TD Ameritrade: Mobile users loved these stocks on Black Friday
Consumers used their mobile devices for more than just shopping on Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
Stock trading was also front and center — even on a shortened trading session. The U.S. stock market closed at 1 p.m. Eastern on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.
Mobile trading accounted for 31% of all trading activity on TD Ameritrade’s platform on Black Friday — an all-time high and an increase from 22% on Black Friday in 2015.
“I think it’s a continuation of what we’ve been seeing from a behavioral standpoint with respect to having pervasive access to the market on your mobile device,” Steve Quirk, executive vice president of trading and education for TD Ameritrade, told Yahoo Finance. “On Black Friday, people were with family or out at malls and the mobile access gave people the option to check their portfolio or take action.”
Action on Black Friday centered around some of the most well-known and volatile technology stocks.
‘These names have been beat up’
The most traded stocks on TD Ameritrade’s platform on Black Friday included Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Nvidia (NVDA) and Netflix (NFLX).
Apple happens to be the most widely held stocks among TD clients.
Fears of the growth prospects of these very names contributed to the recent bout of stock market volatility that started in early October.
“These names have been beat up — I think there are a lot of people looking for opportunities,” Quirk added.
Apple shares are down 22.5% from its Oct. 3 closing high of the year. Amazon’s stock is down 17.4% from its Aug. 31 closing high for 2018. Advanced Micro Devices shares are off 36% from their Sept. 14 closing high of 2018.
Going forward, Quirk doesn’t see tech passing the baton to other sectors in terms of market leadership.
“Tech will lead the market — I don’t know if it leads the market up or down, but tech is a bellwether for the market,” he said. “It’s probably been like that for a couple of years now.”
Scott Gamm is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @ScottGamm.
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