(Bloomberg) – Big investors love Tesla (NASDAQ) Inc. Volatility isn’t one of them.

Despite a trillion dollar valuation, pole position in the electric-vehicle business and entry to the , the world’s sixth-largest listed company is subject to greater swings than any other U.S. megacap technology stock, with 21 daily moves of at least 5% to the upside or downside this year.

“It is not a name we would recommend to our clients,” said Edmund Shing, BNP Paribas Wealth’s chief investment officer, citing volatility brought about by high levels of interest among retail investors.

Tesla might be experiencing another troubled session after Tuesday’s post-market disclosure about Elon Musk selling more shares and exercising options. That continued a streak of sales that has caused the stock to fall almost 20% in the past week or so, wiping about $200 billion off the company’s market value. As of 7:07 am in premarket trade, Tesla had fallen 0.5%.

Still, it’s hard to completely ignore a stock that’s still up 44% in 2021, after surging more than eightfold the year before.

Shing suggests that you gain exposure via exchange-traded funds and other passive investment methods. “We prefer our clients to take indirect exposure that way, so as to benefit from some diversification and the offset to volatility that other stocks can provide.”

Indeed that’s been the general narrative in the latest regulatory filings from institutional investors. 13F filings show that hedge funds increased their exposures to single stocks in the third quarter of 2013, while decreasing the number of exchange-traded fund funds they had in their portfolios.

Retail’s Sugar Rush

Tesla’s addition to the S&P 500 late last year didn’t go down too well with institutional holders averse to volatility. These included Mark Stoeckle (chief executive officer, senior portfolio manager at Adams Funds).

With a 2%-plus weighting on the U.S. benchmark index, Stoeckle had to look beyond Tesla’s frequent wild swings and buy in, he said by phone.

Amateur traders are also buying Tesla stock via call options, which can be used to place for stocks gains. Goldman Sachs reported that Tesla (NASDAQ) and Amazon.com Inc. represented over half of all single stock options traded during November.

But Musk’s near $8 billion stock sale might act as a deterrent, at least for now. “The recent fall might have put off some retail investors,” said Jim Dixon, a sales trader at Mirabaud Securities. Rivian Auto Inc. recently became public, which is an alternative to them.

Rivian, which was initially priced at $78 by the public in a matter of days, has more than doubled since then. The astonishing rally continued in premarket Tuesday trading. The stock is poised to add another 4.6%, putting it on track to top one of the world’s biggest carmakers, Volkswagen AG (OTC:), by market capitalization.

Tech Chart for the Day

Top Tech Stories

• Epic Games Inc. chief executive officer Tim Sweeney reaffirmed his criticism of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:). and Alphabet (NASDAQ:) Inc.’s Google as the world’s dominant mobile duopoly before calling for a universal app store that works across all operating systems as the solution.
• Cloud Village Inc. (NASDAQ:) Inc.) is considering reviving plans in Hong Kong for an initial public offer. The music streaming arm at NetEase, a Chinese gaming company, was put on hold earlier this season.
• Asian gaming companies, including Tencent Holdings (OTC:) Ltd., got a boost following a media report that China’s regulators are set to resume approving new games.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:) is suing Tesla for $162 million, seeking payment for warrants that expired above their strike price.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.