Best Commodity ETFs: Complete List of Top Commodity Funds

SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), launched on November 18, 2004, was the first US-listed ETF backed by a physical asset — and it remains one of the top ten largest holders of gold in the world. It set the template for an entire category of commodity ETFs that now spans precious metals, energy, base metals, and agricultural products.

Commodity ETFs track the price movements of raw materials rather than corporate earnings. Instead of owning barrels of oil or bushels of wheat directly, investors buy shares in a fund that replicates commodity prices through one of four structural approaches:

• Physical-backed ETFs hold the actual commodity in storage — common for gold, silver, and platinum. These avoid futures roll costs but incur storage and insurance expenses.
• Futures-based ETFs use futures contracts to track a commodity’s price. Roll costs from contango (when futures prices exceed spot prices) can cause long-term tracking drift, making them better suited for shorter-term exposure.
• Equity-based ETFs invest in shares of commodity-producing companies such as miners or oil drillers. Their performance correlates with both commodity prices and broader equity markets.
• Broad commodity ETFs spread exposure across multiple categories — energy, metals, and agriculture — through diversified futures baskets.

Commodities generally fall into four categories: precious metals (gold, silver, platinum), energy (crude oil, natural gas), base metals (copper, aluminum, zinc), and agricultural products (corn, wheat, soybeans, sugar).

Some of the most widely followed commodity ETFs include:

• SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) — physically backed, managed by State Street, trading on NYSE Arca as well as in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo
• iShares Silver Trust (SLV) — physically backed silver fund listed on NYSE Arca since April 2006
• United States Oil Fund (USO) — futures-based, designed to track crude oil prices
• Invesco DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund (DBC) — broad commodity exposure across 14 futures contracts covering energy, metals, and agriculture
• Invesco Optimum Yield Diversified Commodity Strategy No K-1 ETF (PDBC) — tracks 14 heavily traded commodities using an optimum yield strategy to manage roll costs
• First Trust Global Tactical Commodity Strategy Fund (FTGC) — one of the few actively managed broad-based commodity ETFs

For more focused exposure, separate pages cover gold ETFs, silver ETFs, and agriculture ETFs.

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The table below lists the best commodity ETFs with live performance data, including physically backed funds, futures-based trackers, equity-based commodity producer ETFs, and broad diversified baskets.