What are the most volatile stocks in 2023?

The most volatile stocks can be prized among day traders and others – offering lots of opportunity as well as risk. So, what are the most volatile stocks in 2023?

• Most volatile stocks on the S&P 500
• Most volatile stocks Nasdaq
• Most volatile stocks NYSE
• Most volatile European stocks

Most volatile stocks on the S&P 500

As of October 2023, the mega-cap stocks on the S&P 500 with the highest volatility in 2023 are as follows:

As you can see, there’s a split between the two main US exchanges. Let’s take a closer look at the most volatile stocks for day traders and more on the Nasdaq and NYSE. 

Most volatile stocks: Nasdaq

1. Tesla (TSLA)

Tesla has been a notoriously volatile stock for some time now, and 2023 has been no different. The stock entered 2023 on a poor run, falling from close to $400 to just above $100 in 2022. 2023 has been better for investors, with TSLA stock hitting a peak of $300 in July – not close to its record high, but still a solid rally from its lows.

Lower-than-expected vehicle deliveries and continued delays to its Cybertruck model – originally slated for release back in 2021 – have seen serious retracements for the stock market darling. However, its leading profit margins and position at the top of the growing EV market still make it hugely popular among investors.

Tesla is the sixth-biggest company on the Nasdaq 100 and has previously been a member of the $1 trillion club of mega-cap companies.

2. Nvidia (NVDA)

AI has been a dominant theme of 2023, and one of the stocks to benefit most from the proliferation of the tech has been Nvidia, which has undergone a massive rally in 2023.

The stock started the year worth around $140 and hit a peak of $500 in August. In a single gap after its earnings report in May, NVDA shares leapt almost $100 in price. It is the best performer on the S&P 500 for the year, with significant upward volatility.

In its August earnings, NVDA reported record earnings of $13 billion – well above its forecasted results. That represented a revenue rise of 88% on the previous quarter, illustrating how much AI is driving growth.

3. AMD (AMD)

Nvidia isn’t the only chip-maker riding high off AI, though. Its chief rival, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), has also had a stellar year. AMD stock has risen from around $65 in January to a peak of above $130 in June, thanks in part to investors hunting for a bargain-price Nvidia.

The second half of the year has been less kind to AMD investors, though, and it has retraced back to around $100. That has been thanks in part to poor earnings – unlike Nvidia, the company was unable to post revenue gains.

While AMD has struggled to capitalise on AI to the same extent as Nvidia, it has announced plans to ramp up growth in the space.

4. Meta Platforms (META)

Meta is another stock that’s been on an impressive rally this year. After a torrid 2022 where its market cap tumbled below $250 billion, this year it has returned to close to its record highs – if this continues, it could return to the $1 trillion club.

It has been the second-best performer on the S&P 500, behind NVDA.

What’s been behind the return to form? Growing earnings, early successes for its new Threads platform and excitement about how AI could benefit the business. The business also went on a cost-cutting drive after the pandemic, which is starting to pay off.

5. Intel (INTC)

Intel has also been a strong performer this year, with its 40% growth well in excess of the S&P 500’s 14%. However, the rally has been much more volatile than many of its tech rivals, with notable peaks and troughs.

The stock had been on extremely poor form entering into 2023 – losing more than 50% of its value from the beginning of 2021. Indeed, its 2023 highs of $40 are still some way off its peak of $70. And the company’s fundamentals are still poor, with losses in the first quarter.

Intel may be up this year but compared to other chip makers it is struggling. However, the markets appear to believe that better times are on the horizon. Whether they are right remains to be seen.

6. Netflix (NFLX)

Netflix is another stock that had a 2022 to forget. On top of a wider tech selloff, the streaming provider’s struggles to add subscribers saw its share price tumble in the first half of the year – although bargain hunters then helped drive its price upwards.

In 2023, that upward momentum has largely continued, although as with Intel the company remains some way off its record highs. A crackdown on password sharing has helped subscriber numbers grow once again, alongside a new ad-supported payment option.

More mixed Q2 earnings have seen the stock retrace somewhat in the second half of the year, but overall it has still been a good 2023 for NFLX.

7. Applied Materials (AMAT)

With the S&P 500 up largely due to rallying tech stocks, it isn’t too surprising that many of the most volatile stocks are companies in that sector which have seen gains. AMAT is another example and has seen its share price rise in 2023 despite announcing falling revenues and profits in its Q3 earnings in August.

Applied Materials makes equipment which is used in chip-making foundries and has faced headwinds due to a slowing memory market. However, it insists that the long-term picture looks good – and that once again, AI will fuel growth.

8. Amazon (AMZN)

Amazon has long been known as a volatile stock and is yet another company that has seen share-price growth in 2023 after suffering in the global tech selloff last year.

This is partly due to AWS arresting its long trend of slowing growth – better-than-expected figures from AMZN’s most profitable division helped its shares gap up in August. Before then, however, it was already up 60% for the year thanks to rebounding e-commerce sales, lowering inflationary pressures and – you guessed it – excitement about AI.

9. Qualcomm (QCOM)

The ninth company on our list of the most volatile stocks on the Nasdaq is another semiconductor manufacturer, this time focusing on the mobile market. Qualcomm, though, hasn’t been a strong performer in 2023 – instead, it has seen two major rallies but retraced each time.

The issue for QCOM lies in its deep exposure to the smartphone industry, which is seeing slowing overall sales. Fewer new handsets being sold means lower demand for Qualcomm’s core product, which has weighed on earnings.

10. Adobe (ADBE)

Finally on the list we have Adobe, and it is another relative 2023 success story – although once again, thanks to economic uncertainty and lower growth prospects the stock still has yet to return to the record highs it saw in 2021.

That’s despite hitting record-breaking revenue in Q3 off the back of strong demand for its digital content creation software. It has also boarded the AI train, launching its own generative AI product called Firefly.

Most volatile stocks: NYSE

1. Blackstone (BX)

Alternative investment manager Blackstone has been the most volatile stock on the New York Stock Exchange in 2023. With assets of over $1 trillion in 2023, it is the biggest alternative investment company in the world.

Hitting that $1 trillion AUM milestone in June helped Blackstone shares rally, but it was undermined slightly by poor earnings in July. The stock remains some distance off its record high but has posted strong 40% growth for the year to date.

2. ServiceNow (NOW)

ServiceNow is also up around 40% for the year – but hasn’t seen quite the same levels of volatility as BX on the way. It runs a cloud service platform that helps companies manage their IT services.

NOW stock tells a familiar story in 2023 – posting 50%+ growth in the first half of the year, then retracing a little in recent months. It has also reported strong fundamentals and joined the legion of businesses to announce they are getting into AI. ServiceNow’s leap into generative AI is called Lighthouse and is in partnership with Nvidia.

3. ConocoPhillips (COP)

US oil and natural gas giant ConocoPhillips has seen its remarkable three-year bull run stall in 2023. Its share price hit an all-time high of almost $140 in late 2022, but trades below that at around $120 in October 2023.

EPS has slid this year, which suggests that the markets are sceptical about the company’s ability to continue its strong growth. However, COP stock is highly correlated with the price of WTI, which struggled earlier in the year but has grown in recent months – if that continues, ConocoPhillips could rally once more.

4. Salesforce (CRM)

A rare tech stock that isn’t listed on the Nasdaq, Salesforce has performed in line with the wider sector, growing over 40% over the course of the year – but still not returning to the highs seen in 2021.

It has beaten analyst expectations for eight straight quarters and is of course investing in AI. The CRM leader is bullish about the future, too, projecting revenue of $34.7 billion in FY2024 while maintaining its target 30% margin.

5. Oracle (ORCL)

Oracle is the fifth-most volatile stock on the NYSE in 2023 so far. The venerable tech company rallied early in the year, much like its competitors – but poor earnings in September sent the stock crashing. It dropped 13.5% in a single day, its worst since 2002.

The drop wiped $20 billion off founder Larry Ellison’s net worth.

Investors were unimpressed with ORCL’s lowered sales guidance, as well as a miss on analyst revenue estimates.

Most volatile European stocks

Over the same period, the top European stocks by volatility are: