Costs of Oil Price Exchange-Traded Funds Diminish Usefulness

Abstract

Crude oil exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are investments designed to track oil price changes. They bear unique costs of which many investors are unaware. Since the first crude oil ETF went to market in April 2006, these costs have been sizable, reducing ETF returns by 1.33 percent per month on top of the average monthly loss of 0.23 percent attributable to weak oil prices.