COPJ vs WRND

COPJDSprott Junior Copper Miners ETF

WRNDBNYLI Global Equity R&D Leaders ETF

In short

COPJ Most copper ETFs buy the giants already digging. COPJ goes upstream to the juniors: roughly 70 explorers and development-stage miners, picked by a Sprott-built Nasdaq index rather than a manager's hunches.

WRND Most innovation funds sell you a story. WRND buys receipts: roughly 200 companies worldwide picked on what they actually spend on R&D and whether that spending earns a return, at a fee well under the thematic norm.

Stated mandate

COPJ The fund targets small copper miners in exploration and development stages, seeking exposure to their potential revenue and asset growth. Before fees and expenses, it seeks returns generally corresponding to the Nasdaq Sprott Junior Copper Miners Index.

WRND The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the IQ Global Equity R&D Leaders Index. Its passive strategy targets innovative companies worldwide based on high research and development spending.

Why people hold it

• COPJ A genuine pure play on copper's early end. The index screens for small explorers and development-stage names, not the diversified majors that anchor broader copper funds.sprott.com
• Rules-based exposure: holdings follow the published Nasdaq Sprott Junior Copper Miners Index, so what goes in and out is set by methodology, not discretion.
• Roughly 70 names spread the single-mine risk that comes with junior mining, where one permit or drill result can decide a company.
• Sits at the small end of Sprott's copper shelf, with sibling COPP covering the larger producers.

• WRND 0.18% a year against a 0.56% median for its global thematic peers. Innovation exposure without the boutique markup.newyorklifeinvestments.com
• Selection leans on the income statement: R&D intensity paired with return on invested capital, favoring firms that turn research budgets into results.newyorklifeinvestments.com
• Roughly 200 names from a global universe, one of three R&D-screened funds New York Life launched in 2022 rather than a one-off experiment.businesswire.com

Worth knowing

• COPJ The 0.75% expense ratio runs above the copper miner group's median, and broader peers like COPX and ICOP list lower fees.
• Juniors are often pre-revenue: value hangs on drilling, permits and financing, so moves are wider than large-cap copper in both directions.
• A smaller, moderately traded fund with occasional (annual or semiannual) distributions, not a monthly income stream.

• WRND Small and lightly traded, so bid/ask spreads tend to run wider than on mainstream global index funds.
• Weighting by R&D dollars, with a cap on any single position, tilts the book toward the world's largest research spenders.businesswire.cometfstrategy.com
• Distributions arrive quarterly, but income isn't the mandate; the index screens on research spending, not payouts.

Full COPJ profile⁠

Full WRND profile⁠