Copper doesn’t typically have the same “main character energy” that gold and silver offer investors. But the industrial metal hit all-time highs in June due to a variety of supply and demand challenges.
Copper has a strong base level of demand, since it’s used in a wide range of industrial applications, including wiring and piping. Demand is set to rise due to high-tech investments, too, such as artificial intelligence (“AI”) data centers, the electrification of the economy, electric vehicles, as well as charging and storage tech.
The supply side supports higher pricing, too. Copper production has faced years of underinvestment, leading to supply bottlenecks and rising prices. Because of all these factors, Southern Copper called copper “the best fundamental story in commodities” in a May 2025 presentation.
So, copper presents a more fundamentally backed investment case than, say, the best gold ETFs, which are more speculative, albeit with a strong track record as a store of value.
Investors expecting the metal to rise further can turn to the best copper exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) since they offer potentially strong long-term returns and reasonable expense ratios.
Top Copper ETFs to Invest in for 2026
If you’re looking to play the move in copper using a fund, you have a few options, depending on exactly how the fund invests in the metal.
- Copper futures: This kind of fund uses futures contracts to invest in copper, so it must continually “roll” its contracts over time, creating greater expense and lowering returns.
- Established miners: These funds own the companies that mine copper and other metals, such as gold and silver. Mining ETFs are more volatile than copper itself, so they move up faster than copper prices, and down faster, too.
- Junior miners: These funds own speculative “junior” miners, which are less established and, in some cases, may not even have a working mine.
Since an ETF’s holdings can differ significantly, it’s vital to understand exactly what a fund owns and the kind of exposure you’re looking for before you invest. These funds will generate returns that vary with copper prices, with miners tending to fluctuate the most in response to changes in the industrial metal’s price.
| Fund (ticker) | One-year return | Five-year annualized return | |
| United States Copper Index Fund, LP (CPER) | 9.8% | 7.2% | |
| Global X Copper Miners ETF (COPX) | 64.3% | 17.8% | |
| iShares Copper and Metals Mining ETF (ICOP) | 56.2% | 26.9%* | |
| Sprott Copper Miners ETF (COPP) | 52.2% | N/A | |
| Sprott Junior Copper Miners ETF (COPJ) | 64.6% | 36.2%* |
Source: Data from Morningstar, July 9, 2026
*Three-year annualized returns
How MarketWise Selected These Funds
MarketWise chose its best copper funds based on the following criteria:
- Funds with exposure to copper miners
- Funds with at least a year of strong returns
- A moderate expense ratio or lower
- No leveraged or inverse funds
1. United States Copper Index Fund, LP (CPER)
This fund uses futures contracts to track the daily price movement of the SummerHaven Copper Index Total Return, minus the fund’s expense ratio. This fund is a better short-term play than a long-term pick, since the cost of extending its futures contracts bleeds away net asset value.
Assets under management: $718.3 million
Expense ratio: 0.88%
Top holdings: Copper futures
2. Global X Copper Miners ETF (COPX)
This fund tracks the Solactive Global Copper Miners Total Return Index, and it includes 40 mining stocks. It has a strong, long-term record and is the largest fund here by net assets, so it’s the most established player in copper-focused ETF investing.
Assets under management: $6.7 billion
Expense ratio: 0.65%
Top holdings: BHP (BHP), Teck Resources (TECK), Antofagasta (ANFGF), Hudbay Minerals (HBM) KGHM Polska Miedz
3. iShares Copper and Metals Mining ETF (ICOP)
This fund tracks the STOXX Global Copper and Metals Mining Index and holds positions in 45 stocks. Although this fund has the lowest expense ratio on our list, it was launched in June 2023, so it doesn’t have the long-term track record of other funds. Still, its three-year annualized returns have been strong.
Assets under management: $405.7 million
Expense ratio: 0.47%
Top holdings: Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), Anglo American (AAUKF), BHP, Grupo Mexico SAB de CV (GMBXF), Teck Resources
4. Sprott Copper Miners ETF (COPP)
This fund tracks the Nasdaq Sprott Copper Miners Index and offers something a bit different: exposure to mining stocks plus physical copper. The fund holds about 80 positions. It’s a relative newcomer, launching in March 2024, though Sprott is a well-known commodities shop.
Assets under management: $252.5 million
Expense ratio: 0.66%
Top holdings: Freeport-McMoRan, Teck Resources, Antofagasta, KGHM Polska Miedz, Southern Copper (SCCO)
5. Sprott Junior Copper Miners ETF (COPJ)
This fund tracks the Nasdaq Sprott Junior Copper Miners Index, and it’s the only pure-play ETF focused on junior copper miners. The fund has about 70 positions, and its 0.75% expense ratio is somewhat higher than that of its larger cousin. It launched in February 2023, so it recently marked its three-year anniversary and has posted strong annualized returns, as shown above.
Assets under management: $144.4 million
Expense ratio: 0.75%
Top holdings: Faraday Copper (CPPKF), Trekor Metals (TGB), Atalaya Mining Copper, FireFly Metals (MNXMF), Osisko Metals (OMZNF)
Pros and Cons of Buying Copper ETFs
Here are the advantages and disadvantages of investing in a copper ETF.
Advantages of Copper ETFs
- Easier to invest in copper: A copper ETF makes it easier to invest in copper than buying the physical metal yourself, particularly because it has a relatively low value-to-weight ratio. Plus, investors can buy a portfolio of copper miners without spending time and energy analyzing individual mining stocks.
- Mining stocks have leveraged upside relative to copper prices: They usually move up faster than copper itself. So, if copper rises, a miner’s profits tend to rise even faster. That benefit translates into ETFs that hold mining stocks.
- Play the copper trend: If you’re looking to play copper because of rising investment in data centers, electrification, and electrical storage, ETFs make it easy to play a metal at the center of all those trends. You won’t need to analyze individual stocks in order to profit from the rising interest in copper stocks.
Disadvantages of Copper ETFs
- Price can be volatile: Copper prices can fluctuate a lot, as is typical for commodities. Copper has moved up sharply over the past year or two, so it may not repeat these kinds of returns in the near future.
- Leverage can hurt your returns: Operating leverage is great for miners and miner ETFs when copper prices are rising, but it stings just as much when copper falls. The inherent operating leverage in mining stocks works both ways.
- Mining ETFs are not pure copper plays: As is typical for miners, they dig up more than just copper. Miner ETFs don’t provide pure exposure to copper, but instead offer companies that mine copper and a range of other valuable deposits.
Regards,
James Royal, PhD
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