Metals serve as the raw materials behind infrastructure, manufacturing, and emerging energy technologies. Demand for everything from copper and iron ore to lithium and rare earths tends to rise over time, often in cycles tied to economic growth and technological advancement. For investors seeking broad exposure without picking individual mining stocks, metals exchange-traded funds provide a straightforward way to invest in the sector.
These funds typically invest in mining companies, metal-focused producers, or in some cases metal futures contracts. The key distinction between metals ETFs lies in which type of metals they target. Precious metals ETFs focus on gold, silver, platinum, and palladium—either holding physical metal in vaults or investing in mining companies. Industrial metals ETFs concentrate on materials like iron ore, copper, and aluminum that drive construction and manufacturing. Strategic and rare earth metals ETFs target materials crucial to technology, defense, and electric vehicle industries.
Four ETFs stand out for providing distinct exposures across the metals spectrum, each with different holdings, geographic focus, and investment approaches that serve specific portfolio objectives.
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (XME) provides targeted exposure to the entire U.S. metals and mining sector, currently trading around $123. The fund seeks to track metals and mining stocks in the S&P Total Market Index, holding shares of mining companies across multiple subsectors including aluminum, coal and consumable fuels, copper, diversified metals and mining, gold, precious metals and minerals, silver, and steel.
The ETF held roughly 30 holdings in early 2026, led by Centrus Energy at 6.6% of the fund’s holdings, Peabody Energy at 5.2%, Steel Dynamics at 5.1%, Alcoa at 5.1%, and Warrior Met Coal at 4.9%. This diversified approach spans both industrial and precious metals, providing comprehensive U.S. sector coverage.
XME uses an equal-weight strategy rather than market capitalization weighting, meaning each holding receives similar allocation regardless of company size. This approach provides more balanced exposure across the sector rather than concentrating in the largest mining companies. Smaller and mid-sized miners receive the same weight as industry giants, creating different return characteristics than market-weighted alternatives.
The fund charges an expense ratio of 0.35%—relatively low for sector-specific ETFs. This modest fee structure makes sense for investors planning to hold the position over extended periods as metals demand cycles through economic expansions and contractions.
XME is ideal for investors seeking an investment focused on the U.S. metals sector with balanced exposure across both industrial and precious metals. The equal-weight approach provides diversification within the domestic mining industry without overconcentration in mega-cap miners.
iShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers ETF (PICK) offers targeted access to the global metals and mining industry, minus precious metals, currently trading around $61. The ETF provides international diversification across non-precious metals mining, holding shares of almost 230 mining stocks in early 2026.
The fund’s top five holdings include BHP Group at 12.1% of the fund’s holdings, Rio Tinto at 6.7%, Freeport-McMoRan at 4.9%, Glencore at 4%, and Vale at 3.8%. These holdings represent the world’s largest diversified miners with operations spanning multiple continents and commodity exposures.
PICK takes a market-weighted approach to the global non-precious metals mining sector, meaning larger companies receive proportionally larger allocations. This methodology concentrates the portfolio in mega-cap miners with the scale and resources to develop major projects, but also reduces exposure to smaller companies that might offer higher growth potential.
The ETF charges an expense ratio of 0.39%—reasonable for global sector exposure with nearly 230 holdings providing broad diversification. The modest fee reflects the passive index-tracking approach rather than active management.
The fund’s features make it ideal for investors seeking exposure weighted toward the largest non-precious metals miners in the world. By excluding precious metals, PICK focuses purely on industrial metals demand tied to infrastructure, manufacturing, and construction rather than safe-haven demand that drives gold and silver.
PICK provides access to global mining operations rather than just U.S.-based companies, creating exposure to miners operating in Australia, South America, Africa, and other resource-rich regions. This geographic diversification captures metals production regardless of where deposits are located.
VanEck Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF (REMX) provides targeted exposure to companies focused on producing, refining, and recycling rare earth and strategic metals and minerals, currently trading around $89. The ETF concentrates on materials crucial to technology and green energy sectors rather than traditional industrial or precious metals.
The fund held shares of about 30 rare earth and strategic metals companies in early 2026, led by Pilbara Minerals at 8.1% of the fund’s holdings, China Northern Rare Earth Group at 7.1%, Albemarle at 7%, MP Materials at 6.3%, and Lynas Rare Earths at 5.8%. These companies mine and process materials including lithium, rare earth elements, and other strategic minerals.
REMX allows investors to own a basket of companies focused on mining materials essential for electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines, solar panels, defense applications, and consumer electronics. Rare earth elements are critical inputs for permanent magnets used in EV motors and wind turbine generators, while lithium serves as the primary component in rechargeable batteries powering everything from smartphones to electric cars.
The ETF charges a fee of 0.58% for access to these emerging metals—higher than broad metals ETFs but reflecting the more specialized exposure and smaller universe of companies operating in this space. The expense ratio remains modest given the niche focus and complexity of the rare earth supply chain.
Supply concentration creates unique dynamics in rare earth markets. China dominates global rare earth production and processing, though countries including the United States and Australia are working to develop domestic supply chains to reduce dependence on Chinese sources. Companies held by REMX represent efforts to diversify rare earth supply outside China.
Demand for rare earth and strategic metals is driven by the energy transition and electrification trends rather than traditional economic cycles affecting industrial metals. As governments push decarbonization policies and automakers electrify vehicle fleets, demand for battery materials and permanent magnet components should grow regardless of broader construction or manufacturing activity.
REMX is suited for investors seeking exposure to the materials powering clean energy and technology applications rather than traditional infrastructure. The fund provides access to a sector that’s difficult to invest in through individual stock selection given the relatively small number of publicly traded pure-play rare earth companies.
Invesco DB Base Metals Fund (DBB) enables investors to invest in commodity futures rather than mining company stocks, currently trading around $24. The fund focuses on some of the most liquid and widely used base metals including aluminum, zinc, and copper.
As of early 2026, the fund’s holdings consisted of copper futures at 38% of net assets, aluminum futures at 36.9%, and zinc futures at 36.1%. The ETF uses leverage and collateralizes futures contracts with U.S. Treasury bills and other Invesco products built around government debt.
DBB provides direct exposure to metal prices rather than mining company performance. This distinction matters because mining stocks don’t perfectly track commodity prices—they’re influenced by operational issues, management decisions, labor costs, and capital allocation that can cause stock performance to diverge from underlying metal prices. Futures contracts eliminate these company-specific factors, providing pure commodity price exposure.
The futures-based approach creates different tax treatment than stock-based ETFs. Commodity futures held by the fund are marked to market annually, potentially creating taxable events even if investors don’t sell shares. This tax consideration should be evaluated before investing.
The fund is somewhat speculative since futures contracts can be very volatile. Commodity prices can swing dramatically based on supply disruptions, demand shocks, currency movements, and investor sentiment. The futures market also involves contango and backwardation dynamics that can affect returns independently of spot price movements.
DBB charges an expense ratio of 0.79%—higher than stock-based metals ETFs reflecting the costs of rolling futures contracts and maintaining collateral. The fee structure is reasonable for futures-based commodity exposure but exceeds what investors pay for mining stock ETFs.
The ETF is best for sophisticated investors who want to make a short-term trade on the thesis that base metals prices will rise sharply in the near term. The futures-based structure makes DBB more suitable for tactical positioning rather than long-term buy-and-hold strategies that favor mining stock ETFs.
DBB offers the most direct exposure to industrial metals price movements among these four ETFs, but with higher volatility, different tax treatment, and structural considerations that make it more complex than stock-based alternatives.
These four ETFs provide distinct approaches to metals investing. XME offers equal-weighted U.S. sector exposure across industrial and precious metals. PICK provides market-weighted global exposure to non-precious metals mining through nearly 230 holdings. REMX concentrates on rare earth and strategic metals crucial to technology and clean energy. DBB delivers direct base metals price exposure through futures contracts rather than mining stocks.
The appropriate choice depends on investment objectives, time horizon, and specific metals exposure desired. Investors seeking broad U.S. mining sector participation might favor XME’s equal-weight approach. Those wanting global diversification in industrial metals could choose PICK’s market-weighted strategy. Investors targeting clean energy and technology materials may prefer REMX’s rare earth focus. Traders making tactical bets on near-term base metals price movements might select DBB’s futures-based structure.
Metals ETFs can be practical ways to invest in long-term demand for materials powering infrastructure, manufacturing, and new energy technologies. They’re cyclical and can be volatile, making them more suitable as diversifying positions rather than core portfolio holdings for most investors.
