United States Oil Overview
The United States Oil Fund® LP (USO) is an exchange-traded security whose shares may be purchased and sold on the NYSE Arca. USO’s investment objective is for the daily changes, in percentage terms, of its shares’ net asset value (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 the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract. Specifically, USO seeks for the average daily percentage change in USO’s net asset value, for any period of 30 successive valuation days, to be within plus/minus 10% of the average daily percentage change in the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract over the same period.
AN INVESTMENT IN USO SHOULD NOT BE VIEWED AS AN INVESTMENT IN THE BENCHMARK OIL FUTURES CONTRACT OR LIGHT SWEET CRUDE OIL.
WHILE INVESTING IN USO INVOLVES RISKS SIMILAR TO THOSE INVOLVED WITH AN INVESTMENT DIRECTLY IN THE OIL MARKET, USO IS NOT A PROXY FOR TRADING DIRECTLY IN THE OIL MARKETS AND THESE RISKS ARE REAL.
The Benchmark Oil Futures Contract is the near month West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures contract for light, sweet crude oil delivered to Cushing Oklahoma that is traded on the NYMEX, except that, if the near month futures contract is within two weeks of expiration, the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract will be the subsequent month contract to expire.
USO invests primarily in listed crude oil futures contracts and other oil-related 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 2 years or less.
Historically, USO has achieved its investment objective by primarily investing in the Benchmark Futures Contract and oil futures contracts for light, sweet crude oil traded on NYMEX and ICE Futures with the same maturity month as the Benchmark Futures Contract. Until recently, there has only been a limited need for USO to invest in crude oil futures contracts other than the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract. Market conditions, evolving regulatory requirements and risk mitigation measures implemented by certain of USO’s service providers, have made it necessary for USO to exercise greater discretion in investing than it has in the past. Specifically, during April 2020, the factors requiring USO to exercise greater discretion included, without limitation:
- NYMEX and ICE Futures imposed accountability levels and position limits on USO’s investments in the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract and the ICE WTI Contract.
- USO’s futures broker constrained USO’s ability to invest in the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract.
- A large number of USO shares were purchased in a relatively short period of time.
These events severely limited USO’s ability to have a substantial portion of its assets invested in the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract. Accordingly, on April 17, 2020, USO commenced investing in oil futures contracts other than the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract, consistent with its authority to do so pursuant to its prospectus. Although conditions in the crude oil market have improved, and USO has added new futures brokerage relationships that afford it additional trading capacity, USO is continuing in to invest in oil futures contracts other than the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract and only invests in the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract on a limited basis.
As a result of the foregoing, USO is currently unable to pursue its investment objective with the same high degree of success that it has in the past before the market conditions described above arose. Moreover, as a result of such market conditions, the regulatory limitations imposed on USO and the risk mitigation measures described below, there is considerable uncertainty as to whether USO will be able to achieve the same level of success as before in meeting its investment objective. More specifically, USO’s limited ability to invest in the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract together with its investments in oil futures contracts other than the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract has impacted and could continue to impact the performance of USO and may make it difficult for USO to closely track the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract or meet its investment objective of having the change in its NAV for any period of 30 successive valuation days be within plus/minus ten percent (10%) of the average daily percentage change in the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract over the same period. The differences in changes in the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract and USO’s per share NAV could, in the future, and has, in the past on a daily basis, exceeded plus/minus 10%. As an example, recently, in April 2020, changes in the NAV of USO deviated from changes in the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract by -16.527%. If such deviation had continued over a period of 30 successive valuation days, USO would not have met its stated investment objective. However, notwithstanding that there may have been deviations greater than plus/minus 10% on certain days in the month of April, as demonstrated by the chart below, titled Rolling 30-day average difference between USO’s NAV and the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract, this trend did not continue on a rolling 30-day basis and, as a result USO met, and continues to meet, its investment objective. See USO’s current prospectus, on the website, for greater detail about the impact of recent events on USO’s performance in April 2020.
The parameters for USO’s investment discretion are set forth and discussed in detail in USO’s prospectus. USO can change such parameters if regulatory requirements, market conditions, liquidity requirements or other factors make it necessary for USO to do so. USO’s portfolio holdings, as well as its investment intentions with respect to the type and percentage of investments in USO’s portfolio, are disclosed daily on the portfolio holdings page of the website.
Reasons to Consider USO
- 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. It also provides USO’s target portfolio anticipated by the end of the roll or any rebalance, based on market conditions and regulatory requirements on the website each day.
Ticker | USO |
Intraday Indicative Value | USO.IV |
CUSIP | 91232N207 |
ISIN | US91232N2071 |
Minimum Trade | 1 share |
Marginable | YES |
Options Traded | YES |
Total Expense Ratio | |
Trading Increment | $0.01 |
Administrator | The Bank of New York Mellon |
Distributor | ALPS Distributors, Inc. |
General Partner | United States Commodity Funds, LLC |
^ On April 28, 2020, there was a 1-for-8 reverse share split. Historical shares outstanding, net asset value per share has been adjusted to reflect the 1-for-8 reverse share split on a retroactive basis.
Historical NAV
The performance data quoted above represents past performance. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT 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.
This historical NAV chart reflects an 8-for-1 reverse share split that was effected on April 28, 2020.
Rolling 30-Day Average Difference between USO’s NAV and the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract
USO’s investment objective 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 the Benchmark Futures Contract. Specifically, USO seeks for the average daily percentage change in USO’s net asset value, for any period of 30 successive valuation days, to be within plus/minus 10% of the average daily percentage change in the price of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract over the same period.
The following chart shows, for the period between April 1, 2023 - June 30, 2023, the rolling 30-day average difference between USO’s net asset value and the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract. This is measured by subtracting the return of the Benchmark Oil Futures Contract from the return on USO’s net asset value for each of the last thirty business days, and then averaging those thirty differences. The calculation is repeated daily.
The performance data quoted above represents past performance. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT 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
The performance data quoted above represents past performance. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT 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
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 $10,000 would have grown to over the time period indicated. The hypothetical example does not represent the returns of any particular investment.
The performance data quoted above represents past performance. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. Investment return and value of the Fund shares will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance may be lower or higher than performance data quoted.
Average Daily Returns
The performance data quoted above represents past performance. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. Investment return and value of the Fund shares will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance may be lower or higher than performance data quoted.
Premium / Discount
Premium/Discount Daily Information as of | |
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NAV | |
4PM Bid/Ask Midpoint | |
Difference ($) | |
Premium/Discount (%) |
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%.
The amount of the discount or premium in the trading price of USO relative to USO’s NAV per share may be influenced by various factors including, among other things, the number of investors who seek to purchase or sell shares in the secondary market and the liquidity of the oil futures. As an example, in April 21, 2020, the price per USO share sold in the secondary market was 36% higher than the end of day per share NAV of USO. This discrepancy was attributable to increased demand for USO shares due to market forces and USO’s having temporarily halted the sale of Creation Baskets.
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.
- Fund Details
- Performance
- Growth of $10k
- Average Daily Returns
- Premium Discounts
- Distributions
- Creation Redemption
- Holdings
- Roll/Rebalance Dates
- Documents
NAV | |
NAV Change | |
4PM Bid/Ask Midpoint | |
Last Trade Price | |
Premium Discount (%) | |
30-Day SEC Yield as of | |
30-Day SEC Yield (Unsubsidized) as of | |
Trailing 12-Month Yield as of | |
Shares Outstanding | |
Total Net Assets | |
Median 30 Day Bid Ask Spread as of |