Gold Rush Continues: Precious Metals ETFs Capture $1.5B

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Weekly Channel Summary

As of January 23, 2026, the Commodity ETF channel encompasses 70 ETFs across 28 brands, managing a total of $385.50 billion in assets. The channel experienced significant investor interest this past week, gathering $1.48 billion in net new money. This positive momentum contributes to a robust Year-To-Date (YTD) flow total of $4.79 billion, highlighting continued conviction in the commodity space to start the year.

This Week’s Performance Leaders and Laggards

Performance across the commodity landscape was led by Precious Metals and Multi-Sector strategies. Precious Metals categories saw a surge, with individual segments like Platinum and Palladium leading the way. Conversely, Carbon Credits and Shipping Freight (specifically Wet Futures) were the primary laggards for the week, ending in negative territory.

Category Performance Snapshot

Category WTD 1 Month 3 Month 6 Month YTD 1 Year
Precious Metals 9.47% 17.20% 38.79% 68.14% 21.70% 115.99%
Energy 6.91% 5.75% 2.83% 1.62% 7.53% -9.69%
Multi-Sector 4.17% 6.76% 9.18% 14.44% 7.89% 18.68%
Industrial Metals 3.44% 11.69% 21.96% 25.70% 9.23% 44.10%
Agriculture 0.66% -0.30% -0.61% -2.66% 0.43% -8.15%
Shipping Freight 0.54% 31.69% 54.61% 111.71% 38.49% 145.17%
Carbon Credits -2.20% -1.10% 5.71% 19.49% -0.43% 13.07%

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by Weekly Performance

The single best-performing fund this week was UNG, which posted a remarkable 35.49% return as Natural Gas prices surged. On the other end of the spectrum, USE and BWET were the week’s notable laggards, with returns of -4.95% and -4.89% respectively.

Ticker Fund Name WTD Performance
Top Performers
UNG United States Natural Gas Fund LP 35.49%
UNL United States 12 Month Natural Gas Fund LP 18.53%
PLTM GraniteShares Platinum Trust 17.56%
PPLT abrdn Physical Platinum Shares ETF 17.54%
PALL abrdn Physical Palladium Shares ETF 12.58%
Bottom Performers
USE USCF Energy Commodity Strategy Absolute Return Fund -4.95%
BWET Breakwave Tanker Shipping ETF -4.89%
CTWO COtwo Advisors Physical European Carbon Allowance Trust -2.46%
KEUA KraneShares European Carbon Allowance Strategy ETF -2.35%
KRBN KraneShares Global Carbon Strategy ETF -2.09%

Analyzing the Weekly Flows

The channel saw total net inflows of $1.478 billion this week. Precious Metals dominated the landscape, attracting $1.525 billion. Multi-Sector and Industrial Metals categories also saw positive interest. However, the Energy category faced substantial headwinds with $354 million in net outflows, largely driven by significant profit-taking in Natural Gas vehicles.

Category Flows Summary

Category Fund Count AUM 5 Day Flow YTD Flow
Precious Metals 16 $362.82B $1,525M $3,969M
Multi-Sector 25 $18.27B $246M $644M
Industrial Metals 4 $0.91B $67M $220M
Agriculture 8 $1.00B ($1M) ($10M)
Shipping Freight 2 $0.04B ($1M) ($2M)
Carbon Credits 4 $0.29B ($4M) ($6M)
Energy 11 $2.16B ($354M) ($21M)

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by 5-Day Flow

The top individual fund for inflows was GLDM, securing $565 million in new assets. Conversely, UNG saw massive outflows of $420 million, followed by CMDT with $16 million in withdrawals.

Ticker Fund Name 5-Day Flow
Inflows
GLDM SPDR Gold Minishares Trust $565M
IAUM iShares Gold Trust Micro ETF $246M
IAU iShares Gold Trust $237M
GLD SPDR Gold Shares $175M
PPLT abrdn Physical Platinum Shares ETF $136M
Outflows
UNG United States Natural Gas Fund LP ($420M)
CMDT PIMCO Commodity Strategy Active ETF ($16M)
COMT iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF ($10M)
KRBN KraneShares Global Carbon Strategy ETF ($4M)
DBA Invesco DB Agriculture Fund ($3M)

Issuer League Table Update

The commodity ETF landscape remains highly concentrated, with SPDR and iShares collectively controlling over 86% of the market share by AUM. SPDR maintained its leadership position this week, gathering the most net inflows at $740 million, driven by its suite of gold ETFs.

Top 5 Issuers by AUM

Brand Fund Count AUM Market Share
SPDR 3 $199.28B 51.69%
iShares 7 $134.44B 34.87%
aberdeen 7 $25.79B 6.69%
Invesco 9 $7.73B 2.01%
Goldman Sachs 1 $2.90B 0.75%

Top & Bottom 3 Issuers by 5-Day Flow

Brand 5-Day Flow
Inflows
SPDR $740M
iShares $521M
aberdeen $220M
Outflows
US Commodity Funds ($305M)
PIMCO ($16M)
KraneShares ($4M)

For a deeper dive into these trends, access our FREE, in-depth Commodity ETF reports in the right side panel of this page.

Disclosures

This material is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. The information provided is based on data obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy and completeness are not guaranteed. All investment strategies involve risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

This analysis was developed by the team at ETF Action, utilizing the ETF Action classification system and proprietary database tools. For further information, visit etfaction.com.