Tesla's $29.6B Volume Leads Market Amid Legal and Regulatory Headwinds

On August 25, 2025, Tesla (TSLA) closed with a 1.94% gain, trading at $347.92, as its $29.62 billion in volume led the market. The stock’s performance came amid a broader rally driven by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s hints at potential rate cuts, which buoyed investor sentiment toward tech equities.

Legal and regulatory challenges continued to weigh on Tesla. A jury awarded $242.5 million in a 2019 Autopilot-related fatality case, despite Tesla having previously rejected a $60 million settlement. Concurrently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched an investigation into delayed crash reports involving Tesla’s driver-assistance systems, raising concerns over transparency and safety protocols.

Elon Musk’s $29 billion interim pay package sparked debate, with his brother Kimbal Musk defending the compensation as justified. Meanwhile, Tesla’s strategic pricing adjustments, including a $15,000 increase for the Cybertruck Cyberbeast variant, highlighted its focus on premium positioning despite mixed sales performance and ongoing recalls.

A strategy of buying the top 500 stocks by daily trading volume and holding them for one day from 2022 to 2025 yielded a 31.52% total return over 365 days, with a Sharpe ratio of 0.79. The approach saw a peak daily gain of 4.95% and a low of -4.47%, reflecting its capacity to capture short-term momentum amid market volatility.