Tesla shares rose in US premarket trading on Thursday, even after overnight filings showed chief executive and top holder Elon Musk had sold about $5 billion of the stock over recent days.

The electric-car maker’s shares climbed 3.6 per cent to $1,106.48, recouping some of the heavy losses suffered earlier in the week, during the period when Musk had sold. Its Frankfurt-listed shares rose 4.7 per cent and were the second most actively traded issue on German trading platform Lang & Schwarz.

Musk’s share sale was his first since 2016 and followed his weekend poll of Twitter users about offloading 10 per cent of his Tesla stake, which comprises most of his estimated $281 billion fortune.

Investors downplayed the significance of Musk’s trading for the stock’s outlook, pointing instead to strong car orders and Musk’s professed faith in the company, though brokers said it could be a bumpy day in US trade.

“The reason that we’re seeing stock rebound is because there does seem to be method in his madness,” AJ Bell analyst Danni Hewson said.

“It’s about making sure that the market understands this isn’t something done on a whim, or because his Twitter followers told him he should. He’s had his decision already made, rubber stamped.”

Filings showed Musk’s trust sold nearly 3.6 million shares in Tesla, worth around $4 billion, while he also sold another 934,000 shares for $1.1 billion to cover tax obligations after exercising options to acquire nearly 2.2 million shares.