CMDY vs PIT

CMDYAiShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF

PITCVanEck Commodity Strategy ETF

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.

PIT Most broad commodity funds hand the wheel to an index. PIT is VanEck's active take: a compact book of commodity futures where a manager picks the exposures, priced below the typical fund in its group.

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.

PIT The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation through an actively managed portfolio focused primarily on commodity futures and related commodity instruments.

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.

• PIT Active by design: roughly 30 futures and commodity-linked positions picked by VanEck's team instead of a fixed index recipe, with a stated goal of long-term capital appreciation.
• 0.55% a year sits below the typical broad commodity futures fund, so the active mandate does not carry an active price tag relative to the group.
• Exposure runs through exchange-traded commodity futures and commodity-linked instruments rather than bars in a vault, so there is no physical metal or barrel to store.
• Lands in the upper half of the broad commodity futures basket group on the fundamentals: cost, tradability and structure.

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.

• PIT Commodity futures swing on weather, supply shocks and the dollar, and there are no stocks or bonds in here to soften a drawdown.
• Index-tracking rivals cost less: BCI at 0.26% and CMDY at 0.29% against 0.55% here. Active management is the thing you are paying the gap for.
• A December 2022 launch with distributions once or twice a year at most: short history, capital-appreciation mandate, not an income stream.

Full CMDY profile⁠

Full PIT profile⁠