DBO vs UNL

DBOBInvesco DB Oil Fund

UNLFUnited States 12 Month Natural Gas Fund, LP

In short

DBO Oil exposure with a roll rule. DBO tracks a WTI crude futures index whose Optimum Yield design shops across contract months instead of camping in the front month, and it has run that way since 2007.

UNL Natural gas without the front-month tunnel vision. Since 2009, UNL has tracked an equally weighted ladder of 12 consecutive NYMEX gas futures, spreading the roll across a year instead of riding the next contract alone.

Stated mandate

DBO The fund seeks to track positive or negative changes in the level of the DBIQ Optimum Yield Crude Oil Index Excess Return.

UNL UNL seeks to reflect changes in the spot price of natural gas delivered at Henry Hub, Louisiana, using an equally weighted average of 12 consecutive natural-gas futures contracts, plus collateral interest and less expenses.

Why people hold it

• DBO The index picks the contract month its rules score as most favorable rather than automatically buying the nearest one, a design built to soften the drag of an upward-sloping futures curve.invesco.com
• Charges 0.81% a year, meaningfully below the median for energy-futures funds in its group.
• Launched in 2007 and traded through multiple oil booms and busts, it sits in the upper half of a small, well-known peer group.

• UNL The ladder is the point: 12 consecutive monthly contracts, equally weighted, so roughly a twelfth of the book rolls at a time instead of the whole position every month.sec.gov
• The target is unambiguous: the spot price of natural gas at Henry Hub, Louisiana, measured through those 12 futures. Passive and rules-based, with no manager calls on gas.sec.gov
• Trading since 2009 through several gas cycles, and USCF runs the same 12-month ladder on the oil side (USL), so the structure is well worn rather than experimental.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• DBO It's a commodity pool, so tax paperwork follows partnership rules rather than ordinary fund reporting. Peer OILK charges 0.69% and is built to skip that step.
• You own a futures index, not a barrel. Results track the DBIQ Optimum Yield Crude Oil Index Excess Return and can diverge from headline spot crude.
• One commodity, one curve. There are no operating businesses underneath to cushion a move in crude, and payouts come on an annual or semiannual schedule.

• UNL The fee runs 1.65% a year, the high end for energy futures pools, and this is a small fund next to front-month names in the group like OILK and USO.
• A commodity pool limited partnership, not a 1940 Act fund, so tax time brings a Schedule K-1 instead of a 1099.uscfinvestments.com
• The ladder cuts both ways: spreading across a year softens roll costs and also softens how much a sharp move in front-month gas shows up in the fund.sec.gov

Full DBO profile⁠

Full UNL profile⁠