Most traded US stocks revealed

The US share market made a comeback in May after a decline in April following moderating inflation data and weak consumer spending offered investors some optimism that interest rate cuts may be around the corner.

Trading data from Selfwealth found Nvidia had a major role in driving returns in the tech sector and lifting the market to an all-time high. In fact, six mega-tech shares accounted for more than 75% of the S&P 500's gain last month.

By the end of the month, the Dow Jones had gained 2.3%, but it was the two other benchmark indices that garnered the most attention, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite up 4.8% and 6.9% respectively.

The research revealed it was an eventful month for a handful of shares dubbed 'meme stocks' due to their strong support base across online forum Reddit.

The most well-known example, and the most-traded US share in the Selfwealth community last month, was GameStop (NYSE: GME).

During the pandemic, GME was the most held US stock on the Selfwealth platform, before its popularity faded in line.

However, GME re-captured the market's interest last month when one of the original investors involved in the stock's short-squeeze frenzy at the start of 2021 broke his social media silence.

In the immediate aftermath, GME shares soared as much as 179%, albeit volatile trading followed through the rest of the month.

Another popular trade, ranking second last month by volume, was Faraday Future Intelligent Electric (NASDAQ: FFIE). At one stage, the EV manufacturer surged from around US$0.04 per share to over US$1.80 per share.

In total, 55% of FFIE trades on the Selfwealth platform were 'buys', with the stock's significant short interest a factor supporting the rally.

The GameStop-inspired rally also directly lifted several other 'meme stocks', including AMC Entertainment (NYSE: AMC), Innovative Eyewear (NASDAQ: LUCY), and Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD).

The top 10 stocks by trading numbers and their buy-sell ratio were:

1. GameStop (GME) - 42.8%
2. Faraday Future Intelligence Electric (FFIE) - 55%
3. Tesla (TSLA) - 63.8%
4. Nvidia (NVDA) - 66%
5. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) - 59.6%
6. Apple (AAPL) - 43.5%
7. Amazon (AMZN) - 69.9%
8. Alphabet (GOOGL) - 66.1%
9. Microsoft (MSFT) - 73.4%
10. Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) - 53.4%