Wall Street just had its best quarter since 2020 — Are you ready for the next?

Markets have just wrapped up one of their strongest quarters in years, driven by an extraordinary wave of investment into artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The S&P 500 gained almost 15% during the June quarter, while the Nasdaq surged more than 21%—their strongest quarterly performances since the post-pandemic rebound in 2020.

While Australia’s ASX 200 advanced a respectable 3.5%, the biggest gains were concentrated thousands of kilometres away, particularly across companies supplying the hardware powering the AI revolution.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbed an astonishing 87.8% during the quarter—its best result since the index launched in 1994—as hyperscalers including Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta continued pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into AI infrastructure.

For Australian investors, it is clear that some of the market’s biggest opportunities are increasingly emerging offshore.

The AI story is no longer just about Nvidia.

A growing ecosystem of memory manufacturers, networking specialists, storage providers, and semiconductor suppliers has become essential to building the enormous data centres required to train and operate large language models.

Several companies produced returns that normally take years to achieve:

More importantly, the opportunity is broadening. As the AI buildout matures, investors have begun looking further down the supply chain and into entirely different sectors expected to benefit from the next phase of global investment.

The rally has also spread well beyond semiconductors.

Healthcare companies have benefited from a defensive rotation, and defence contractors continue attracting capital amid ongoing geopolitical tensions. At the same time, commodities such as copper and silver have rallied as investors position for the enormous electricity and infrastructure requirements expected from AI over the coming decade.

Australian traders no longer have to sit on the sidelines while these global investment themes play out. Contracts for Difference (CFDs) now make it possible to gain exposure to international markets without purchasing the underlying shares outright. Rather than tying up thousands of dollars in a handful of expensive stocks, traders can access global opportunities with significantly less upfront capital and the flexibility to trade both rising and falling markets.

For Australian traders, the question is becoming less about whether opportunities exist overseas and more about how to access them efficiently when they arise.

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Participating in fast-moving international markets from Australia has historically been fraught with barriers, including huge capital requirements, high brokerage costs, and a lack of trading options. Most retail investors encounter several problems that cause them to miss these huge opportunities entirely:

• Timing - The NYSE and Nasdaq run on US market hours, landing between 11:30 PM and 6:00 AM AEST (1:30 AM–8:00 AM AEDT). The busiest volume and sharpest price moves tend to cluster in the first and last hour of that session.

• Capital - US tech stocks often trade at high per-share prices. Buying meaningful exposure outright — even a handful of shares in a $400 stock — means committing thousands of dollars to a single position.

• Direction - Traditional share ownership only profits if the price rises. When a stock that's tripled in a quarter turns over, there's no way to profit from the pullback — holding or selling are the only options.

The good news is that many of these barriers can now be overcome. CFDs give Australian traders a practical way to access international markets without needing to purchase the underlying shares outright, making it easier to respond when opportunities emerge.

Mitrade uses CFDs to help overcome many of these challenges. Rather than purchasing the underlying shares outright, CFDs track their price movements, allowing traders to access international markets with greater flexibility:

• You don't have to watch the session live. Set an entry, stop-loss, and take-profit level ahead of time, and the position triggers on its own during the US session. If a stock hits your price at 2:00 AM Sydney time, the trade executes without you needing to be at a screen.

• Your capital goes further. Under ASIC rules, retail leverage on individual share CFDs is capped at 5:1. A $1,000 position needs roughly $200 in margin — the rest of your capital stays free for other positions instead of sitting in one stock.

• You're not limited to rising markets. Go long if you think a rally continues, or short if you're expecting a pullback. Semiconductor stocks that triple in a quarter tend to be volatile in both directions, and a CFD lets you position for either.

Source: Mitrade platform 

Of course, gaining access to global markets is only part of the equation. The next challenge is knowing which industries and companies deserve your attention before they become tomorrow’s headlines.

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Spotting the next big move

Nobody consistently predicts which stock will be the market’s next 200% winner. But experienced investors watch for the signals that often emerge well before the biggest moves unfold. Three areas attract the most attention:

• Corporate earnings and guidance: Quarterly earnings season is often when momentum accelerates. While revenue and profit matter, traders pay particular attention to management’s outlook for the quarters ahead. Strong guidance can completely change expectations and often triggers some of the market’s biggest overnight moves.

• Following where the money is flowing: Major investment themes rarely benefit just one company. When Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, or Meta announce tens of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure spending, traders immediately begin looking further down the supply chain for the businesses supplying memory chips, networking equipment, storage, cooling systems, and power infrastructure. 

• Watching for changing market leadership: Markets constantly rotate. Investment banks raise price targets, analysts upgrade sectors, institutional money shifts between industries, and new themes begin attracting attention. Many traders monitor these changes closely to identify where momentum may be building next. 

No indicator guarantees success, but consistently following these developments helps traders understand where institutional money is flowing and which themes are beginning to gather momentum. Being prepared before the next major rotation begins is often just as important as identifying the trend itself.

This quarter belonged to AI infrastructure.

The next one could belong to commodities, healthcare, defence, robotics, or another sector that few investors are watching today.

Rather than scrambling to open international brokerage accounts after a trend has already begun, Mitrade helps you stay ready with:

• AUD-based accounts. No currency conversion step. Position values, margin, and profit/loss are all calculated in Australian dollars automatically.

• 0% commission. Costs sit inside the spread rather than as a separate fee per trade, so pricing stays predictable across frequent trades.

• A mobile app built for overnight markets. Since the US session runs through the Australian night, the app lets you check positions, adjust a stop-loss, or close a trade from your phone rather than a desktop.

• Margin and P&L shown before you trade. The order ticket calculates required margin and projected profit/loss before you confirm, so you know your exposure going in.

• ASIC regulation. Mitrade holds AFSL 398528, and retail client funds are held in segregated trust accounts, separate from the company's own operating funds.

• A $50,000 demo account. Test your timing on volatile US tech names before any real capital is on the line.

👉 Start Trading in 3 Simple Steps

Gaining exposure to the most explosive rallies on international markets doesn’t need to be complicated. You can set up your account and begin executing your CFD strategy in three steps:

1. Open an Account: Register manually via the Mitrade homepage, or use the fast sign-up process by linking your existing Google or Facebook credentials.

2. Fund Your Account: Deposit your initial margin using secure Australian payment methods, including POLi or Visa/Mastercard.

3. Trade CFDs: Access the platform, analyze your preferred technology stock, define your risk parameters, and execute your long or short position.

Start Trading in 3 Simple Steps

1

Open an Account

2

Fund Your Account

3

Trade US Markets

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