Most-bought investments: January 2025

• Momentum continues for US stocks, with Nvidia, MicroStrategy and Tesla taking the top three spots for most-bought equities
• Assura plc enters the top 10 most-bought investment trusts, taking the fourth spot
• The Royal London Short-Term Money Market Fund retains its top spot for the most-bought active fund, and Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF is number one for index funds and ETFs.

interactive investor (ii), the UK’s second-largest platform for private investors, reveals its most-bought equities, funds, and investment trusts in January 2025.

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For the first time, interactive investor has split its investment funds - looking at the top 10 for both active open-ended funds and index funds/ETFs.

The split welcomes some new names into the mix, such as the top spot holder of the index fund/ETF list – the Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VUSA). The most-bought passives' list also revealed that investors are still favouring gold, with the iShares Physical Gold ETC GBP (LSE:SGLN) coming in at number four. 

For active funds, the Royal London Short Term Money Marketfund takes the number one spot – a firm favourite of ii investors in 2025 so far. 

While Scottish Mortgage Ord (LSE:SMT) retains its number one position in the most-bought investment trusts, a new entrant jumps to number four in the list, Assura (LSE:AGR).

US stocks also continue their run of popularity with ii investors, as NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), MicroStrategy Inc Class A (NASDAQ:MSTR) and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) all feature in the top three equities for the third month running. Nvidia soared to the number one spot, despite the DeepSeek threat that surfaced last month.

New entrant Taylor Wimpey (LSE:TW.) shot right up to fourth place, whereas the likes of BP (LSE:BP.) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) have both exited the list. 

Below, interactive investor’s experts explore January 2025’s most-bought data in more depth.

Funds and investment trusts 

Commenting on the most-bought funds and investment trusts on ii in January,Kyle Caldwell, Funds and Investment Education Editor at interactive investor, says: “Investors largely began 2025 as they ended 2024, with global, US and dedicated technology strategies continuing to prove popular. 

“While the sudden rise of a Chinese AI model, from DeepSeek, caused technology stocks to suffer a wobble, many investors adopted a ‘keep calm and carry on’ mantra by continuing to seek out specialist technology fund exposure. Three of the top 10 open-ended active funds specialise in this sector (Fidelity Global Technology W-Acc-GBP, Sanlam Global Artficial Intelligence and Janus Henderson Global Tech Leaders).

“Moreover, two index funds/ETFs feature in its top 10 (L&G Global Technology Index and Invesco EQQQ NASDAQ-100 ETF GBP (LSE:EQQQ)), while Polar Capital Technology Ord (LSE:PCT) continues to prove popular in the investment trust rankings. In addition, Scottish Mortgage, which has a global approach but focuses on companies tapping into technological advancements, once again tops the trust rankings for January. 

“Investors owning a US index fund or ETF will already have sizeable exposure to so-called Magnificent Seven stocks: (Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), Nvidia, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Meta Platforms Inc Class A (NASDAQ:META) and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)). However, it is interesting to see that investors have also been looking to cast their nets wider, with two open-ended active funds that invest in US shares featuring: Artemis US Smaller Companies and Baillie Gifford American. 

“Artemis US Smaller Companies, one of interactive investor’s Super 60 funds, provides investors with exposure to America's innovative, entrepreneurial and fast-growing small companies. Baillie Gifford American has given investors a wild ride in recent years, but has seen its performance make a comeback of late. It puts the emphasis on identifying technology disruptors. Its top 10 holdings include Magnificent Seven stocks Amazon, Meta Platforms, Nvidia and Tesla, as well as The Trade Desk Inc Class A (NASDAQ:TTD), Shopify Inc Registered Shs -A- Subord Vtg (NYSE:SHOP) and Duolingo Inc (NASDAQ:DUOL).

“Elsewhere, investors continue to seek out income opportunities. Royal London Short Term Money Market tops our most-bought open-ended active fund table. It costs just 0.1% a year, and has a yield of 4.8% (as of 31 December 2024). Money market funds own a diversified basket of safe bonds that are due to mature soon, normally within just a couple of months, as well as cash deposits and other short-term savings instruments, meaning that investors can earn an income on their cash with minimal risk.

“Income-seeking investors have also been looking to take advantage of the high yields and hopes of a recovery playing out for real estate investment trusts, with Assura and Supermarket Income REIT Ord (LSE:SUPR) both entering the trust top 10 table. The duo yield around 9%. Two income favourites also featuring in the top 10 are Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW) and City of London Ord (LSE:CTY).”

Equities

Commenting on the most-bought stocks on ii in January, Richard Hunter, Head of Markets at interactive investor, says: “January turned out to be a month which gave investors plenty of food for thought and, at times, indigestion.

“Quite apart from the inauguration of the new president in the US and his subsequent (and almost immediate) introductions of tariffs on other countries, there was a packed fourth-quarter earnings season and a broadside which wrong-footed markets in the form of the DeepSeek AI threat from China.

“For ii customers, technology remained an attraction and not for the first time in recent months the most-bought list for ii in January saw the top three stocks all being quoted stateside.

“Nvidia topped the list during a month which saw some untypical weakness given the DeepSeek threat. The shares lost over 13% during the month, although remaining up by 73% over the last year and indeed 470% over the last two. MicroStrategy, a stock which is effectively a highly-leveraged play on bitcoin gained another 12% in January as investors sought to ride the wave of the cryptocurrency trend, in addition to being seen as a beneficiary of lower regulation in the new regime.

“Palantir Technologies Inc Ordinary Shares - Class A (NASDAQ:PLTR) retained its place in the top 10 having made the list for the first time in December. Shares for the software provider, which looks to improve the efficiency of customer data, remained something of a momentum play, climbing almost 10% in January and following a more than 300% advance during 2024.

“Momentum was also in evidence for other stocks on the list, such as Rolls-Royce Holdings (LSE:RR.) and British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (LSE:IAG), whose shares have risen by 90% and 130% respectively over the last year. 

“Meanwhile, income-seeking investors resulted in the likes of Taylor Wimpey (dividend yield 8%) and Legal & General Group (LSE:LGEN) (8.5%) also appearing on the list.”

MOST-BOUGHT INVESTMENTS ON INTERACTIVE INVESTOR (ii) IN JANUARY 2025