Tuesday, April 21, 2020

USO United States Oil Fund

Fund Details
The United States Oil Fund® LP (USO) is an exchange-traded security designed to track the daily price movements of West Texas Intermediate ("WTI") light, sweet crude oil. USO issues shares that may be purchased and sold on the NYSE Arca.
The investment objective of USO is for the daily changes in percentage terms of its shares' NAV to reflect the daily changes in percentage terms of the spot price of light, sweet crude oil delivered to Cushing, Oklahoma, as measured by the daily changes in price of USO's Benchmark Oil Futures Contract, less USO's expenses.
USO's Benchmark is the near month crude oil futures contract traded on the NYMEX. If the near month futures contract is within two weeks of expiration, the Benchmark will be the next month contract to expire. The crude oil contract is WTI light, sweet crude oil delivered to Cushing, Oklahoma.
USO invests primarily in listed crude oil futures contracts and other oil-related futures contracts, and may invest in forwards and swap contracts. These investments will be collateralized by cash, cash equivalents, and US government obligations with remaining maturities of two years or less.
USO's Fund Benefits
  • USO offers commodity exposure without using a commodity futures account.
  • USO provides features including, intra-day pricing, and market, limit, and stop orders.
  • USO provides portfolio holdings, market price, NAV and TNA on its website each day.
TickerUSO
Intraday Indicative ValueUSO.IV
CUSIP91232N108
ISINUS91232N1081
Minimum Trade1 share
MarginableYES
Options TradedYES
Management Fee0.45%
Total Expense Ratio0.73%
Trading Increment$0.01
AdministratorThe Bank of New York Mellon
DistributorALPS Distributors, Inc.
General PartnerUnited States Commodity Funds, LLC
Historical NAV
The performance data quoted above represents past performance. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. Investment return and value of the Fund shares will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance may be lower or higher than performance data quoted.
Performance
As of 03/31/2020
 1 Month3 MonthYTD1 Year5 Years10 YearsSince Inception CumulativeSince Inception Annualized
Net Asset Value-54.70%-66.82%-66.82%-66.08%-24.13%-20.22%-93.71%-17.95%
Market Price-55.45%-67.14%-67.14%-66.32%-24.21%-20.22%-93.75%-17.99%
Benchmark-54.69%-66.86%-66.86%-66.46%-24.40%-19.99%-93.84%-18.07%
The performance data quoted above represents past performance. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. Investment return and value of the Fund shares will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance may be lower or higher than performance data quoted.
The Fund's NAV is calculated by dividing the value of the Fund's total assets less total liabilities by the number of shares outstanding. Share price returns are based on closing prices for the Fund and do not represent the returns an investor would receive if shares were traded at other times.
 USO commenced operations on 04/10/2006
Growth of $10,000 Investment
As of 03/31/2020
This chart shows how a hypothetical investment of $10,000 in the Fund at its inception would have performed versus an investment in the Fund’s benchmark futures contract(s). The values indicate what $10,000 would have grown to over the time period indicated. The hypothetical example does not represent the returns of any particular investment.
The performance data quoted above represents past performance. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. Investment return and value of the Fund shares will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance may be lower or higher than performance data quoted.
Average Daily Returns
As of 03/31/2020
The performance data quoted above represents past performance. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. Investment return and value of the Fund shares will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance may be lower or higher than performance data quoted.
Premium / Discount
Basis Points *>= 200100 to 19950 to 991 to 490-1 to -49-50 to -99-100 to -199<= -200Number of Days00.511.522.533.54
Premium/Discount Daily Information as of 04/20/2020
NAV$3.46
4PM Bid/Ask Midpoint$3.73
Difference ($)$0.27
Premium/Discount (%)7.80%
The performance data quoted above represents past performance. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. Investment return and value of the Fund shares will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance may be lower or higher than performance data quoted.
The above frequency distribution chart presents information about the difference between the daily market price for shares of the Fund and the Fund's reported NAV. The amount that the Fund's market price is above the reported NAV is called the premium. The amount that the Fund's market price is below the reported NAV is called the discount. The market price is determined using the midpoint between the highest bid and the lowest offer on the listing exchange, as of the time that the Fund's NAV is calculated (usually 4:00 pm Eastern time). The vertical axis of the chart shows the premium or discount expressed in basis points. The horizontal axis indicates the number of trading days in the period covered by the chart. Each bar in the chart shows the number of trading days in which the Fund traded within the premium/discount range indicated.
* A basis point is equal to 1/100th of 1%.

Creation & Redemption Process
  • Creation/Redemption Basket Size 100,000 Shares
  • Transaction charge for each Authorized Purchasers Order is $1,000 (per order, not per basket)
  • Order Cut-off for AP's is 12:00 p.m. ET
  • USO's NAV is calculated generally around 4:00 pm ET
  • Settlement is T+2
  • Custodian is The Bank of New York Mellon
  • Marketing Agent is ALPS Distributors, Inc.

Monday, April 20, 2020

Backwardation and Contango in Commodity Trading

What Is Contango?

Contango is a situation where the futures price of a commodity is higher than the spot price. Contango usually occurs when an asset price is expected to rise over time. This results in an upward sloping forward curve.


Contango
Contango.

Source: CME
Volume 75%
00:02


01:16
01:16


Contango

Understanding Contango

Futures contract supply and demand affect the futures price at each available expiration. In contango, investors are willing to pay more for a commodity at some point in the future. The premium above the current spot price for a particular expiration date is usually associated with the cost of carry. Cost of carry can include any costs the investor would need to pay to hold the asset over a period of time. With commodities, the cost of carry generally includes storage costs and cost risks associated with obsolescence.
In all futures market scenarios, the futures price will usually converge toward the spot price as the contracts approach expiration. This is because of the large number of buyers and sellers in the market which effectively make markets efficient, eliminating substantial arbitrage opportunities. As such, a market in contango will see gradual decreases in the price to meet the spot price at expiration.
Overall, futures markets are speculative. The further out the contract expiration the more speculation involved. There can be a few reasons why an investor would lock in a higher futures price. As mentioned, cost of carry is one prevalent reason for commodities. Producers make commodity purchases as needed based on their inventory.
The spot versus futures price may be a factor in their inventory management, but they will generally follow the spot and future prices seeking to achieve the best cost efficiency. Some producers may believe that the spot price will rise rather than fall over time. They thus hedge with a slightly higher price in the future.

Contango and Arbitrage

The futures markets include a variety of different types of investors. Some investors are seeking the best price for physical delivery and others are purely speculating with plans to sell their contracts prior to expiration. Since the futures markets are highly speculative there can be potential for arbitrage. Arbitrage allows an investor to seek profits from speculative bets in their favor.
Oftentimes, contango occurs because speculators believe the spot price of an asset is going to rise over time. Speculation on how much the price will rise is a part of the futures contract market. Investors who can lock in a futures price that expires below the spot price benefit the most. These investors can either sell their contracts for a profit near expiration or obtain the asset they are seeking at a lower value than the spot price.

Contango vs. Backwardation

Contango, sometimes referred to as forwardation, is the opposite of backwardation. In the futures markets, the forward curve can be in either contango or backwardation.
A market is "in backwardation" when the futures price is below the spot price for a particular asset. In general, backwardation can be the result of current supply and demand factors or it may be signaling that investors are expecting asset prices to fall over time.
A market in backwardation has a forward curve that is downward sloping. A backwardation chart is exemplified by the following:


Backwardation
Backwardation.

Source: CME

Expiration and Contract Rolling

Futures contracts tend to see high volume trading as a contract approaches its expiration. Speculative investors must trade their contracts by a certain time to avoid physical delivery. Investors who buy commodity contracts when markets are in contango tend to lose some money when the futures contracts expire higher than the spot price.
Most futures contracts offer a roll option, which allows the investor to roll their futures contract at a new price for a new expiration. Out of the money futures contract investors may wish to stay long in a commodity by rolling their contract in order to find greater benefits in the future.

In general, as a contract approaches expiration, its value will fluctuate based on the current spot price. The more in the money a contract is the higher its futures contract value and vice versa.


Reference:
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/080116/how-oil-etfs-perform-relative-oil-price-uso-szo.asp
https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance/derivative-securities#forward-futures-contracts
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/contango.asp?ad=dirN&qo=investopediaSiteSearch&qsrc=0&o=40186
http://www.uscfinvestments.com/uso