Top 10 most-popular investment trusts: January 2026

Global tensions have helped propel Seraphim Space Investment Trust Ord (LSE:SSIT) and BlackRock World Mining Trust Ord (LSE:BRWM) towards the top of our monthly trust bestsellers table, while a contentious income play returns to the list.

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Geopolitical tensions have ratcheted up in the first month of 2026, from US intervention in Venezuela to US President Donald Trump’s stated intention to seize control of Greenland and the associated threat of fresh trade tariffs.

This news helped to drive huge returns for gold (and gold miners) as well as defence shares, delivering strong returns for both trusts mentioned above.

BRWM shares made a share price total return of almost 14% in January alone, with SSIT returning 7.1%. Seraphim shares at one point moved to a premium of around 18% to net asset value (NAV), although this had moderated to around the 8% mark at the time of writing.

Our ranking system, which looks at the number of buys among interactive investor customers each month with regular investments excluded, puts Seraphim in third place and BlackRock World Mining in fourth.

From tech to income

Beyond these two names, we see a fairly even combination of growth and income funds in this month’s list.

To start off with the former, Scottish Mortgage Ord (LSE:SMT) sits in the top spot for the second month in a row.

The trust continues to attract investors with its focus on a variety of growth themes, from artificial intelligence to e-commerce, and did receive some good news in December in the form of an upwards revaluation for private company SpaceX.

And unlike stablemates and fellow SpaceX investors Edinburgh Worldwide Ord (LSE:EWI) and Baillie Gifford US Growth Ord (LSE:USA), Scottish Mortgage does not have activist investor Saba Capital as a major shareholder to contend with.

In the growth camp, there’s also Polar Capital Technology Ord (LSE:PCT), which drifts up to sixth place. The fund, which has substantial exposure to the Magnificent Seven but less here and in US equities than some rivals, has continued to deliver some strong returns.

A growth fund that stays in the list but slides down to ninth place is private equity behemoth 3i Group Ord (LSE:III).

Bargain hunters have piled into 3i since late 2025, when concerns about softer performance from its main holding, European discount retailer Action, sent the shares tumbling and wiped out most of their substantial premium to NAV.

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Shareholders received a more heartening trading update at the end of January, with 3i Group chief executive Simon Borrows saying that Action had “continued its impressive growth trajectory”.

“It opened a record number of new stores, entered two new countries and delivered double-digit annual sales and earnings growth,” he said.

“This was a strong result and Action continued to trade well, even in markets with a cautious consumer backdrop.”

That update caused 3i Group shares to surge last week. The shares traded on a roughly 11% premium on 30 January, still a long way from the 60% territory they touched last year.

Yield plays

Income funds hold their own in the table, and this time round we see Henderson Far East Income Ord (LSE:HFEL) return to the list.

The trust might seem like a curious investment choice.

Its roughly 10% share price dividend yield beats that of any other equity investment trust, an obviously appealing trait, but there’s also some cause for trepidation.

The trust’s shares are not exactly cheap, tending to command a small premium to NAV, and rival funds have tended to beat it by total returns.

If we look at investment trusts, HFEL shares lag those of the other four options in the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) Asian Equity Income sector over one, three, five and 10 years to the end of January.

Investors who back it appear to be favouring a high yield over better total returns achieved by other trusts in the sector.

The other income buys fall into two clear categories.

First, investors continue to like UK income plays, via the steady dividend grower City of London Ord (LSE:CTY) and value-minded strong performer Temple Bar Ord (LSE:TMPL).

Both trusts come with share price dividend yields of almost 4%, although it’s worth noting that UK income funds with a different approach have started to stand out when it comes to payouts.

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In the second category, investors continue to like the high yields on offer from troubled renewable energy infrastructure trusts, which at least got some certainty on the government’s plans to switch certain subsidies from an RPI inflation linkage to CPI last week.

The government is going ahead with the switch but has not opted for a temporary freeze on the subsidies, an option that was seen in some quarters as more damaging for renewable assets.

Performance has been rough in this space but these trusts still come with substantial yields, even if that may actually signal a lack of faith in the sustainability of their dividends.

NextEnergy Solar Ord (LSE:NESF) comes with a share price dividend yield of 16.4%, with Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW) on 10.6%.

Dropping out of the top 10 rankings is global multi-manager trust F&C Investment Trust Ord (LSE:FCIT), which has lagged the average global trust over one and three years, but has comfortably outperformed over five years, up 75.9% versus 22.1%.

Top 10 most-popular trusts in January 2026 

Source: FE. The top 10 is based on the number of buys in January. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.