Opalesque Futures Intelligence

Top Ten: Diversified commodity ETFs-a second generation index fund is the largest.

Friday, June 03, 2011

Diversified Commodity Index Funds

This is a ranking of diversified commodity exchange-traded funds and notes. The list is from the ETF Database.

The funds are ranked by the most recently available market capitalization (closing price X units outstanding) as of May 27^th. The iShares S&P GSCI Commodity Index Trust, however, has a different structure and because of that is represented by net assets under management.

The list contains first, second and third generation products-as defined by John Hyland in Founders. Several of the funds are based on the first-generation Goldman Sachs Commodity Index. These came into the market earlier.

The PowerShares fund that heads the list with a market cap of $6.2 billion has an underlying index that is second generation, from Deutsche Bank.

The US Commodity Index Fund, launched in August 2010 and based on the SummerHaven index, is an example of the third generation. See the interview with Mr. Hyland for a discussion of how the indexes differ in methodology and performance.

Note that an ETN is the debt obligation of its issuer and distinct from an ETF, though the investment program can be similar.

	Market Cap (in millions of dollars)
PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund	$6,249
iPath Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index ETN	$3,184
iShares S&P GSCI Commodity Index Trust	$1,701
ELEMENTS Rogers International Commodity ETN	$917
GreenHaven Continuous Commodity Index	$762
US Commodity Index Fund	$477
GS Connect S&P GSCI Enhanced Comm.TR	$165
UBS ETRACS CMCI TR ETN	$160
iPath S&P GSCI Total Return Index	$123
UBS E-Tracs DJ¢â‚¬â€œUBS Commodity Index	$26