Top trades by New Zealand Sharesight users — February 2026

Welcome to the February 2026 edition of Sharesight’s monthly trading snapshot for New Zealand investors, where we look at the top 20 trades made by New Zealand Sharesight users. Below we will look at the top trades overall, plus the top trades in individual stocks, which allows us to observe the broader investment trends by Sharesight users in New Zealand, while also giving us an opportunity to zoom into the most popular stocks and the market-moving news behind them.

Top trades in February 2026

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This month, the top trades were led by the Smartshares US 500 ETF (NZX: USF), followed by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB). It was an ETF-heavy month overall, with 9 of the top 20 trades consisting of ETFs. US tech stocks also dominated the rankings, with very little investment in local assets.

Most-traded stocks in February 2026

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This month’s top stock trades were led by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), which saw its share price face its worst day since April 2025. The top trades were followed by Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB), with its share price sliding further over the period.

Let’s look at some of the market-moving news behind some of this month’s top stocks:

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)

• Apple share price has worst day since April 2025 amid FTC scrutiny, Siri update delays
• Share price rises on record Q1 earnings, product roadmap anticipation

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB)

• Rocket Lab shares plunge 10% as Mars Sample Return plan put on hold
• Rocket Lab beats earnings expectations; share price drops

NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA)

• Investors sell off NVIDIA shares as OpenAI investment stalls
• Plans to lease data centre with US$3.8 billion in junk bonds; CEO backs US$660 billion AI investment by its key clients

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)

• Microsoft gets a rare downgrade due to ‘overoptimistic revenue and earnings expectations’
• After a 15% YoY decline, is Microsoft set for a comeback?

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)

• Amazon cuts 16,000 jobs in favour of AI
• Movement to avoid Big Tech, including Amazon, continues to grow in popularity amongst consumers

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA)

• Tesla regains European market share in February
• Tesla share price rises following upgrade from leading bank; analyst forecasts 14% upside

Contact Energy (NZX: CEN)

• Contact Energy completes NZ$450 share placement as part of larger equity raising initiative
• Makes offer for full ownership of King Country Energy’s hydropower stations

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FURTHER READING

• Subscribe to Sharesight20 trading snapshots
• How Sharesight calculates your investment performance
• Sharesight users' top 20 trades – January 2026