Is USO a Good Investment? The Case For and Against (2026)

USO is a commodity pool that aims to track the daily percentage change in the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil, primarily by holding near-month NYMEX WTI futures contracts. Its net expense ratio is about 0.86%. Because it holds futures rather than physical oil, USO can drift from spot crude over time as it rolls each expiring contract, especially when the futures curve is in contango.

Largest holdings (approximate as of mid-2026; verify on USCF Investments's fund page):

USO is the United States Oil Fund, a commodity pool from USCF Investments that gives roughly 1x exposure to the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil by holding near-month NYMEX crude oil futures contracts rather than physical barrels. Its net expense ratio runs about 0.86%, far higher than an equity index ETF. Because it rolls futures each month, USO tracks daily oil moves but can diverge from spot oil over time when the futures curve is in contango. It is a tactical trading tool, not a long-term core holding.

In its favour: it gives you Near-month WTI crude oil futures (benchmark oil futures price) exposure in one ticker at a ~0.86% expense ratio, which is simple to hold and cheap to own.

• Cost vs alternatives: ~0.86% is the fee; compare it to funds tracking a similar index.
• Concentration: check how much of USO sits in its largest holdings (CL, USD).
• Overlap: if you already own a broad-market fund, you may already hold much of this.
• Tracking scope: USO only gives you Near-month WTI crude oil futures (benchmark oil futures price); it will not capture what sits outside that index.

“Diversified” is the word every index fund uses and it hides a wide range. The number that actually matters is how much of the fund sits in its largest positions, because that is the part that drives the return. Published weights for USO are not detailed enough here to total reliably, so check the largest positions on USCF Investments's fund page before assuming the spread is even.

Where a fund does not make its concentration easy to see, treat that as a reason to look rather than a reason to assume.

This is also the number that decides whether USO adds diversification to your portfolio rather than to a portfolio in the abstract. A fund can be well spread on its own and still concentrate you further, if its largest holdings are names you already own directly or through another fund. That is a question about your account rather than about USO, and it is the one worth answering before you buy.

A fund is defined as much by what it leaves out as by what it holds, and the exclusions are rarely on the marketing page. USO tracks Near-month WTI crude oil futures (benchmark oil futures price), so anything outside that index is simply absent from your portfolio no matter how much of the fund you own.

In practice that means checking three gaps. Whether the geography you want is covered, since a US index holds no international companies and a developed-markets index holds no emerging ones. Whether the size band you want is covered, because a large-cap index excludes the smaller companies some investors specifically want exposure to. And whether the asset class you want is covered at all, since an equity fund holds no bonds and gives you nothing to rebalance against in a drawdown.

None of these are faults. They are the fund doing exactly what it says. The mistake is assuming that owning a diversified fund means being diversified, when it means being diversified within one index.

Being specific about this is more useful than another paragraph on why it might be right.

• You already own most of it. If a broad-market fund you hold already contains CL, USD at meaningful weight, adding USO mostly increases your exposure to the same companies while adding a second fee. That is the single most common way people accidentally concentrate.
• You want the exposure for a short horizon. An index fund is a way to own an asset class over years. Over months it is simply the index, with all of the index's volatility and none of the compounding that makes holding it worthwhile.
• You need income you can rely on. Distributions from an equity index fund vary with what the underlying companies pay, so they are not a schedule you can plan around the way a bond ladder is.
• A cheaper fund tracks the same thing. Where two funds follow a similar index, the difference in expense ratio is one of the few advantages available to you without taking extra risk. Compare before assuming ~0.86% is competitive.

The useful question is rarely “will USO go up?” It is “does this exposure fit my plan, at a cost I am happy with, without doubling up on what I already own?” Walnut connects your real brokerage so you can see exactly how USO would overlap with your current holdings, analyze it by chatting through Claude or ChatGPT, and place any trade yourself. You stay in control.

The bottom line: USO is a low-cost core building block for Near-month WTI crude oil futures (benchmark oil futures price) exposure, not a tactical bet on a single name. If you want Near-month WTI crude oil futures (benchmark oil futures price) exposure and the ~0.86% fee is competitive for you, it does its job well. If you already own that exposure through another fund, adding it mostly doubles a fee without adding diversification. Decide from your goal and your existing holdings, not from where the market sat last week. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

• What is USO? (holdings, cost, performance, and the themes it covers)
• USO dividend: yield and schedule