Stock markets tumbled last week: these were the most popular stocks & ETFs Saxo clients were buying

Thursday saw a major capitulation in stock markets, followed by a rebound on Friday. The Nasdaq Composite plunged 5.5%, its worst day since April 2025’s Liberation Day selloff. The Nasdaq-100 sank 6.36%, the S&P 500 lost 4.36% and the Dow fell 3.44%. Semiconductors were hammered, with SOXX down 12% and Nvidia off 9%. The Nasdaq Composite entered correction territory and closed the week below its 200-day moving average. The selling revealed the market's incredible concentration risk - equal weight S&P 500 is near its all-time high, having risen 5% in October. The market as a whole held up pretty well and earnings growth is improving even as multiples compress, indicating investors are not as bullish on EPS forecasts as analysts.

Citadel reported the most aggressive retail selling in the first 30 minutes of a session since April 2025, following the sixth-largest net selling day of the past year. The AI infrastructure unwind had become a broader retreat from risk. Yet, tellingly, retail flows swung back to net buying by the close. By Friday things were stabilising and the Nasdaq-100 finished up 1.35% that day.

Clients used the selloff to lean into beaten up tech names. Nvidia was the most actively traded as its shares dropped as much as 25% their all-time high amid the rout in AI.

SpaceX, which rallied 8% on Friday on strong retail flows, was the next most traded. Both had buy ratios of more than 70%, signalling strong client interest in scaling into these names on the weakness.

Micron, AMD, Intel and Alphabet were the next most traded names and saw similar levels of buying activity. Generally there was a less diverse top 20 than usual as investors concentrated on AI-related stocks more than usual. Meta dropped out of the top 20, coming in 27th on 72% buys. Apple was 21st and gathered just 36% buy ratio as investors booked profits in a stock that has defied the AI selloff.

Four ETFs in the top 20 indicate clients were using the broader weakness in stocks to add to longer-term positions.

Here's the list of the 20 most traded stocks and ETFs last week with the % of buys.