
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are investment vehicles that trade like stocks, and can hold a bundle of securities like future contracts and swaps. Commodity ETFs invest in various commodities such as natural resources and precious metals, energy, agricultural goods, industrial metals, hard assets and soft commodities.
3 Benefits of Commodity ETFs:
- ETFs offer lower fees when compared to physically holding commodities.
- Investors do not need to worry about additional costs such as rollover costs and margin costs because the ETF manages it for them.
- It is easy to gain exposure to a single or multiple commodities with just one vehicle (ETF).
Below, we’ve provided a list of the top commodity ETFs from the 4 major commodity families: energy, precious metals, agriculture and industrial metals.
Top 5 Energy ETFs
Energy ETFs focus on investments in energy-related commodities with exposure to brent oil, crude oil, gasoline, coal, natural gas, ethanol and electricity. These resources are among the most widely traded commodities in the ETF space.
Symbol | ETF Name | Issuer | Expense Ratio |
---|---|---|---|
USO | United States Oil Fund | US Commodity Funds | 0.45% |
UWTI | VelocityShares 3x Long Crude Oil ETN | Credit Suisse | 1.35% |
UCO | ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil | ProShares | 0.95% |
OIL | iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index ETN | iPath | 0.75% |
UNG | United States Natural Gas Fund | US Commodity Funds | 0.60% |
For a full list of Energy ETFs, click here.
Top 5 Precious Metals ETFs
Precious Metals ETFs track the price of gold and other precious metals, such as silver, palladium, platinum and white metals. These ETFs can be used to hedge increased market volatility, as the price of precious metals often has an inverse correlation to stocks and the U.S. dollar.
Symbol | ETF Name | Issuer | Expense Ratio |
---|---|---|---|
GLD | SPDR Gold Shares ETF | State Street SPDR | 0.40% |
IAU | iShares Gold Trust ETF | iShares | 0.25% |
SLV | iShares Silver Trust ETF | iShares | 0.50% |
SGOL | ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares ETF | ETF Securities | 0.39% |
PPLT | ETFS Physical Platinum Shares ETF | ETF Securities | 0.60% |
For a full list of Precious Metals ETFs, click here.
Top 5 Agriculture ETFs
With Agriculture ETFs, you can invest in broad agriculture funds or specific funds that focus on agriculture commodities, such as corn, coffee, soybeans, sugar and wheat. These ETFs are great for diversification, and can be used as a hedge against volatility in equity markets.
Symbol | ETF Name | Issuer | Expense Ratio |
---|---|---|---|
DBA | PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund | Invesco PowerShares | 0.85% |
RJA | ELEMENTS Linked to the Rogers International Commodity Index - Agriculture Total Return ETF | ELEMENTS | 0.75% |
JJG | iPath Bloomberg Grains Subindex Total Return ETN | iPath | 0.75% |
CORN | The Teucrium Corn Fund | Teucrium | 2.92% |
WEAT | The Teucrium Wheat Fund | Teucrium | 3.46% |
For a full list of Agriculture ETFs, click here.
Top 5 Industrial Metals ETFs
Industrial Metals ETFs offer exposure to institutional metals, such as aluminum, copper, tin and nickel. These ETFs are great for diversification or for investors seeking an opportunity with industrial metals ETFs. With these ETFs, there’s no need for a futures account – as they offer exposure to the metals market.
Symbol | ETF Name | Issuer | Expense Ratio |
---|---|---|---|
DBB | PowerShares DB Base Metals Fund | Invesco PowerShares | 0.75% |
JJC | iPath Bloomberg Copper Subindex Total Return ETN | iPath | 0.75% |
RJZ | ELEMENTS Linked to the Rogers International Commodity Index - Agriculture Total Return ETF | ELEMENTS | 0.75% |
JJN | iPath Bloomberg Nickel Subindex Total Return ETN | iPath | 0.75% |
JJM | iPath Bloomberg Industrial Metals Subindex Total Return ETN | iPath | 0.75% |
For a full list of Industrial Metals ETFs, click here.