The USL ETF is designed to reflect West Texas Intermediate light crude oil price movements through an average of futures contracts across multiple settlement months. Because it does not hold physical crude oil directly and instead uses oil futures and collateral assets, its performance may not match the spot price exactly.

It suits investors who understand not only the direction of the oil market but also the futures curve and roll-over effects, and who can tolerate high price volatility.

It is a passive (index-tracking) ETF managed by United States Commodity Funds.

This product reflects contracts from multiple settlement months of West Texas Intermediate light crude oil futures at equal weights. In addition to changes in oil prices, price differences between maturities, the contract replacement process, and the interest income and costs of collateral assets can affect movements in net asset value.

• A maturity-diversified structure that does not depend on a single near-month contract
• Reflects the effects of the futures curve and collateral management, separately from the spot price

Assets under management (AUM) stand at $51.3M, and the expense ratio is 1.01% per year.

Rather than replicating the spot price of oil directly, the USL ETF tracks the average movement of futures across multiple settlement months. Therefore, before trading, it is wise to review the gap between market price and net asset value, trading conditions, and performance differences driven by the futures curve.

The oil futures market can react sensitively to producer supply policies, inventory trends, refining demand, economic expectations, and geopolitical variables. Because the USL ETF reflects multiple settlement months, it is necessary to check not only short-term changes in spot oil prices but also how price relationships across maturities affect performance.

Fund flows into commodity products can vary with inflation concerns, energy supply and demand outlooks, and shifts in risk appetite. The USL ETF offers futures-based exposure that differs from equity products, but when the direction of oil prices and the futures curve diverge, the performance investors experience can differ from expectations.

It is characterized by oil futures exposure diversified across settlement months, but investors must accept performance gaps caused by the futures curve and sharp swings in oil prices.

Among the ETFs in the comparison table, the USO ETF can be viewed as centered on near-month oil futures exposure, while the BNO ETF differs in that it reflects Brent crude price trends from the North Sea. The UNG ETF focuses on natural gas, so although it belongs to the same energy resource group as oil, it is hard to regard as a direct substitute. For the DBO ETF, investors should check the difference in how oil futures contracts are selected, and for the OILK ETF, the differences in oil futures exposure and tax document structure. The key for the USL ETF is comparing whether its approach of reflecting multiple settlement months fits your own oil outlook.

When reviewing the USL ETF, investors should start by checking the maturity structure and trading method of the futures contracts rather than judging by the oil price outlook alone. Because this product can follow a different performance path from stocks or physical oil, it is necessary first to clarify the purpose of commodity exposure within the portfolio and the level of volatility one can tolerate.

The oil market can move sharply depending on supply policy, demand outlook, inventory changes, and geopolitical variables. In addition, because of contract replacement and price differences across maturities, futures-based products can deliver unexpected performance even when the direction of spot oil is predicted correctly, and for investors in Korean won, exchange rate fluctuations are an added risk.

The United States 12 Month Oil Fund LP can be a candidate for investors who want to reflect the broader oil futures curve. However, rather than understanding the USL ETF as a simple oil price tracker, investors should use it only after reviewing its maturity-diversified structure, trading conditions, and currency and futures curve risks together.