CMDY vs GSG

CMDYAiShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF

GSGCiShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust

In short

CMDY Commodities without the worst of the futures math. CMDY tracks the Roll Select version of the Bloomberg commodity index, where contract choice is written into the rules to ease rolling costs, and charges 0.29% to do it.

GSG The old-guard commodity trade. Since 2006, GSG has tracked the S&P GSCI, a fully collateralized basket of commodity futures, while most of the newer competition is built on Bloomberg indexes and roll-tweaking overlays.

Stated mandate

CMDY The fund seeks to track an index representing a broad range of commodity exposures, using enhanced roll selection on a total-return basis.

GSG The fund seeks to track a fully collateralized index representing a diversified group of commodity futures.

Why people hold it

• CMDY The name is the strategy. Enhanced roll selection is baked into the index it tracks, so which futures contract to hold is a rule, not an afterthought.
• 0.29% a year sits in the low-fee tier of broad commodity funds, next to BCI, CERY and BCD, and well under what the category typically charges.
• One ticker, a broad basket of roughly 60 futures positions, run on a total-return basis that counts collateral income alongside commodity price moves.
• Live since 2018 under the iShares roof, and one of the stronger implementations in its broad-basket commodity peer group.

• GSG Tracks the S&P GSCI Total Return Index: a diversified, fully collateralized futures basket, with collateral interest built into the index rather than paid out.ishares.com
• Live since 2006, so its record spans more than one commodity boom and bust.
• A different engine from the pack: peers like BCI, BCD and CMDY run Bloomberg commodity indexes, while GSG stays with the S&P GSCI.
• Actively traded, so getting in and out is generally straightforward.

Worth knowing

• CMDY Moderately traded rather than a volume monster. Spreads can run wider than the mega-cap index funds, which shows up most on large or hurried orders.
• It is structured as a commodity pool, not a plain stock fund, so the tax paperwork and reporting work differently. Check the details before filing season.
• Distributions land annually or semiannually, not monthly, and the roll rule addresses futures mechanics only. Commodity prices still swing hard on their own.

• GSG The 0.75% fee sits above the broad-commodity norm: BCI charges 0.26% and CMDY 0.29% for a similar all-in-one basket.
• Commodity futures swing hard, and this one sits among the more volatile choices even inside its own category.
• No distributions: collateral interest shows up inside the total-return index instead of arriving as income.

Full CMDY profile⁠

Full GSG profile⁠