It's turning out to be a disappointing end to a depressing week for ASX investors this Friday. At the time of writing, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has lost another nasty 1.38%, dialling back the index to around 6,748 points. At this point, the ASX 200 is on track to lose around 2.2% for the week.
But let's not let that ruin our weekends. So rather than dwelling on that, let's instead take a glance at the ASX 200 shares that are currently topping the share market's trading volume charts, according to investing.com.
The 3 most traded ASX 200 shares by volume this Friday
Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)
First up today is the ASX 200 lithium share Pilbara minerals. Pilbara has had a hefty 20.2 million shares trade accounts on the market today. This probably has something to do with the notable share price fall this company has suffered through.
There's been no news out of Pilbara itself. But the company has retreated from yesterday's all-time highs and is currently down a chunky 2.45% at $4.58 a share. It's likely that this market-exceeding fall has prompted the high volume levels we are seeing.
Atlas Arteria Group (ASX: ALX)
Next up is a rare guest appearance for this list in ASX 200 toll road operator Atlas Arteria. This Friday has seen a sizeable 22.01 million Atlas shares cross the bridge to a new owner. This company's presence here is almost certainly the result of the horrible 14.2% drop Atlas has recorded so far to $6.70 a share.
As my Fool colleague Matthew covered earlier today, this is a result of the company coming out of a trading halt. The proposed acquisition of the US-based Skyway Concession company has not gone down too well with some investors.
Lake Resources NL (ASX: LKE)
Our third, final and most traded ASX 200 share this Friday is none other than Pilbara's fellow lithium share Lake Resources. Today has seen a whopping 24.8 million Lake shares bought and sold on the ASX so far. There hasn't been much news to go off here.
But like Pilbara, Lake shares are also dropping today. The company has shed another 3% to 89.5 cents a share, putting its five-day losses at a depressing 33.2%. This drop is probably the reason we are seeing such elevated trading volumes.
