Key takeaways:

• Tech reporting played a pivotal role in interest for the likes of Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla, while money flow spiked across chip stocks

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US shares were rocked by a number of headwinds throughout the month of October, including rising bond yields, war in the Middle East, and investor angst regarding the path of monetary policy.

Tech shares stumbled the most, which was a byproduct of investors rotating into risk-off assets part-way through the month, before ultimately finding some buying support after it became increasingly clear the Fed would hold interest rates steady.

Nonetheless, the Nasdaq Composite declined by 2.8%, the S&P 500 fell 2.2%, and the Dow Jones recorded a monthly loss of 1.4%.

Here’s a round-up of the names that caught the eye of the Selfwealth community in October.

US share trading activity

EV juggernaut Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) was the most favoured trade in October, with investors overlooking a 19.7% drop in the company’s share price. Earnings not only fell short of expectations, but fell drastically as price cuts weighed on margins. Despite the turmoil, Selfwealth trades in TSLA were up 80% month-over-month, and buying conviction even picked up a fraction, up 1.6 percentage points for a buy-to-sell ratio of 75.2% across the course of the month.

Elsewhere, buyers piled into Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), which rose from seventh place in September, to fourth spot among the most traded US stocks. Trades in BAC nearly tripled compared with the month prior, and buying interest accounted for 68.8% of all trades, up almost 20 percentage points from 49.3%. Investors were likely relieved to see the bank’s earnings topped estimates thanks to better-than-expected interest income, as well as softer provisions for credit losses.

Another stock that saw a huge uptick in trades was Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN), albeit this was underpinned by a small number of investors. The cohort, full of conviction for the auto-maker, were seemingly undeterred by the company losing a third of its market cap last month. The catalyst for this drop was news the EV startup would launch a US$1.5 billion convertible bond offering, but much of the buying followed this news, suggesting a few holders were keen to buy the dip.

Also making an impression last month were various other stocks popular with online communities like Reddit, including IONQ (NYSE: IONQ), Carvana (NYSE: CVNA), which could be gaining broader appeal after making the top 20 by trade volumes for the first time, AMC Entertainment (NYSE: AMC), and Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA).

| Rank | Code | Security                   | Buy-Sell Ratio |
|------|------|----------------------------|----------------|
| 1    | TSLA | Tesla                      | 75.2%          |
| 2    | NVDA | Nvidia                     | 72.5%          |
| 3    | RIVN | Rivian                     | 77.8%          |
| 4    | BAC  | Bank of America            | 68.8%          |
| 5    | AAPL | Apple                      | 58.0%          |
| 6    | GOOG | Alphabet                   | 53.8%          |
| 7    | MSFT | Microsoft                  | 50.6%          |
| 8    | META | Meta Platforms             | 42.1%          |
| 9    | AMZN | Amazon                     | 74.7%          |
| 10   | IONQ | IONQ                       | 54.7%          |
| 11   | PLTR | Palantir                   | 40.4%          |
| 12   | CVNA | Carvana                    | 50.0%          |
| 13   | PYPL | PayPal                     | 66.7%          |
| 14   | AMD  | Advanced Micro Devices     | 62.8%          |
| 15   | TSM  | Taiwan Semiconductor       | 65.8%          |
| 16   | GME  | GameStop                   | 41.2%          |
| 17   | MS   | Morgan Stanley             | 82.1%          |
| 18   | AMC  | AMC Entertainment          | 55.6%          |
| 19   | BABA | Alibaba                    | 50.0%          |
| 20   | MARA | Marathon Digital Holdings  | 54.2

In terms of ETFs, traders maintained a focus on funds offering exposure to the broader direction of the market. A couple of new observations included short-oriented funds like the ProShares Short S&P500 ETF (NYSE: SH) and ProShares UltraPro Short S&P500 (NYSE: SPXU).

However, there was also some niche contrarian buying evident, albeit in low volume, courtesy of the iShares 20 Plus Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE: TLT), which traded at its lowest level in over a decade amid a surge in bond yields on rate hike fears.

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Almost out of nowhere, money flow into semiconductor leader Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) picked up dramatically last month. From being outside the top 20 in September, the stock ranked first for all trades by value in October, albeit the buy-to-sell ratio was split right down the middle. While the company didn’t report earnings, several peers did, and traders may have taken that opportunity, as well as the recent pullback, to reexamine the stock.

For further signs of the watchful eyes cast over chip stocks, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) featured in 15th spot for US stocks traded by value. It was only the second time ever that the stock ranked in the top 20 based on money flow. The main catalyst here was the Taiwanese chipmaker’s earnings report, which showed its largest profit decline since the first quarter of 2019 amid weak consumer electronics demand.

Another high-profile name that drew stronger money flow last month was Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG). The biggest casualty of earnings season, the search giant was slammed despite delivering better-than-expected sales and earnings. Instead, investors focused on the company’s ‘soft’ cloud results, a key growth driver. While a slight majority of last month’s GOOG trades were buy orders, more money flowed out of the stock than into it, suggesting some concerns among larger holders.

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Which US shares are the most held?

Touching on some of the major movers among the most held US shares on the Selfwealth platform, and unsurprisingly, tech was at the centre of most events.

For starters, e-commerce giant Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) lifted one spot to make the top five. The company was helped by a strong earnings report late in the month, which restored some confidence after a shaky period. The stock gained 4.8% for the month, with investors encouraged by double-digit sales growth across the company, including an acceleration in Amazon’s core e-commerce business, an impressive turnaround in advertising, and positive forward-looking guidance.

Meanwhile, despite the market initially responding sourly to Meta Platforms’ (NASDAQ: META) report, the stock did manage to gain a spot among the most popular names. This was because shareholders with smaller parcels were the ones doing the selling. It is likely that larger holders focused on the company’s forecast-beating sales for the quarter, and above-forecast average revenue per user, which pointed to strong operational momentum for the social media giant.

One stock where community support continues to dry up, almost on a monthly basis, is GameStop (NYSE: GME). For a long period of time the stock was a favourite among Selfwealth members, particularly during the infamous Reddit-inspired short squeeze saga. Now, however, GME is sitting down in 14th place, which follows a poor performance for the stock, which touched a 33-month low as long-term shareholder support evaporated.

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