The use of investment trusts in portfolios will depend on several factors including a manager's position on liquidity.

But the latest research published by Winterflood shows 63 per cent expect to be net buyers of investment trusts, down from 72 per cent in the previous year.

In fact the proportion of respondents expecting to be net buyers of investment trusts is at its lowest level since Winterflood's annual survey began in 2012.

The survey also showed the proportion of investors open to allocating to a smaller trust, with a market cap of less than £200m, had dropped to 62 per cent this year, compared to 99 per cent in 2013.

Many respondents believed more investment trusts should merge and almost two thirds believed more investment trusts should actively seek consolidation, up from 45 per cent in 2023.

When it comes to equity asset classes, size doesn't matter for the allocators in our database: they are fairly cold on all trusts, even the biggest ones.

For example Scottish Mortgage is held by three allocators in our database. By comparison its fellow global equity fund Fundsmith Equity is held by seven and Ninety One Global Environment is held by six.

F&C Investment Trust, one of the biggest trusts out there, isn't held by a single allocator in our database and Polar Capital Technology Trust, another giant, is held only one with the open-ended Axa Framlington Global Technology preferred by allocators in our database.

The JPM American trust is only held once while Dodge & Cox Worldwide US Stock is held nine times.