Most Australian small-cap investors have a number of trading options when it comes to buying and selling shares on the ASX.

Getting exposure to global markets though can often be a more complex story. Local platforms typically charge higher brokerage fees for international trades, and the availability of different investments can be limited.

(Source: hellostake.com)

The team at Stake (hellostake.com) is aiming to fill that void with a new trading service that offers local investors simple access to the huge US market.

With 28,000 active customers, the business has gained some early traction operating as a “Commsec for US shares, but cheaper”. The platform provides access to the full range of public companies — almost 4,000 in total — across the major US indices.

Stake also offers exposure to simple and leveraged ETFs in the US market, giving investors exposure to stock-adjacent themes such as the market volatility (VIX) index.

The company offers a full trading platform through its Stake app, where investors can buy and sell shares, monitor chart patterns and conduct research on a given company or sector.

To give Stockhead readers an idea of where Australian investors are focusing, we’ve compiled some figures from the Stake database highlighting different capital flows in the month of August.

For starters, these were the five most actively traded US stocks on the Stake platform for August:

1. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
2. Tesla (TSLA)
3. Apple (AAPL)
4. Amazon (AMZN)
5. Beyond Meat (BYND)

Not surprisingly, there were some familiar names in the list among the US-based tech giants that are popular among investors across the globe.

But a couple of other interesting names made the cut, with local investors clearly taking note of the growing trend in plant-based food companies with BYND.

And topping the list was Advanced Micro Devices – perhaps an indication of returning interest among the heavyweight US semi-conductor manufacturers, amid some pressure on the sector this year stemming from the US-China trade war.

By sector, these were the five most popular investment themes among Stake investors:

1.Technology
2. Leveraged ETFs
3. Cannabis
4. Consumer Discretionary
5. Energy

The most actively traded sector — technology — also had four of the top five most actively traded stocks.

But again, there were some interesting trends in the other categories, with US pot stocks clearly on the radar of local investors.

To break down the data a little bit further, Stake also provided analysis on the five most actively traded investments for sectors two and three — leveraged ETFs and cannabis.

Here are the most popular US leveraged ETFs among Australian investors:

1. Direxion Daily Gold 3x Bull (JNUG)
2. VelocityShares 3x Inverse Natural Gas (DGAZ)
3. VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas (UGAZ)
4. ProShares VIX Short Term Futures (VIXY)
5. ProShares Short VIX Short Term Futures (UVXY)

And these five US cannabis companies caught the eye of Stake users in August:

1. Aurora Cannabis (ACB)
2. Cronos Group (CRON)
3. Canopy Growth Company (CGC)
4. CannTrust Holdings (CTST)
5. Hexo (HEXO)

Stake (hellostake.com) is a fully digital broker that gives investors direct access to the US share market. With over 45,000 customers and growing, Stake has cut down the barriers for Australians to trade over 3,800 US stocks and ETFs, making it simpler, cheaper, and faster to access the world’s largest share market. With Stake, you can sign up, get verified and be in the market in under 5 minutes.

This story was developed in collaboration with Stake (hellostake.com), a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.This story does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.