ASX investors were buying Robinhood, Square shares last week

ASX investors were buying Robinhood and Square shares last week

Sebastian Bowen

Author Bio Sebastian Bowen has been a Motley Fool contributor since late 2018. Sebastian found his passion for writing and educating others about shares and all things finance after completing his studies in political, economic and social science and enjoys bringing this passion to life at the Fool. His investment philosophy is a simple one – buying high-quality companies at prices that make sense. When he’s not researching his next investment at all hours of the morning, Sebastian enjoys classic movies and likes to unwind with a good book, newspaper or record. Areas of Expertise Dividend investing ETFs Education Bachelor of Political, Economic, and Social Sciences (Government and International Relations), University of Sydney Social Media X/Twitter Favorite Investment Quote "In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run, it is a weighing machine." – Benjamin Graham

Published August 10, 2021 3:02 pm AEST

Most weeks, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA)'s brokerage platform CommSec tells us the most traded international shares (usually just US shares) that its Aussie customer base have been buying and selling the previous week.

CommSec is one of the most popular brokers in Australia. Because of this, CommSec's trading data gives us a useful insight into the US shares that ASX investors are finding interesting right now.

So here are the top 10 international shares that CommSec-ers were trading last week. This week's data covers 2-6 August.

Piggy bank on US flag with stock market data. — Image source: Getty Images

Robinhood and Square make their presence known to ASX investors

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) – representing 3.7% of total trades with a 60%/40% buy-to-sell ratio.
GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) – representing 2.9% of total trades with a 93%/7% buy-to-sell ratio.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) – representing 2.5% of total trades with an 86%/14% buy-to-sell ratio.
Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) – representing 2.4% of total trades with a 65%/35% buy-to-sell ratio.
Robinhood Markets Inc (NASDAQ: HOOD) – representing 1.9% of total trades with a 72%/28% buy-to-sell ratio.
Square Inc (NYSE: SQ)
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE: AMC)
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD)
Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: MRNA)
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA)

What can we learn from these trades?

We see some interesting movements in this week's list. Firstly, it's worth noting that the perenially popular shares of Tesla and GameStop remain at the top of this pile, cementing a trend we have pretty much seen all year. Investors remain super-bullish on these two companies as well, in particular with GameStop. A staggering 93% of all GameStop trades on CommSec last week were on the buy side, despite the fact that this original 'meme stock' has slid around 15% over the past month or so.

Tesla also remains popular, albeit less so than GameStop. Tesla shares are up roughly 10% since the start of the month, which may be influencing trading activity here.

But turning to other news, and it was interesting to see e-commerce giant Amazon climb into the top 5 shares this week. Amazon is a regular feature on this list, but usually occupies a spot at the bottom of the table when it does turn up. Perhaps a rare share price pullback in Amazon shares (the company is down more than 10% over the month just passed) is to thank for this.

We also see a strong appetite for US share market newcomer Robinhood. Robinhood had an explosive IPO late last month, rising from around US$35 a share to US$85 by last Wednesday. The company is back down to the mid-US$50 range as it stands today.

And finally, it's also worth noting the presence of Afterpay Ltd's (ASX: APT) potential new overlord Square. Like Amazon, Square is a company that has turned up at the bottom of this table before, but its new presence in the ASX investor's mind looks to have boosted its profile. Square's commitment to list on the ASX if its acquisition of Afterpay goes through may also be at play here.

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