US markets saw mixed fortunes in November, with the Nasdaq managing to hold out for a gain of 0.3%, but the industrial Dow Jones falling 3.7% and the S&P 500 off the pace by 0.8%.

Big pharma was one of the shining lights across the US share market last month, with vaccine-makers in the spotlight as the Omicron threat first emerged, and as new COVID antiviral treatments inch towards review. Semiconductor stocks were also a bright spot for the market as the microchip shortage continues to roll on and show signs of extending deep into next year.  On the other hand, energy stocks were hit by concerns around weakness in demand for crude oil.

With volatility rearing its head late in the month, we review the leading trades that Selfwealth members made.

US share trading activity

If the level of interest in electric vehicles wasn't already at fever pitch, then last month only brought it one step closer, with trades targeted towards this theme soaring across the month.

Predictably, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) held onto the top spot, but the number of orders involving the tech giant more than doubled compared with October. Despite Elon Musk selling down his stake in the company, albeit to reduce his tax obligations, Selfwealth members still flocked to support the stock, with almost 70% of all money heading into Tesla shares being buy orders.Meanwhile, Tesla was joined by Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) and Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) in the top 20 most-traded stocks. Neither company has featured in the list before, and in the case of the latter, it only listed about a third of the way through November and still recorded the second-most trades of any US stock on the platform. With both stocks posting large gains across the month, momentum was in full swing, and neither stock cannibalised trades from segment leader Tesla. As we mentioned in our introduction, semiconductors were a prominent theme across the US stock market last month, and Selfwealth members didn't hesitate to follow the money. Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) climbed from 13th place to 5th as the most-traded US stock across the community, while Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) effectively held its place inside the top 10. The duo were joined by a particularly bullish name in the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: SOXL), which is a highly-leveraged ETF tracking performance within this sector.Having been in a period of consolidation for quite some time, it appears some investors tuned out of the Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) story, with the stock recording the most selling activity of any top 20 actively-traded stock. Amazon shares returned less than 6% year-to-date up until the start of November, so it may have been a case that some investors moved their money elsewhere. On the contrary, Palantir (NYSE: PLTR) and Meta Platforms grew in popularity, with strong inflows heading into these tech names, while IONQ (NYSE: IONQ) was in the spotlight as the quantum computing company had a monster month in the lead-up to its third-quarter earnings.Top 20 stocks traded by valueCode SecurityBuy-sell Ratio1TSLATesla69.4%2GMEGameStop49.2%3LCIDLucid Group55.3%4TQQQProShares UltraPro QQQ51.5%5NVDANvidia68.5%6MSFTMicrosoft79.6%7FCELFuelCell Energy49.4%8AMZNAmazon39.0%9AMDAdvanced Micro Devices61.3%10RIVNRivian91.8%11LACLithium Americas56.5%12PLTRPalantir72.4%13FBMeta Platforms (Facebook)69.3%14BABAAlibaba78.2%15IVViShares Core S&P 500 ETF52.0%16QQQInvesco QQQ Trust Series 154.5%17COINCoinbase44.7%18IONQIONQ51.3%19AAPLApple50.4%20SOXLDirexion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares49.0%

Which US shares were the most held?

Tying in with the data on the most-active trades, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices further cemented their positions as some of the most-held stocks, showing the semiconductor frenzy is more than just a short-term trade. The duo rose from 11th and 18th respectively, into 8th and 12th position respectively.Making their first appearances since September, Airbnb (NASDAQ: ABNB) and PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) both featured within the top 20 most-held US shares across the Selfwealth community. Both household names, their big-brand appeal is likely proving a drawcard for investors looking ahead to the future of the digital economy.On that same point, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: FB), having rebranded from Facebook, is also gaining a presence in the portfolios of a growing number of Selfwealth members after it unveiled plans to tap into the metaverse thematic, while also pushing hardware and facilitating crypto ads across its media platforms.Meanwhile, for the first time, there is just one ETF from the ARK Invest stable within the top 20, with the ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (NYSE: ARKG) and Ark Fintech Innovation ETF (NYSE: ARKF) both slipping out of the list across recent months. The firm's flagship ARK Innovation ETF (NYSE: ARKK) remains the only name among the most-popular holdings, however, after slumping nearly 13% last month it has lost touch with some of the other leading stocks.Both the Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 (NASDAQ: QQQ) and Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF (NYSE: VOO) appear to have picked up the slack in the US ETF space, with the dup recording a steady inflow of funds over recent months.US StockCompany1TSLATesla2GMEGameStop3AAPLApple4MSFTMicrosoft5AMZNAmazon6BABAAlibaba7ARKKARK Innovation ETF8NVDANvidia9AMCAMC Entertainment10GOOGLAlphabet11PLTRPalantir12AMDAdvanced Micro Devices13FBMeta Platforms (Facebook)14VOOVanguard 500 Index Fund ETF15BRK.BBerkshire Hathaway16NIONio17QQQInvesco QQQ Trust Series 118COINCoinspot19ABNBAirbnb20PYPLPayPal

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