Gold miners exchange traded funds are among the top-performing ETFs in recent weeks and the group, currently home to about 10 funds, is set to grow larger by one when the Sprott Gold Miners ETF debuts on Tuesday.
The Sprott Gold Miners ETF will trade on the New York Stock Exchange and track the Sprott Zacks Gold Miners Index. Canada-based Sprott Asset Management currently offers closed-end funds to U.S. investors, including the Sprott Physical Gold Trust (NYSE: PHYS) and the Sprott Physical Silver Trust (NYSE: PSLV).
In order to be included in the cap-weigthed Sprott Zacks Gold Miners Index, “gold or silver mining companies must be traded on one or more major U.S. exchanges, have a minimum per share price of $2 and have a minimum market capitalization of at least $1 billion (or if a market capitalization of $400 million to $1 billion, have a minimum average daily price volume of $800,000). If these rules result in fewer than 25 eligible constituents, the remaining gold or silver mining companies will be ranked according to market capitalization and average daily price volume, and the highest ranking companies – i.e., those with the larger and more liquid common stock – will become eligible constituents for the Underlying Index. At least 80% of the Underlying Index (by weight) must consist of gold mining companies while no more than 20% may consist of silver mining companies,” according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The two largest gold miners ETFs are the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSEArca: GDX) and the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSEArca: GDXJ) with $8.3 billion and $2.6 billion in assets under management, respectively.
The Global X Gold Explorers ETF (NYSEArca: GLDX) is this year’s top-performing gold miners ETF with a gain of nearly 48%. [The Best Miners ETF You’ve Never Heard Of]
The newest gold miners ETFs are the Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bull 3x Shares (NYSEArca: JNUG) and the Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bear 3X Shares (NYSEArca: JDST), which debuted in October 2013.
ETF Trends editorial team contributed to this post. Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of JNUG.
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.