Key takeaways:

• Investors are taking every opportunity to buy the dip' in sold-off tech stocks, which in some cases are trading at pre-pandemic prices due to macroeconomic concerns 

• Banking and energy stocks gain popularity as investors eye diversified holdings in a volatile market

Earnings season was the focal point for the US stock market throughout October, with the results separating the wheat from the chaff. By and large, it was a case where companies found it easier to live up to lower expectations, whereas some of the most popular names, particularly from the tech sector, struggled to meet lofty hurdles.

This was also reflected in the results for the benchmark indexes, with the Dow Jones leaping 14% last month, the S&P 500 enjoying a solid gain of 8%, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq managing to increase by just 3.9%. 

Without further ado, let recap October trading action across the Selfwealth community.

US share trading activity

Major tech shares were a prominent sight among the most popular trades last month, but not without reason. Between rising interest rates, concerns about the global economic outlook, and what turned out to be a mixed earnings season, household names saw a marked increase in funds flowing into these trades. 

Take for example, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), which was the fourth most actively traded US stock in October. That result in itself was the equal highest for the tech giant, but the total value of shares traded hit an all-time high, up more than 140% versus the prior month. 

Much of this trading activity occurred in the wake of the company earnings report, which prompted a near 22-month low for the share price. The decline was attributable to slowing growth in its cloud computing segment and a weak outlook for the final quarter of the year. The tech giant expects the current economic climate to stifle business expenditure and the sale of PC goods and software to individual customers.

Similarly, the parent companies of Google and Facebook, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META), as well as ecommerce behemoth Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) attracted significantly higher trading activity last month. 

The trio earnings reports were received with the same disregard as Microsoft, with Meta share price recently posting its worst weekly result ever and plunging to a seven-year low, while Amazon shares are back trading at pre-pandemic prices. 

Again, economic storm clouds on the horizon are weighing on tech stocks, where growth is all but slowing after a boom period. The value of trades in Alphabet was up four-fold in October, while Meta and Amazon both returned to the top 20 with trading heavily driven by investors looking to buy at depressed prices.

Elsewhere, bank trades remain a popular theme as the Federal Reserve pushes ahead with its aggressive rate hike campaign. Bank earnings were also one of the brighter prospects in October, despite being sharply down from bloated levels the year prior. There are now four banks within the top 11 most traded US stocks on the Selfwealth platform, including Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Citibank (NYSE: C), JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM), and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC).And lastly, the global energy crisis appears to be a pressing thought in the minds of many Selfwealth members. The ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Natural Gas (NYSE: BOIL), ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Natural Gas (NYSE: KOLD), and Uranium Energy Corp (NYSE: UEC) were all among October most actively traded stocks, providing some insight into the mixed outlook that investors have towards the likes of natural gas and uranium, both trading at elevated levels.Top 20 stocks traded by valueCode SecurityBuy-sell Ratio1SQQQProShares UltraPro Short QQQ ETF50.2%2TQQQProShares UltraPro QQQ50.1%3TSLATesla56.0%4MSFTMicrosoft51.0%5AAPLApple47.2%6BACBank of America50.0%7GOOGLAlphabet55.1%8CCitibank50.3%9BOILProShares Ultra Bloomberg Natural Gas45.0%10JPMJPMorgan48.3%11WFCWells Fargo & Co49.9%12KOLDProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Natural Gas58.8%13SPXUProShares UltraPro Short S&P50050.3%14QQQInvesco QQQ Trust Series 151.5%15AFRMAffirm51.9%16METAMeta Platforms83.2%17SPXLDirexion Daily S&P 500 Bull 3X Shares50.1%18UECUranium Energy Corp40.7%19AMZNAmazon74.0%20NIONio58.7%

Which US shares are the most held?

Despite a promising month for the share market as a whole, there was no escaping the setbacks for a number of key stocks held within the Selfwealth community. Whereas the major indexes climbed higher by as much as doubled-digits, the collective value of the top 20 US holdings on the Selfwealth platform went backwards by 0.5%. 

The above discrepancy was almost single-handedly attributable to the aforementioned tech stocks, where headwinds weighing on their share prices have offset increased buying activity. This includes not only Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta, but also high-profile names like Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and Alibaba (NYSE: BABA).

In the case of Tesla, its shares shed 14.2% last month, and this was enough to wipe out millions of dollars on paper for investors, even after new buying interest softened the blow across the community. 

On the other hand, Alibaba shares hit an all-time low with the Chinese multinational tech firm feeling the effects of a stringent COVID-zero approach that has crumpled growth in the world second largest economy. The stock shed 20.5% across the course of the month, with members' holdings down by practically the same amount as little net' buying flocked in.

Faring slightly better, community momentum appears to be on the side of Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS), with shares in the multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate up 12.9% last month, and the stock now ranked the 16th most popular by value.

One of the catalysts for Walt Disney outperformance relative to the market has been expectations its theme parks, experiences, and streaming content will perform resiliently despite broader inflationary pressure. The company reports earnings early next week, at which point We'll learn whether investors have been on the money.

US StockCompany1TSLATesla2AAPLApple3RYRoyal Bank of Canada4MSFTMicrosoft5GOOGLAlphabet6AMZNAmazon7GMEGameStop8BRK.BBerkshire Hathaway9BABAAlibaba10VOOVanguard 500 Index Fund ETF11NVDANvidia12ENBEnbridge13METAMeta Platforms14PLTRPalantir15ARKKARK Innovation ETF16DISWalt Disney17BCEBCE18PYPLPayPal19AMDAdvanced Micro Devices20VTIVanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF

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