What is a good copper etf?

Screening Filters

1. Monthly Average Dollar Volume ≥ $100,000

   • Purpose: Ensure the ETF is reasonably liquid and practical to trade.
   • Rationale: When someone asks for a “good” copper ETF, liquidity is a key component of “good.” Higher dollar volume typically means:
     • Tighter bid–ask spreads (lower trading costs)
     • Easier to enter/exit positions without moving the price
       Setting a minimum average dollar volume screens out very illiquid niche products that might track copper but are hard or expensive to trade.

2. Sector = Basic Materials

   • Purpose: Focus on funds tied to resource extraction and industrial commodities.
   • Rationale: Copper exposure almost always lives in the Basic Materials sector, especially in the Metals & Mining industry. By constraining the sector, the screener avoids funds whose main exposure is elsewhere (e.g., tech or financials) that might only have incidental copper exposure.

3. Themes = metals, mining, copper

   • Purpose: Target ETFs explicitly designed around copper and closely related areas.
   • Rationale: Many broad materials or commodity ETFs hold a small slice of copper, but the user is asking specifically for a copper ETF. Thematic tags like “metals,” “mining,” and especially “copper” push the screener toward:
     • Pure-play copper miner ETFs
     • Industrial metals ETFs with heavy copper weight
     • Commodity- or futures-based copper products
       This narrows the universe to funds intentionally built for copper/metals exposure rather than general equity funds that just happen to own a miner or two.

4. Holdings include FCX, SCCO, BHP, RIO, GLEN

   • Purpose: Require exposure to major global copper/mining companies.
   • Rationale: Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), Southern Copper (SCCO), BHP, Rio Tinto (RIO), and Glencore (GLEN) are among the largest and most liquid miners, many of which are major copper producers. Requiring at least one of these in the ETF’s holdings helps ensure:
     • The ETF has meaningful copper-related exposure (not just minor small-cap miners)
     • It tracks the core of the global copper/mining industry rather than fringe plays
       This filter is a practical shortcut to align with “real” copper exposure that investors typically seek.

5. Expense Ratio ≤ 0.8%

   • Purpose: Control costs so that the ETF is reasonably priced.
   • Rationale: For a “good” ETF, cost is a major quality criterion. Very high-fee commodity or thematic ETFs can erode returns over time. A cap at 0.8%:
     • Excludes the most expensive niche products
     • Keeps candidates within a broadly acceptable range for specialized commodity/thematic ETFs, which often charge more than plain-vanilla index funds
       This reflects a balance: not ultra-cheap broad index funds, but not egregiously expensive either.

6. Inception Date ≤ 2023-01-01

   • Purpose: Ensure the ETF has at least some track record.
   • Rationale: A “good” ETF usually has:
     • A performance history across different market conditions
     • Time to prove that it tracks its intended exposure and maintains adequate liquidity
       By requiring that the fund started on or before Jan 1, 2023, the screener filters out brand-new products that haven’t been tested in real markets yet.

Why Results Match the Question (“What is a good copper ETF?”)

• The sector and theme filters tightly align the universe with metals/mining and specifically copper, so the ETFs are actually about copper rather than tangentially related.
• The holdings filter forces exposure to major copper/mining companies, ensuring economically significant copper exposure.
• The liquidity (dollar volume) and expense ratio filters address quality concerns that investors implicitly mean by “good”: tradable and cost-conscious.
• The inception date requirement improves reliability by focusing on ETFs with a real track record instead of unproven, just-launched products.

Together, these filters target ETFs that are: copper-focused, liquid enough to use, reasonably priced, and established—matching what most investors mean when they ask for a “good copper ETF.”