Commodity ETF on the Market

Commodity ETF represent exchange traded funds that follow a particular commodity. They were first launched on November 2004 and the pioneer was the StreetTracks Gold Shares (GLD). It represented a real financial phenomenon in itself since during the first few weeks, it GLD managed to attract $1.5 billion in assets, something that have not happened with any other new investment offer.

Having perceived the great success and light future of the commodity ETFs, many companies followed the trend and made their signing for a piece of the attractive pie.

Some of the basic types of commodity ETFs offered or to be offered on the market are as follows:

• Currency ETFs

  Still not in circulation, but the Rydex Investments company plans to launch them in the near future. The company is famous with its innovative alternative mutual funds. They have directed their attention toward the European Union. The planned name the currency ETF is to hold is Rydex Euro Currency Trust.

• Silver ETF

  In 2005, the first gold ETF (IAU) was launched by Barclays Global Investors. Led by their success, they plan on the launch of silver ETF, which they plan to name iShares Silver Trust.

• Oil ETF

  Three companies are planning to launch oil ETFs:

  1. Macro Securities Depositor LLC - they plan on the offering of two different oil ETFs.
  2. Ameristock Funds - working name: Ameristock Funds New York Oil ETF;
  3. Deutsche Bank - half of the planned ETF will constitute oil shares, where as the other will hold metals and corps shares. Working name: Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Index.

You should not jump into investing into commodity ETFs before making the necessary preliminary researches. They have many specifics that greatly distinguish them form the regular ETFs, since they track investments with different market cycles and histories.

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