During the California gold rush of the mid-1800s, selling supplies and services to miners was a much more reliable way to gain wealth than striking it rich underground.
The “picks-and-shovels” trade has become a Wall Street phrase for investing indirectly in a trend by gaining exposure to the underlying things necessary for that trend to happen.
Copper is one such trade. In a general sense, copper underlies the entire economy because of its use in a wide variety of everyday things, such as pipes and wiring for homes and businesses, electrical conduction for appliances and air conditioning, and getting power from utilities to the grid.
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“Copper is a smart long-term investment strategy because it’s essential to modern infrastructure and can help diversify a portfolio,” says Peter Reagan, financial market strategist at Birch Gold Group. “Demand for copper continues to grow as countries invest in infrastructure projects, but mine supply has struggled to keep up, helping sustain prices.”
Copper is also a next-generation picks-and-shovels play, as it is crucial to the artificial intelligence boom, electric vehicles and decarbonization of power generation through renewable energy infrastructure.
In a similar case to electric vehicles, there is more copper used in renewable electricity installations such as solar and wind farms than there is in traditional electrical generating plants. The U.S. Energy Information Administration is expecting new domestic utility-scale electric generating capacity to reach a record high this year, with solar installations making up more than half of the capacity additions. Battery storage is expected to comprise 28% of installations, and wind 14%.
Even as the world will need more copper for wind and solar farms and an improved grid, there is an emerging source of demand that will increase the need for electricity altogether: artificial intelligence.
For many years, electricity demand in the U.S. has been relatively flat, but the data centers that run powerful computers that back AI internet searches and proprietary AI for businesses need a lot of power to run.
“Copper sits at the intersection of almost every single major investment today — AI data centers, upgrades to the grid, electric vehicles,” says Evan Mills, associate financial advisor and commodities specialist at Scholar Advising. “Long term, it’s pretty simple. If the world is using and needing more electricity, it’s going to need more copper.”
Investors often buy into copper as an inflation hedge. Because it is so widely used in the economy, the red metal’s demand is closely tied to economic cycles. When the economy is going gangbusters and inflation is running hot, copper prices are also likely to be higher.
At the same time, those boom-and-bust cycles make copper, along with other commodities, a volatile and risky proposition.
Copper Futures vs. Copper ETFs
If you want to invest in copper to gain exposure to the global economy, one way to do that is through the futures market. But while futures prices are important to watch on the exchanges in New York, London and Shanghai, these derivative contracts generally aren’t a great place for retail-level investors.
Futures require constant maintenance, as traders have to roll over contracts when they expire or sell them. There is also leverage involved, which can magnify both gains and losses.
A much easier way for everyday investors who want to buy and hold shares to gain exposure to copper is through exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The United States Copper Index Fund (ticker: CPER) is futures-based, but for this list we’re sticking to equities-based ETFs.
These investment vehicles are traded on an exchange under a ticker symbol like stocks, but they contain holdings of many companies, giving investors instant diversification. Even though copper mining companies do generally track the price of the metal, there are also corporate considerations that make diversification important. For example, bad management decisions such as an ill-timed acquisition can pressure shares of a company, even if copper prices are rising.
For those investors looking to gain exposure to copper, here’s a look at four ETFs that hold copper mining companies:
| ETF | Expense ratio | Assets under management |
| Global X Copper Miners ETF (COPX) | 0.65% | $7.1 billion |
| iShares Copper and Metals Mining ETF (ICOP) | 0.47% | $423.8 million |
| Sprott Copper Miners ETF (COPP) | 0.65% | $270.1 million |
| Sprott Junior Copper Miners ETF (COPJ) | 0.75% | $146 million |
Global X Copper Miners ETF (COPX)
With $7.1 billion in assets under management, COPX is the biggest copper-mining-equity ETF traded on U.S. markets.
That size can be important, as it generally correlates to higher liquidity, which means investors may find it easier to buy or sell shares quickly on any given trading day.
The fund holds 40 mining companies that run the gamut from large to small miners, including big Chinese copper players. Still, no stock takes up more than 6% of the fund’s holdings, meaning if a single company runs into trouble, the fund won’t suffer as much as the shares of that individual company would.
The fund has an expense ratio of 0.65%, or $65 annually on $10,000 invested.
iShares Copper and Metals Mining ETF (ICOP)
While the size of a fund is important, it’s not the only consideration for investors.
This offering from BlackRock Inc. (BLK), for example, is much smaller, with $424 million in assets under management, but it is backed by a major Wall Street firm and has an expense ratio of 0.47%.
Like COPX, this fund tracks an index, and that passivity helps keep fees low compared to funds that pay managers to adjust holdings based on a variety of factors instead of simply rebalancing them at regular intervals to match changes in an index.
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Sprott Copper Miners ETF (COPP)
This fund claims to be the only copper ETF to focus on copper miners and physical copper.
In addition to owning copper producers, developers and explorers, the fund invests in the Sprott Physical Copper Trust (SCOP), which holds most of its assets in physical copper it buys off the market.
That gives investors a blend of mining shares, with their company-specific risks and rewards, and physical copper that tracks the spot price of the metal more closely.
The fund also holds a larger number of copper miners than the two funds above, with shares in large, medium and small players.
Producers are the least risky, as they are generally well established and are getting metal out of the ground that they can sell, providing cash flow. Also, they often have more than one mine in production, meaning they are better able to weather production stoppages from labor unrest, accidents, natural disasters and political turbulence in the far-flung places where miners often operate.
Meanwhile, companies that are developing mines or simply exploring for deposits are more risky but can offer more reward.
The fund has an expense ratio of 0.65% and $270 million in net assets.
Sprott Junior Copper Miners ETF (COPJ)
This fund focuses on that latter end of the spectrum, tracking an index of mid-, small- and micro-cap companies in copper-mining-related businesses.
While many mining companies don’t make it for a variety of reasons, such as lack of funding, small exploration-stage companies can provide substantial returns if they find an excellent deposit.
If that happens, they often sell themselves to larger mining companies, providing investors with quick returns, or develop the deposit themselves, which is a lengthy and risky process but can create substantial long-term value.
COPJ has an expense ratio of 0.75% and net assets of $146 million.
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4 Best Copper ETFs in 2026 originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 07/22/26: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
