Investment objective

ETCs track commodities - not commodity companies - and enable investors to gain exposure to commodities without trading futures or taking physical delivery

Type of security

Secured, undated, zero-coupon note

Issue size

ETCs are open-ended

Accurate

ETCs accurately track the underlying commodity index or individual commodity

Liquid

ETCs are open-ended securities, and therefore are not limited to on-exchange volumes

Accessible

ETCs are traded and settled on regulated stock exchanges, the same as any equity, and can be purchased and held in ordinary brokerage or custodial accounts

Simple

ETCs do not involve any of the difficulties with buying and then managing a futures position (eg. worrying about margin calls, contracts expiring and rolling positions) or in buying and storing physical commodities

Transparent

ETC pricing is based on a transparent formula with the pricing updated daily on the ETF Securities website

Guaranteed pricing

ETCs are priced using published settlement prices (rather than "best-efforts" pricing)

Flexible

Investors can go long or short ETCs, and they are lendable and marginable

Proven record

ETCs are managed by the same team which created the world's first exchange traded commodity; this team has over 4 years experience in developing commodity-backed investments

Spot return

Changes in price of the front month ("spot") futures contract

Roll return

Gain or loss from rolling long futures positions prior to expiry

Collateral return

Interest earned on the cash value of the initial investment