Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) has long been a favourite share amongst certain parts of the investor community. As the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO)'s leading lithium share for years, it draws a lot of attention especially when lithium is hot news.
We saw a surge in interest back in 2017 when investors first started getting excited about the potential of lithium. But that surge pales in comparison to what has happened over 2021 and 2022.
It's rather hard to picture, but believe it or not, it was only a little more than two years ago that Pilbara had a 30-cent share. Yesterday, it closed at $5.10. This is a company that is up more than 1,000% in two years. It's also up more than 140% since June of this year.
So clearly, we have a hot stock on our hands here.
Hot stock Pilbara comes out on top
But we don't just have share price gains to prove that Pilbara is one of the hottest shares on the ASX 200. We also have trading volume data.
Most days, we take a look at the most-traded ASX 200 shares each session. This keeps track of how many individual shares are bought and sold on any given day. Pilbara Minerals is, more often than not, in the top three most-traded ASX 200 shares on any given day. It's often the most-traded ASX 200 share on the market.
We have seen this in action just this week. On Monday, Pilbara was the third most traded share of the day when we checked. On Tuesday, it was in first place, and on Wednesday it came in second.
Many different factors can influence trading volume. But Pilbara's consistent presence tells us that this company is a hot ASX stock. It's likely to be held by many investors and bought and sold often within portfolios. We also typically see big moves with Pilbara shares on any given day. It's not uncommon to see the company move by 3% or more at least once a week.
So all this points to Pilbara being one of, if not the, hottest stock on the ASX 200 right now.
