COPX vs WRND

COPXCGlobal X Copper Miners ETF

WRNDBNYLI Global Equity R&D Leaders ETF

In short

COPX Owning the diggers instead of the metal: about 40 copper-focused miners worldwide in one index fund, trading since 2010 and now a multi-billion-dollar mainstay of a very small niche.

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

COPX The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Solactive Global Copper Miners Total Return 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

• COPX Equities, not futures. It tracks a Solactive index of roughly 40 global copper miners inside a standard 1940 Act fund, so no contract rolls and no K-1 at tax time.
• 0.65% a year, a shade under the median fee among copper mining ETFs, and it is one of the more actively traded names in the group.
• The veteran of the category. Listed in 2010, it has years of live trading and multi-billion-dollar scale behind it while rivals are still filling out their order books.
• Clean mandate: one index, one theme, global reach. What it holds is what it says on the tin, and it has tracked that benchmark closely.

• 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

• COPX iShares' ICOP charges 0.47% versus 0.65% here. COPX's edge is trading depth and history, not the sticker price.
• Miners amplify the copper price in both directions, and with about 40 names tied to one metal, the ride is far bumpier than broad materials exposure.
• Distributions land once or twice a year, so this is a commodity-equity sleeve rather than an income holding.

• 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 COPX profile⁠

Full WRND profile⁠