Recently, as the market sentiment has improved, several top-performing equity funds have successively implemented measures such as suspending subscriptions or imposing purchase limits, drawing significant market attention.
From a specific performance perspective, some products with consistently strong performance and rapidly expanding assets under management have chosen to "close their doors" to control scale and ensure stable operation; other funds, amid rising thematic market trends and concentrated short-term capital inflows, are adjusting their subscription pace through phased purchase restrictions.
On a deeper level, the adjustments to fund subscriptions reflect both the managers' comprehensive consideration of performance sustainability and scale constraints, as well as their judgment on the unfolding of short-term market trends and the pace of capital inflows. Against the backdrop of warming market sentiment and accelerating rotations among hot sectors, some funds are using purchase limits or suspensions to balance their scale with their strategy execution space; these arrangements also provide, to some extent, an observation window into the sustainability of future market trends.
Top-performing funds are facing scale pressure, with some products "closing their doors." Recently, with the continuous improvement in market conditions, several high-performing equity funds have successively adopted measures like suspending subscriptions to maintain the operational stability of the funds.
On January 13, China Europe Fund announced that, to better ensure the stable operation of the fund and effectively protect the interests of unit holders, the China Europe Small-Cap Growth Fund, managed by fund managers Qian Yating and Tang Minwei, would suspend subscriptions, transfers-in, and regular fixed-amount investment business effective January 13, 2026.
In fact, the China Europe Small-Cap Growth Fund has repeatedly controlled its scale through purchase limits over the past year. In 2025, the fund issued multiple announcements regarding purchase limits, including reducing the single-day purchase limit from 10 million yuan to 500,000 yuan and adjusting the scale ceiling to 2 billion yuan. As of January 12, 2026, the fund's net asset value had already exceeded the controlled upper limit of 2 billion yuan. Wind data shows that the China Europe Small-Cap Growth Fund is a quantitative enhancement fund primarily benchmarked against the Guozheng 2000 Index, with outstanding performance, achieving a return of 64.32% in 2025 and an excess return of 33.99% over its benchmark.
Besides China Europe Fund, some top-performing products under E Fund Management have also restricted subscriptions. Announcements indicate that the E Fund Kexiang and E Fund Strategy Growth funds suspended subscription, transfer-in, and regular fixed-amount investment businesses for institutional investors effective January 13.
In terms of scale and performance, Wind data shows that as of the end of September 2025, E Fund Kexiang had assets under management of 4.209 billion yuan, with a 2025 return of 72.33%; E Fund Strategy Growth had assets under management of 1.149 billion yuan, with a 2025 return of 86.75% and an excess return of 14.00% over its benchmark.
Thematic markets are heating up, leading some funds to implement phased purchase restrictions. Furthermore, recently, some products, influenced by the heating up of thematic trends, have implemented purchase restrictions to manage the concentrated short-term inflow of capital against a backdrop of significantly increased market attention.
Taking Yongying Information Industry Intelligent Selection as an example, as a product heavily invested in the information technology sector with a primary focus on AI application investments, it has performed exceptionally well recently, catalyzed by thematic market trends. From the beginning of 2026 until January 13, the fund achieved a return rate of 35.00%. Announcements show that the fund suspended large-amount subscriptions starting January 14, with the subscription amount per fund account per day not exceeding 1 million yuan per transaction.
Similarly benefiting from the trend in AI applications, Debang Stable Growth achieved a return rate of 29.48% from the start of 2026 until January 13. This fund also recently issued a purchase restriction announcement, stating that starting January 14, the total subscription amount for Class A fund shares per fund account per day through a single sales agency shall not exceed 100,000 yuan, and for Class C fund shares shall not exceed 10,000 yuan.
Additionally, satellite industry thematic products have also attracted capital attention during this market trend. The Ping An CSI Satellite Industry Index Fund has shown impressive performance since the beginning of 2026, with a return rate of 18.53% as of January 13. This fund tracks the CSI Satellite Industry Index, and the satellite industry is precisely a hot direction of recent market focus. Announcements indicate that, starting January 13, the fund suspended large-amount subscriptions, with the cumulative subscription amount per fund account per day not exceeding 1 million yuan.
Hot sectors are active, making purchase restrictions a regulatory tool. Looking at specific sectors, the recent heating up of thematic markets has primarily concentrated on directions like AI applications and commercial aerospace, which to some extent explains the concentrated capital attention on related products.
Regarding AI applications, CMB International analysis stated that media reports early in the year about the upcoming February release of DeepSeek V4, combined with the Hong Kong stock market listing of Chinese leading model application company Minimax, have boosted market attention and risk appetite for AI large models and applications, further driving up sector valuations.
From an industrial logic and medium-term perspective, judgments from several institutions regarding AI applications are also converging. Harvest Fund stated that, overall, AI applications, especially in the software segment, are at a critical inflection point transitioning from "valuation-driven" to "performance-driven," and the mainstream market outlook is relatively optimistic. For instance, Changjiang Securities believes that AI applications are expected to achieve dual breakthroughs on both the consumer and enterprise ends in 2026, and the movements of leading companies securing strategic positions in key scenarios deserve close attention. Guosen Securities indicated that the technology trend is expected to diffuse from computing infrastructure to applications, and the pace of AI commercialization is likely to accelerate.
Besides AI applications, the commercial aerospace sector has also become another main focus of recent market attention. Guolian Minsheng Securities analysis expressed firm optimism regarding the strategic value and long-term growth space of commercial aerospace as a core track of "new quality productive forces," stating that the industry is currently at a historic inflection point transitioning from the "0 to 1" technology verification phase to the "1 to 10" scaled commercial application phase. 2026 may be the first year of commercial aerospace industrialization, with a trillion-yuan blue ocean market already opening.
Against the above backdrop, some funds, facing significantly accelerated short-term capital inflows, are adjusting their subscription pace through phased purchase restrictions. On one hand, this helps mitigate capital volatility caused by concentrated thematic trends; on the other hand, it also provides space for the funds to maintain operational stability within their established investment frameworks.
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