A Guide to Commodity ETFs and ETNs

Broad Commodity ETFs and ETNs

Broad Based Commodity ETFs and ETNs

• E-TRACS UBS Bloomberg CMCI Index ETN (UCI)
• GreenHaven Continuous Commodity Index (GCC)
• GS Connect S&P GSCI Enhanced Commodity Total Return Strategy Index ETN (GSC)
• iShares GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust ETF (GSG)
• iPath Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index Total Return ETN (DJP)
• iPath S&P GSCI Total Return Index ETN (GSP)
• PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund ETF (DBC)

Leveraged Long Broad Commodity ETFs and ETNs

• ProShares Ultra DJ-AIG Commodity ETF (UCD)
• DB Commodity Double Long ETN (DYY)

Short and Leveraged-short Broad Commodity ETFs and ETNs

• ProShares UltraShort DJ-AIG Commodity ETF (CMD)
• PowerShares DB Crude Oil Double Short ETN (DTO)
• DB Commodity Double Short ETN (DEE)

Narrow Commodity ETFs and ETNs

• Agricultural and Industrial Commodity ETFs and ETNs
• Gold, Silver and Platinum ETFs and ETNs
• Oil and Gas ETFs and ETNs

Discontinued Broad Commodity ETFs and ETNs

• Opta Lehman Brothers Commodity Index Pure Beta Total Return ETN [RAW]

What Are They?

• Commodity ETFs (exchange traded funds) attempt to track the price of a single commodity, such as gold or oil, or a basket of commodities by holding the actual commodity in storage, or by purchasing futures contracts. Because futures provide leverage (more exposure than the actual cash invested), ETFs that use futures contracts have uninvested cash, which they usually park in interest-bearing government bonds. The interest on the bonds is used to cover the expenses of the ETF and to pay dividends to the holders.
• Commodity ETNs (exchange traded notes) are non-interest paying debt instruments whose price fluctuates (by contractual commitment) with an underlying commodities index. Because they are debt obligations, ETNs are subject to the solvency of the issuer.
• Commodities-related ETFs generally track the producers of commodities, such as mining companies. While the financial performance of those companies -- and thus their stocks -- may be highly leveraged to the underlying commodity, other factors can impact the profitability of production. The ETFs, therefore, may not reflect the performance of the underlying commodity. For example, gold miners are highly leveraged to the discovery of gold deposits, exchange rates and their relationships with the countries where gold deposits are found.

Why & How To Use Them

• Commodities are a separate asset class from stocks and bonds, so they provide extra diversification in a portfolio.
• The case for commodities: The industrialization of the China and India and the integration of Russia and Eastern Europe into the global economy are boosting demand for commodities, driving up prices. Many people believe that this will result in a long term uptrend ("super cycle") in commodity prices.
• The case against commodities: In contrast to stocks and bonds, commodities are not income generating. So ownership of commodities, including via ETFs or ETNs, is a pure bet on prices. And the expenses charged by the ETF and ETN providers and in the cost of storing hard assets or trading futures eat away at the underlying value of the fund.
• Commodity ETFs and ETNs can also be used as a hedge. For example, if you consume a large amount of gasoline and heating fuel and are concerned about the impact on your income of a rise in oil and gas prices, buying an oil and gas ETF can help offset your exposure.

What to Look Out For

• Commodities ETFs that use futures have diverged significantly from the price of the hard commodities themselves. ETNs, in contrast, track the price of the commodity closely. See the articles in the Further Reading section below.
• There are dramatic differences in structure of these ETFs and ETNs, even for the same commodities, leading to potential differences in performance and tax treatment.
• ETFs and ETNs are treated differently for taxation purposes. Current opinion is that all gains on ETNs held for longer than one year are treated as long-term capital gains, whereas an investor owning a futures-based ETF is taxed on any capital gains on the underlying futures held by the fund using the taxation convention for futures, ie. at a hybrid rate of 60% long-term, 40% short-term each year on all gains, even if the investor doesn't sell the fund. (Check this carefully with your accountant.)

Further Reading

• For long term investors considering including a commodity ETF in a diversified portfolio, the value of commodities as a diversifier is addressed by Nik Bienkowski in Commodities Outperform During Equity Market Downturns. Mebane Faber discusses a portfolio including commodities exposure in An Endowment Portfolio From Publicly-Traded Vehicles. For a negative view on the investment case for commodities, see Bill Miller on Oil, Silver, Other Commodities: Don't Buy!.
• The underperformance of futures-based commodity ETFs relative to the actual commodity they are supposed to track, known as tracking error, is discussed in US Oil Fund ETF Fails Investors Consistently (Scott Rothbort). For the case for commodity ETNs over commodity ETFs, see Troubled By ETF Tracking Failures? Try ETNs (Richard Shaw) and Kevin Rich on Commodity ETFs and ETNs (Hard Assets Investor). See also The ETN Market Heats Up With Goldman Launch; More On the Way (Matt Hougan).
• Should you use a broad commodities ETF or a set of ETFs or ETNs that track individual commodities? See Richard Kang's Is Commodity ETF Slicing and Dicing Necessary?.
• For further analysis of the broad commodity ETFs, and comparisons between them, see: Commodity ETF Overview (Tim Iacono), A Look at the New GreenHaven Commodity ETF (Hard Assets Investor), Commodity Exposure Via ETFs: A Fund Manager's Process (Keith Lenger), New iShares GSCI Commodity Trust - Key Points To Understand (Market Participant), Commodities ETFs Protect The Little Guy (Tim Iacono), The New Generation of Diversified Commodity Indexes (Rich White), Digging Deeper Into Commodity-Based Funds (Keith Lenger).

This page is part of The Seeking Alpha ETF Selector which sorts ETFs by type, highlights how to use them and what to look out for, and provides links to articles that discuss key issues for investors.

Comments

[Ralph F:]

Given the problems with futures-based ETFs, isn't it a no-brainer to use the iPath ETNs instead? Does anyone know of any drawback of them?

2007 Jun 02 05:54 PM

[User 128566:]

What about Elements exchange traded notes (ETNs)?

2007 Dec 07 04:01 PM

[User 128566:]

Sorry, that should be www.elementsetn.com
A copy of their prospectus can be found at www.elementsetn.com/pd...

2007 Dec 07 04:02 PM

[sbenard:]

In addition to the elements etn's (RJA), there are also two iPath ag ETFs. They are JJG and JJA. One is for grains, the other for all agriculture. Bet you can't guess which is which. :)
Of the various ag ETFs available, RJA (Jim Rogers, the famous uber commodity bull manages this one) and DBA are the most liquid and have the tightest spreads. RJA is still fairly new, but has grown very rapidly to average over 500,000 shares/day.

2008 Feb 09 05:36 PM

[sbenard:]

There are also several agricultural commodity ETFs traded on the london stock exchange. Each one tracks a specific commodity. They are offered through a company called ETF Securities. The also have cool ticker symbols like CATL, HOGS, CORN, COTN, SUGA, SOYB, etc. If you have access to the LSE, check those out also. They are not as new as some of the recent American additions, so they tend to be very liquid.

2008 Feb 09 05:41 PM

[sbenard:]

Each of these ag ETFs contains a different basket of commodities, so make sure you check on each and know what the contain. The Jim Rogers one is the broadest (contains the most commodities), and Elements claims that his index has the best returns also. Do you homework on each one!

2008 Feb 09 05:44 PM

[David Jackson:]

Thanks for the comments. We've updated the list, and expanded it to include the commodities-related ETFs as well.

We haven't included CEF as this list doesn't include closed-end funds.

Let me know if there are more to add.

2008 Feb 16 04:48 PM

[dieuwer:]

I'm missing RJI, RJN, and RJZ.

2008 Aug 08 10:20 PM

[spamlet:]

Would anyone recommend a livestock ETF or ETN?
Taxation as US investor...any opinions? (reading prospectus)
Do these have enough liquidity...I cannot seem to locate avg. volume?
Looking at:
CATL, ETFS Live Cattle...trades on London
COW, iPath Livestock

2008 Aug 13 07:29 AM

[SoYouThinkY...:]

I compiled a complete list of all the commodity ETF and ETNs available to US investors as well as detailed data on each and saved them in a convenient google spreadsheet that everyone can view and download. Commodity types include precious metals, base metals, agriculture, energy and livestock. Note that I have only included those ETF and ETNs that track the commodity prices themselves, and not ETF and ETNs that track commodity based companies and also omitted leveraged ETFs because I do not recommend their use.

To get the list go to soyouthinkyoucaninvest...

2008 Dec 07 10:00 PM