? 

While Tesla remains the clear favourite in the Selfwealth community, with collective holdings in the electric vehicle manufacturer nearly double those of second-place Nvidia, other changes were afoot.  

In third place, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) reclaimed its once formidable lead over Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). While the collective value of AAPL holdings in the Selfwealth community grew 4.2% in July, there was a 7.6% reduction in the value of all MSFT holdings. Both results were slightly worse than each stock’s underlying share price performance for the month.  

In the case of Microsoft, the software giant was more exposed to a market-wide unwinding in the ‘AI trade’ with several AI-related shares encountering a sharp sell-off. In addition, Microsoft’s share price also eased as its earnings report at the end of the month pointed to cloud revenue growth that, according to CNBC, fell short of analyst expectations. 

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) were two other shares impacted by unwinding AI interest, with community holdings in the former down 9% for the month, and the latter tumbling out of the top 20 after a brief appearance. 

On the other hand, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) retained its ranking as the 8th most held US stock by value, but it recorded one of the strongest uplifts in community holdings. The total value of all Berkshire shares rose 11% last month, lagging only MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) and Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 (QQQ) for the highest growth rates, at 14.7% and 19.7% respectively.  

Those two securities were met with different backdrops. MSTR announced a 10-for-1 stock split, while the Invesco QQQ ETF was directly exposed to a tech-led Nasdaq sell-off through July, albeit some Selfwealth investors took that as an opportunity to buy the dip. 

As always past trends and performance are not an indicator of future trends and performance. 

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