The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is taking a tumble so far this Friday and looks to be ending the trading week on a low. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is down by 0.8% at just under 7,100 points.
But let's dive deeper and have a look at the ASX 200 shares currently at the top of the share market's volume charts, according to investing.com.
The 3 most traded ASX 200 shares by volume so far this Friday
Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC)
Coal miner Whitehaven is our first share of the day this Friday. So far, a hefty 21.56 million of this ASX 200 company's shares have found a new home. There haven't been any official developments out of the company so far today. But the Whitehaven share price itself has had a rather wild trading session to end the week.
Whitehaven shares are presently up 0.88% at $3.995. However, that follows the company going as high as $4.02 (a new 52-week high) and as low as $3.83 a share over the trading day thus far. It's likely that it's this volatility that has resulted in such elevated trading volume.
Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS)
Telstra is our next ASX 200 share to check out today. Thus far, a sizeable 22.14 million of this telco's shares have been bought and sold on the markets.
We see a similar situation to Whitehaven going on here. No major news or announcements, but stints in both positive and negative territory for Telstra shares. Minus the new 52-week high. Telstra is currently down by 0.13% at $3.90. Together with the company's ongoing share buybacks, this is probably why Telstra has had so many of its shares bounce around the markets as it currently stands.
Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX: PDN)
Our final and most traded ASX 200 share of the day is currently uranium miner Paladin energy. This Friday has seen a shockingly high 134.36 million Paladin shares exchanged on the share market so far. We don't have to look too far to see why this might be the case.
As we reported earlier this afternoon, news of a fire at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine has seen many uranium shares on the ASX take a heavy beating. Paladin is currently down by 15.12% at the time of writing at 73 cents a share. But this company fell as much as 20% to 64 cents earlier today. It's this dramatic sell-off that is almost certainly behind this massive trading volume.
