Nasdaq's 390th Turnover Rank Outpaced by High-Volume Strategy's 166.71% Return

On August 8, 2025, Nasdaq closed with a 0.41% gain, marking its third consecutive session of positive momentum. The index traded at a volume of 2.5 billion shares, ranking 390th among U.S. equity benchmarks by turnover. This modest rally occurred amid limited earnings activity and a subdued economic calendar, with no major corporate reports or macroeconomic releases influencing market dynamics.

Short-term liquidity patterns emerged as a key driver for high-volume equities, as evidenced by a backtested trading strategy. Analyzing performance from 2022 to present, purchasing the top 500 most liquid stocks by daily trading volume and holding for one day generated a 166.71% cumulative return. This significantly outperformed the 29.18% benchmark return, underscoring the compounding effect of liquidity concentration in volatile market environments. The strategy's success highlights how concentrated trading activity can amplify price discovery in high-turnover assets.

Historical price movements of volume-weighted stocks like Newmont and McKesson demonstrate that liquidity-driven strategies thrive during periods of elevated volatility. As market participants increasingly focus on depth-of-book metrics, short-term directional bets on liquid names may continue to offer asymmetric risk-reward profiles. However, the strategy's effectiveness remains contingent on sustained volatility and market structure dynamics.

The backtest results confirm that a 166.71% return was achieved by purchasing the top 500 volume-weighted stocks daily and holding for one day since 2022. This outperformed the benchmark's 29.18% return by 137.53 percentage points, illustrating the impact of liquidity concentration on short-term equity performance, particularly in volatile markets.