Key takeaways: 

• Risk-off sentiment saw Bitcoin claim a new all-time high, with trading interest picking up in kind. This asset class is volatile so please consider your own circumstances and undertake your own research.

• Technology shares retained a strong pull over the Selfwealth community, albeit Apple fell to its lowest ever ranking. 

• Past performance is not an indicator of future performance.  

Positive sentiment continued to support global equities through May, with the major US benchmark indices approaching their record highs. 

Helping the cause were two major developments. Firstly, fresh data showed inflation continuing to moderate, allaying concerns about tariffs leading to higher inflation, at least for the time being. Secondly, the US and China struck a trade deal, which saw tariffs on China scaled back considerably. 

Overall, growth stocks enjoyed the most support, and it was with this tailwind that the Nasdaq Composite outperformed its peers, jumping 9.6% to ensure its biggest monthly gain since November 2023, and its best May performance since 1997. The S&P 500 delivered its best May result in 35 years, climbing 6.2%, while the Dow Jones rose 3.9%. 

With no shortage of stocks delivering strong performances last month, where did Selfwealth investors hone their attention? Let’s take a look. 

US share trading activity 

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) trade volumes increased in May. That resulted in a record for monthly trades in the electric vehicle manufacturer, and the third highest ever monthly figure for trade volumes among any US stock on the platform. 

Last month’s increase in trading activity corresponded with a share price gain of 22.8% through May. While news surfaced that Tesla’s main rival, BYD, outsold it in Europe for the first time, Tesla’s share price received support from not only broader risk-on appetite across the market, but as CEO Elon Musk began to step back from his government role and put more time into running the business. 

Palantir (NASDAQ: PLTR) moved three spots higher into fourth place, albeit sellers represented the bulk of the trading action. Overall, just 45.3% of last month’s trades were buys. But with the stock increasing 11.3%, and also resetting its all-time high, it appears that profit taking was the driving force behind said trading activity. 

On the other hand, making its first appearance among the most actively traded US stocks was health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH). In the headlines last month, UNH spooked the market with the withdrawal of its FY25 guidance, which was in response to higher medical costs.  

At the same time, UnitedHealth Group’s CEO announced his sudden departure. In response, UNH shares plummeted 26.6% over the month. Despite these hurdles, Selfwealth investors backed the stock, with more than three out of every four trades being buys, and UNH finishing the month as the sixth most traded name. 

Having become something akin to a proxy for Bitcoin over recent months, GameStop (NYSE: GME), which earlier this year added the cryptocurrency as a treasury-reserve asset, recorded a major lift in trades. It rounded out May as the 11th most traded US stock, compared with 15th position a month earlier, and trade volumes surged 24%. However, around two-thirds of trades were ‘sells’, which may have had something to do with a strong share price gain tied to all-time highs for Bitcoin. Bitcoin is volatile and risky so please undertake your own research and consider your own circumstances. 

It didn’t take long for recently listed cloud computing startup CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) to make an impression with investors, comfortably making the top 20 for trade volumes. Overall sentiment towards the stock, which only listed at the end of March, was particularly bullish, in no small part helped by a 170% rally last month. A major catalyst for this re-rate was news that Nvidia, a key customer and supplier to the business, had increased its investment in the company.  

In addition, the rollback of high trade tariffs on China also supported sentiment for the broader tech sector, especially the AI segment. This was something that helped quantum computing shares like Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI) and IONQ (NYSE: IONQ), with the latter of the duo returning to this list for the first time since January. 

As far as ETFs, the biggest movements across this cohort were among Bitcoin-related funds. For example, the T-Rex 2X Long MSTR Daily Target ETF (MSTU), which offers leveraged exposure to MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) — effectively a Bitcoin play — ranked second last month. In seventh place, the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (NASDAQ: IBIT) made its return to the list. Bitcoin is volatile and risky so please undertake your own research and consider your own circumstances. 

In both cases, the rally in the price of Bitcoin was central, supported by favourable regulatory developments, and a thawing in global trade tensions. On May 22, Bitcoin reached an all-time high of US$111,970. 

Tesla was not only the most traded US stock by volume last month, but unsurprisingly it also ranked first for money flow.  

The money trail also extended to other proxies for Tesla shares, including leveraged trades like the GraniteShares 1.25x Long Tesla Daily ETF (NASDAQ: TSL) and Direxion Daily TSLA Bull 2X Shares (NASDAQ: TSLL), which ranked fourth and sixth respectively. 

Elsewhere, the market’s enthusiasm for tech exposure was matched by the Selfwealth community, with the Vanguard Information Technology Index Fund ETF (NYSE: VGT) in fifth place. It was the first time the ETF has ever featured among the most traded securities on the Selfwealth platform, either by volume or money flow. Tech shares were the market’s best performing cohort in May, and the fund returned 10.4% for the month. 

As bond markets also made headlines last month, the iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE: SGOV) attracted elevated trading activity. Up from 15th position in April, the fund was the 11th most traded security by value in May. Total money flow in SGOV increased nearly 80% over the month, while buying sentiment improved 5.8 percentage points to a rather ‘bullish’ figure of 69.4%. 

One of the other interesting observations from last month came courtesy of the significant outflows in ProShares UltraPro Russell 2000 (NYSE: URTY), where more than 80% of trades (by value) were related to selling activity. Although the underlying Russell 2000 index fared well last month, the scale of the selling here suggests some investors may have rotated out of small cap stocks and into big tech shares, which underpinned the momentum that saw the market approach its all-time high. 

Which US shares are the most held? 

In keeping with earlier trade data, Tesla remains atop the list of the most held US shares on the Selfwealth platform. Last month saw collective holdings in the electric vehicle manufacturer back to the highest level since January, tracing the stock’s underlying increase over the month. 

Google parent company Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) moved up to third position, an improvement of two spots. Community holdings in the tech giant rose 9.3% over the month, with investors and the broader market both looking past the company’s largest single-day share price plunge in years.  

That followed comments from Apple that speculated AI-powered search engines could take over from traditional search engines. Nonetheless, the share price dip proved temporary, and as above data shows, Selfwealth investors were active in buying the stock. 

Speaking of the iPhone manufacturer, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) finished the month in sixth position. In terms of rankings, this is the lowest ever placement for Apple among the most held US shares on the platform.  

For most of the first three years after Selfwealth began offering US trading, AAPL was ranked second or third, but recent developments have seen the company slide down the list. The most prominent of these matters relates to the company’s exposure to tariffs, as well as political pressure on the company to move its production to the US, where it is expected costs would increase significantly. 

For the second month in a row, the total value of investors’ holdings in Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD)  increased  substantially. On this occasion, May saw the collective value of said holdings leap 42.3%. Given last month’s underlying share price increase was 34.7%, the growth figure, alongside trade data, shows net buying support and a positive outlook among the community towards HOOD. 

Finally, there was also robust growth in holdings for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META), the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD), even though there were little changes to their rankings over the month. 

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