The US stock market continued its ascent throughout July, with lingering concern about taper talk and the Delta outbreak in the United States proving no barrier to the market momentum. Across the month, the S&P 500 gained 2.3%, the Dow Jones rose 1.3%, and the Nasdaq lifted 1.2%.

Earnings season delivered a number of blowout results, with strong numbers spanning across multiple industries from banking to pharma and unsurprisingly, big tech. 

What US shares were Selfwealth members trading last month? Let take a look.

Which US shares were the most held?

With more than US$1 billion in net income during the June quarter, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) moved to the top of the charts for the most-held stock across the Selfwealth community. 

It was the first time the tech business and auto-maker surpassed the US$1 billion mark, which was up tenfold compared with a year prior. That came despite a US$23 million impairment related to the company investment in bitcoin. The accelerating uptake of electric vehicles remains a popular investment theme among both long-term investors as well as traders.

Elsewhere, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) edged ahead into its highest ranking within the Selfwealth community. The move largely pre-empted the company high-profile earnings report, suggesting members are looking for exposure to the momentum plays shaping the broader US share market. Nonetheless, Microsoft went on to post stellar numbers, including its fastest total sales growth in three years.As the share price of AMC Entertainment (NYSE: AMC) came tumbling down, shedding more than a third, the stock slipped down the list on account of its shrinking market cap. The Reddit favourite was impacted by a shift in sentiment as media streaming services upped their disruptive action against the movie cinema industry, fuelled largely by Disney and its release of Black Widow.Meanwhile, Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) climbed the list to become the ninth most-held stock. Shares in BABA shed nearly 14%, however, Selfwealth members were eager to buy the dip. Weighing on the company was heightened regulatory action out of China, which has been tweaking rules for the tech sector, and also imposing its muscle on companies aspiring to float in the US.As PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) increased its efforts to penetrate the buy-now pay-later segment, the stock also found its way into the top 20. Australian investors have already shown their fondness for the segment amid the frenetic support of Afterpay and Zip, and it may be a case that some investors are also backing the US payments giant to make an impact.US StockCompany1TSLATesla2GMEGameStop3AAPLApple4MSFTMicrosoft5AMZNAmazon6ARKKARK Innovation ETF7AMCAMC Entertainment8PLTRPalantir9BABAAlibaba10NIONio11ARKGARK Genomic Revolution ETF12GOOGLAlphabet Class A13PYPLPayPal14NVDANvidia15AMDAdvanced Micro Devices16BRK.BBerkshire Hathaway17QQQInvesco QQQ Trust Series 118ARKFArk Fintech Innovation ETF19DISDisney20COINCoinbase

US share trading activity

Chip maker Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) surged into fourth position among the most-traded stocks last month, with the global semiconductor shortage still proving a major issue across the world.As electric vehicle uptake increases, attention is also shifting to other energy sources that might become the next-generation format of choice. With that, Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG) is attracting notable attention, with the fuel cell company developing industry-leading hydrogen energy solutions for high growth markets around the globe.A rollercoaster month for Cassava Sciences (NASDAQ: SAVA) didn't deter Selfwealth members, with the stock featuring in seventh place among the most-traded names. Cassava's efforts to develop an Alzheimer's drug, Simufilam, are front and centre to the share price, and the stock was actually sold off sharply on the back of positive preliminary results from its phase 2 trials studying cognition, suggesting some profit taking may have underpinned trading activity.The space race also drew interest, with Virgin Galactic Holdings (NYSE: SPCE) leaping into the equation for the first time as one of the hottest stocks on the market. While subject to bouts of volatility, investors were prepared to look to the longer-term prospects, with the company having completed its first fully-crewed flight into space during July.Finally, after a bumper June for Global -E Online (NASDAQ: GLBE), where its share price soared more than 70%, traders were capitalising upon that momentum in the following weeks across July. The Israeli ecommerce services business only listed in May, and has been swept up amid euphoria for tech stocks. Momentum has been building ever since the company's quarterly results at the start of June showed revenue and gross merchandise volume had leapt by triple-digit figures, and a number of broker upgrades that followed.Top 20 stocks traded by valueCode SecurityBuy-sell Ratio1NIONio51.1%2AMCAMC Entertainment51.2%3GMEGameStop59.5%4NVDANvidia63.6%5PLUGPlug Power50.0%6TSLATesla70.8%7SAVACassava Sciences50.8%8SPCEVirgin Galactic Holdings50.3%9AAPLApple76.5%10AMZNAmazon79.4%11BABAAlibaba71.4%12MSFTMicrosoft92.9%13TQQQProShares UltraPro QQQ54.9%14PYPLPayPal43.8%15CCIVChurchill Capital Corp IV / Lucid Motors49.4%16PLTRPalantir55.5%17AMDAdvanced Micro Devices49.2%18COINCoinbase51.5%19GLBEGlobal -E Online51.0%20GOOGLAlphabet76.0%

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