Top trades by New Zealand Sharesight users — May 2026

Welcome to the May 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 May 2026

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May’s top trades were led by the Smartshares US 500 ETF (NZX: USF), followed by Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) and NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA). Compared to the previous month, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was the biggest mover on the chart, rising from #17 to #4 — a recovery consistent with its strong rebound across global and Australian markets in May. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) fell the furthest, an interesting divergence given the rise of Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU).

Most-traded stocks in May 2026

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The top-traded stocks were RKLB and NVDA, followed by AAPL. May marked the first time since January that RKLB topped the rankings, however it should be noted that its sell volume has risen to its highest level in recent months, suggesting some profit-taking at the top. Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) was the standout climber this month, rising from #13 to #6 — consistent with its strong performance across Australian and global charts in May. Semiconductors remain a dominant theme but with a clear preference shift toward AMD and MU over TSM. Buy sentiment was relatively high across the top names, with RKLB, NVDA, AAPL and MSFT all showing strong buy dominance despite the elevated sell pressure on RKLB.

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

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB)

• Rocket Lab announces the largest contract in its history
• Rocket Lab share price surges 34% in its best day ever

NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA)

• NVIDIA reports higher costs for AI than humans
• Plans to spend US$150 billion in Taiwan, the ‘epicentre’ of AI revolution
• Posts record profit of US$58.3 billion amid growing demand for advanced AI chips

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)

• Apple boosts guidance, driven by ongoing demand for iPhone 17 and Mac computers
• Apple Director sells US$71 million-worth of shares

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)

• Gates’ foundation sells off all its remaining Microsoft shares
• Share price rises on talks that Anthropic will rent servers powered by Microsoft-designed AI chips

Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU)

• Micron share price skyrockets almost 38% amid surging demand for memory chips and CPUs
• Micron market cap reaches US$1 trillion

Infratil (NZX: IFT)

• Infratil reports 11% increase in earnings, led by data centre and renewables growth
• Infratil eyes asset sales to fund further investments in data centres and renewables

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)

• Amazon plans to invest more than €15 billion in France, creating 7,000+ permanent jobs
• Share price rallies as AWS posts 28% YoY revenue growth

Meta (NASDAQ: META)

• Has Meta entered a “death spiral”?
• Meta cuts 10% of its workforce

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FURTHER READING

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• Sharesight users' top 20 trades – April 2026