Key takeaway:

• Tech shares were hurt by last month’s Nasdaq sell-off, but Selfwealth members remain convinced these names will bounce back

Last month, the US share market continued to face selling pressure, as investors weighed up the likelihood that interest rates will need to stay higher for longer. 

Hawkish rhetoric from the US Federal Reserve sent investors to the sidelines, and the Nasdaq Composite copped the worst of it, declining 5.8%. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones both incurred losses, down 4.9% and 3.5% respectively. 

We’re taking a closer look at the Selfwealth community’s trading activity for September.

US share trading activity

Moving two spots higher, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) was the third most traded US stock on the Selfwealth platform in September. With a buy-to-sell ratio of 64.1%, that means approximately two out of every three trades last month were buy orders. As the tech sector faced pressure, and Amazon shares slid 7.9%, the dip presented a buying opportunity for some investors.

Elsewhere, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) was sitting high in seventh position for trades filled. That was a notable improvement versus the month prior, when the stock was ranked 13th for trades. However, the buy-to-sell ratio eased by seven percentage points month-over-month, which suggests some doubts may be starting to surround the bedrock institutions of the world’s largest economy.

In ninth position, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) made up ground, gaining traction in the community. Funnily enough, the stock was somewhat of an outlier, because while tech stocks were slammed left, right, and centre, the share price of Meta Platforms actually advanced 1.5% across the course of the month. As it were, 60% of all trades in META were buy orders, with few signs of profit taking.

We also witnessed an IPO debutant feature among the most traded names in September. British chip designer Arm Holdings (NASDAQ: ARM) landed in 13th position, which was a remarkable achievement considering the listing didn’t take place until half way through the month. Nearly four out of every five trades in the stock were buy orders, which followed a strong opening day for the float. 

Top 20 stocks by Trade Number, with Buy-Sell Ratio (%)

1. Tesla 73.6%

2. Apple 73.7%

3. Amazon 64.1%

4. Nvidia 73.6%

5. Microsoft 56.1%

6. Alphabet 61.3%

7. Bank of America 49.3%

8. Rivian 53.6%

9. Meta Platforms 60.0%

10. Advanced Micro Devices 60.5%

11. Berkshire Hathaway 75.6%

12. AMC Entertainment 51.4%

13. Arm Holdings 78.8%

14. Walt Disney Co 68.8%

15. PayPal 61.3%

16. Palantir 60.0%

17. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing 63.0%

18. GameStop 20.8%

19. IONQ 58.3%

20. Netflix 34.8%

Top 10 ETFs by Trade Number, with Buy-Sell Ratio (%)

1. Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3X Shares 51.2%

2. Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares 50.9%

3. ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ ETF 50.5%

4. ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF 63.2%

5. ProShares UltraPro QQQ 67.9%

6. ProShares UltraPro S&P500 58.3%

7. Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF 75.0%

8. Bank of Montreal MicroSectors FANG Index 3X Inverse Leveraged 48.6%

9. Direxion Daily FTSE China Bear 3X Shares 51.7%

10. SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust 51.9%

As far as money flow across US shares last month, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was one of the major movers, rising to eighth place, compared with 12th spot back in August. However, money flow was still broadly split between buying and selling, with 52.7% of funds going into APPL buys. Investors were likely encouraged by the tech giant’s recent dip, which saw the stock trading at a four-month low.

IONQ (NYSE: IONQ), a quantum computing hardware and software company, was one of the niche names causing a stir last month. The share price was hovering near its highest level in 22 months after delivering a strong revenue beat for the second quarter, which also prompted major investment bank Morgan Stanley to raise its target price for IONQ.

One of the other market segments where money was flowing freely was geared ETFs. We have seen these funds command popularity during periods of market volatility, and last month was no exception. 

As such, there was significant capital traded across the likes of the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3X Shares (NYSE: SOXS), Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: SOXL), ProShares UltraPro S&P500 (NYSE: UPRO), ProShares Ultra VIX Short Term Futures ETF (NYSE: UVXY), and the ProShares Ultra VIX Short Term Futures ETF (NYSE: TQQQ), to name but a few.

Top 20 stocks by Trade Value, with Buy-Sell Ratio (%)

1. Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3X Shares 48.9%

2. Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares 50.0%

3. Bank of Montreal MicroSectors FANG Index 3X Inverse Leveraged ETN 50.1%

4. Bank of America 49.7%

5. Rivian 50.1%

6. Carvana 49.9%

7. Tesla 56.9%

8. Apple 52.7%

9. JPMorgan 49.8%

10. Bank of Montreal MicroSectors FANG Index 3X Leveraged ETN 49.6%

11. IONQ 49.8%

12. Amazon 47.4%

13. ProShares UltraPro S&P500 60.5%

14. ProShares Ultra VIX Short Term Futures ETF 54.2%

15. ProShares UltraPro QQQ 61.8%

16. ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ ETF 45.8%

17. Alphabet 38.9%

18. Arm Holdings 54.7%

19. Direxion Daily 20+ Year Treasury Bull 3X Shares ETF 37.2%

20. ProShares Ultra QQQ 52.3%

Which US shares are the most held?

At the top are familiar favourites like Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), which should come as no surprise, despite last month’s tech rout. These names have long been stalwarts in the Selfwealth community on account of their resilient earnings through the economic cycle.

However, there was one surprise near the top of the list, with Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) inching higher to land in fifth spot. Exposure to RY remains at a relative high compared with non-tech names, with the bank’s income stream likely to be a drawcard for long-term holders.

One of the stocks that led the market higher over recent months is also at the face of the recent sell-off. Semiconductor stock Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) shed 11.9% of its market cap in September. 

And while that wasn’t the highest decline of any stock inside the top 20 most held US names, the collective value of NVDA holdings on the Selfwealth platform fell at an even larger rate. However, since most NVDA trades for the month were buy orders, it was a smaller number of higher-value sales that did the damage, rather than a complete shift in sentiment.

Finally, GameStop (NYSE: GME) holdings decreased by a double-digit percentage last month, which followed a tricky period for growth stocks. What was at one stage the most popular US stock on the platform, GameStop is now down in 13th position, with the value of all holdings in GME sitting at less than 20% of what they were at the end of August, 2021.

US Companies

1. Tesla

2. Apple

3. Microsoft

4. Alphabet

5. Royal Bank of Canada

6. Amazon

7. Berkshire Hathaway

8. Nvidia

9. Meta Platforms

10. Alibaba

11. Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF

12. Palantir

13. GameStop

14. ProShares UltraPro QQQ

15. Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1

16. Advanced Micro Devices

17. PayPal

18. ARK Innovation ETF

19. Enbridge

20. Toronto-Dominion Bank

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