BWET vs OILK

BWETDBreakwave Tanker Shipping ETF

OILKAProShares K-1 Free Crude Oil ETF

In short

BWET Most energy funds bet on the barrel. BWET bets on the boat: it tracks an index of exchange-cleared futures tied to what it costs to ship crude oil by sea. A niche corner of the energy trade, wrapped in one ticker.

OILK The only crude oil ETF that spares you a Schedule K-1. OILK sends a 1099 instead, and its index spreads WTI futures across three roll schedules rather than camping in the front month. All-in cost: 0.70%.

Stated mandate

BWET The fund seeks exposure to daily changes in tanker freight futures by tracking a portfolio of exchange-cleared futures contracts tied to the cost of shipping crude oil.

OILK The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the Bloomberg Commodity Balanced WTI Crude Oil IndexSM.

Why people hold it

• BWET Freight, not crude. It targets tanker shipping costs, a different lever than the oil-price funds that fill its peer group (OILK, DBO, BNO).
• Rules-based exposure: it follows the Breakwave Tanker Futures Index, a defined portfolio of exchange-cleared futures rather than a trader's discretionary calls.
• The futures machinery sits inside the fund. You buy and sell it on exchange like any listed fund, in an ordinary brokerage account.

• OILK At 0.70%, the cheapest of the headline oil-futures funds: USO charges 0.86%, USL 1.01%, DBO 0.81%, none of them waiver-assisted.
• A 1940 Act fund that holds its futures through a Cayman subsidiary capped at 25% of assets each quarter-end, so tax time brings a 1099, not a partnership K-1.proshares.comproshares.com 2
• Its index splits WTI exposure evenly across a monthly roll, a June annual roll and a December annual roll, resetting each March and September, diluting front-month roll costs.bbhub.io
• Trading since 2016 and one of the stronger implementations in a small energy-futures peer group.

Worth knowing

• BWET Costs 3.50% a year, multiples of what oil-futures peers charge (OILK 0.69%, DBO 0.81%). Exposure this specialized carries a premium price tag.
• It's a commodity pool, not a standard 1940 Act fund, so tax treatment and shareholder paperwork can look different from a plain stock ETF.
• A small fund pointed at one narrow freight market, and it hasn't been an income payer. Price movement is the whole story here.

• OILK Tracks a futures index, not spot WTI. ProShares says plainly it should be expected to perform very differently from the spot price of WTI crude.proshares.com
• One commodity, one curve: the portfolio is a few WTI futures positions plus cash-like collateral, so it moves with oil and nothing else.proshares.com
• Income, if any, is paid monthly and comes largely from collateral yield, so the amount moves around rather than acting like a fixed coupon.proshares.com

Full BWET profile⁠

Full OILK profile⁠