Top trades by New Zealand Sharesight users — January 2026

Welcome to the January 2026 edition of Sharesight’s monthly trading snapshot for New Zealand investors, where we look at the top 20 trades made by New Zealand Sharesight users. Below we will look at the top trades overall, plus the top trades in individual stocks, which allows us to observe the broader investment trends by Sharesight users in New Zealand, while also giving us an opportunity to zoom into the most popular stocks and the market-moving news behind them.

Top trades in January 2026

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This month, the top trades were led by the Smartshares US 500 ETF (NZX: USF), followed by Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) and NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA). It was an ETF-heavy month overall, with 10 of the top 20 trades consisting of ETFs. US tech stocks also dominated the rankings, with very little investment in local assets.

Most-traded stocks in January 2026

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This month’s top stock trades were led by Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB), which saw its share price fluctuate throughout the month, hitting an all-time high mid-month. The top trades were followed by NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA), which saw modest share price growth over the period.

Let’s look at some of the market-moving news behind some of this month’s top stocks:

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB)

• Rocket Lab share price has skyrocketed 45% over the past three months, driven by strong earnings and deals
• Secures US$816 million contract to build missile-tracking satellites for US Space Force

NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA)

• Chip stocks soar as China approves sale of NVIDIA’s H200 chips
• NVIDIA shares could be impacted by OpenAI’s IPO plans

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)

• Microsoft reports strong Q2 results, despite slowing cloud business
• Share price drops as investors remain skeptical about AI spending

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM)

• TSM share price hits 52-week high, outpacing chip peers
• Share price hits all-time high as profit soars

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA)

• Tesla share price keeps rising despite weakening sales outlook
• SpaceX considers merger or tie-up with Tesla or xAI before stock market float
• Tesla expects to double spending in 2026, investing in robotics and driverless technology

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)

• Apple beats expectations in Q1 earnings, fuelled by record-breaking iPhone sales
• iPhone shortage expected due to supply chain constraints

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)

• Amazon reaffirms commitment to online grocery delivery, sending Walmart shares down
• Could Amazon shares have 50% upside in 2026?

Infratil (NZX: IFT)

• Infratil’s stake in CDC Data Centres rises above NZ$8 billion
• Rising Infratil share price lifts NZX

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FURTHER READING

• Subscribe to Sharesight20 trading snapshots
• How Sharesight calculates your investment performance
• Sharesight users' top 20 trades – December 2025