Appetite for bluechips, rare earths drive surge in trading activity

Yasmine Raso

Senior Journalist, Financial Newswire

11 November 2025

The latest trading data for the month of October from wholesale platform, AUSIEX, has confirmed there was a noticeable spike in trading volume compared to the previous month, as both Generation X and pre-retirees upped their shares of trades and appetite for rare earths and bluechips continued.

Both retail investors and advised investors’ trading volumes soared in comparison to September’s data, at 33 per cent and 22 per cent respectively, with the Generation X and pre-retiree cohorts actively increasing their shares by more than three per cent month-on-month.

According to Chris Hill, National Manager of Strategic Relationships at AUSIEX, the data showcases both the demand for exchange traded funds (ETFs) by younger investors and the ‘last-ditch’ efforts before entering retirement to grow investment balances.

“Gen X investors were the most active buyers, increasing their share of trades from 19% to 22.7%. Pre-retirees share of trades jumped from 27.3% to 31.3% as this cohort tap the stock market prior to their retirement,” he said.

“There was also a 17.2% increase in the volume of exchange traded funds across the boards, as more investors tapped these easy-to-use investment vehicles.”

Hill also confirmed that rare earths, bluechip industrials, major miners and strategic defence stocks were the top bought stocks by retail investors in the month of October, while investors across the board shedded their investments in some of the big banks (Westpac, ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and SunCorp) and miners.

“Advised investors and advised self-managed super funds (SMSFs) also sold out of the major banks, James Hardie and Resmed in favour of other bluechips and an oil explorer,” Hill said.

Fixed income ETFs also remained a popular choice for advised SMSFs in October.

The top buys made by retail investors included:

1. Drone Shield
2. CSL
3. Arafura Rare Earths
4. BHP
5. Lynas Rare Earths
6. Woodside
7. Electro Optic Systems
8. Woolworths
9. Pilbara Minerals
10. WiseTech Global

The top buys made by advised investors included:

1. Woolworths
2. BlueScope Steel
3. QBE Insurance
4. CSL
5. Scentre Group
6. Woodside
7. Amcor
8. Telstra
9. Sonic Healthcare
10. WiseTech Global

The top buys made by advised SMSFs included:

1. Woolworths
2. BlueScope Steel
3. QBE Insurance
4. CSL
5. Scentre Group
6. VanEck Australian Subordinated Debt ETF
7. Amcor
8. Talaria Global Equity Fund Complex ETF
9. Vanguard Australian Corporate Fix Interest Index ETF
10. Sonic Healthcare