Just now, public fund institutions released their latest scale: 37.77 trillion, with ten consecutive months of positive growth.

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The latest scale of China's public mutual fund industry has been released.

According to data from the Fund Industry Association, as of the end of January 2026, there are a total of 165 domestic public mutual fund management institutions in China, including 150 fund management companies and 15 asset management institutions with public fund qualifications. The net asset value of public funds managed by these institutions totals 37.77 trillion yuan.

This marks the tenth consecutive month of positive growth in public fund net assets since April 2025, once again setting a new historical high.

Stock funds shrink, mixed and money market funds expand

Looking specifically, various categories of funds showed significant differentiation in January 2026, especially the simultaneous shrinkage of stock funds and bond funds, which is historically rare.

Specifically, the scale of stock funds fell from 6.05 trillion yuan at the end of last year to 5.71 trillion yuan, a decrease of nearly 300 billion. Bond funds dropped from 10.94 trillion yuan to 10.53 trillion yuan, shrinking by more than 400 billion yuan—a significant decline.

Meanwhile, mixed funds increased from 3.68 trillion yuan to 4.01 trillion yuan, fund of funds increased from 244.4 billion yuan to 281.2 billion yuan, and QDII funds grew from 981.6 billion yuan to 1.03 trillion yuan, with notable increases.

Index fund scale decline may be the main reason

Among them, the net decrease of stock funds by 300 billion yuan is particularly striking. This forms a sharp contrast with the growth of mixed funds, which are also equity-biased, and raises concerns about the reasons behind this change.

Some industry insiders believe that this may be significantly related to important institutions exiting broad-based index funds in stages.

Previously, many in the industry discussed the phenomenon where several major broad-based index ETF funds saw a significant expansion in trading volume and a notable reduction in on-exchange shares at the beginning of the year.

According to the analysis and statistics by Honghu Investment (as shown below), the four largest CSI 300 ETF index funds in the industry all experienced significant reductions in on-exchange scale from January 13 to February 2, 2026, with the reduction in shares totaling more than 120 billion shares (calculated by merging the figures below).

In addition, ten other large-scale ETF index funds (see below) also saw a significant decrease in total scale in the same period, estimated at over 110 billion shares (calculated by merging the figures below).

In this view, the scale reduction of mainstream ETFs over the same period is likely to exceed 300 billion yuan. Excluding the shrinkage of index funds, the scale of actively managed stock funds is actually likely to show positive growth.

Specific institutions exit smoothly

So does this mean that retail investors' enthusiasm for index funds is clearly declining?

Not necessarily.

Firstly, as analyzed by Honghu Investment (see above), most of the index funds that showed significant shrinkage have major holders including Central Huijin Asset Management Co., Ltd. and Central Huijin Investment Co., Ltd. (collectively referred to as "Huijin").

Based on their proportion and investment nature, market participants generally speculate that the previously steadily increasing Huijin redeemed these ETF funds in January.

From the actual data, actively managed funds with a smaller Huijin shareholder ratio continue to grow in scale and shares, suggesting that the market’s buying sentiment still exists, and holding sentiment remains stable. The aforementioned significant shrinkage in stock fund scale may be temporary.

The water reservoir function of money market funds emerges

There are many highlights in the fund scale at the end of January.

On one hand, considerable funds chose money market funds, which saw net asset growth of 237.9 billion yuan during the month. This indicates that during periods of market volatility, substantial capital chose highly liquid, low-risk money market funds as a “safe haven.”

Secondly, as an important component of other funds, QDII funds saw growth in shares and surpassed 1 trillion yuan in net value, reflecting strong enthusiasm of investors for overseas asset allocation.

Additionally, fund of funds (FOF) increased in both shares and net value by over 10%, with scale expanding steadily. This is not unrelated to the mainstream channels, especially bank wealth management channels, placing greater emphasis on fund of funds in recent years.

It can be envisioned that, driven by the joint efforts of fund companies, channels, and investors, the scale of fund of funds may continue to expand.

Risk Disclosure and DisclaimerThe market involves risks; investment requires caution. This article does not constitute personal investment advice and does not consider the specific investment objectives, financial situation, or needs of any individual user. Users should assess whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article fit their particular circumstances. Investing based on this is at your own risk. ```