Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
OILK vs USO: Differences, Returns & Fees
OILK is a commodity fund and USO a commodity futures fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, USO returned +133.3% against +91.1%.
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Net assets on Oct 28, 2026: $258m for ProShares K-1 Free Crude Oil ETF and $1.9bn for United States Oil Fund, LP.
Pair scorecard
OILK costs 0.16 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 42.2 points; USO is 7.4 times larger.
| Measure | OILK | USO |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +91.1% | +133.3% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 82.3%, high on Jul 14, 2008 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Bloomberg Commodity Balanced WTI Crude Oil Index | Oil futures |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.70% | 0.86% |
| Net assets | $258m | $1.9bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
Risk and return
Oct 7, 2016 to Oct 23, 2026 · 524 weekly returnsUSO returned more: +87.0% to +66.7%. OILK swung less: 36.3% to 41.1%. OILK fell slightly less at its worst: −82.6% to −85.0%.
Full scorecard
9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | OILK | USO | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +66.7% | +87.0% | USO | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +5.2% | +6.4% | USO | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −42.7% | +87.0% | USO | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 36.3% | 41.1% | OILK | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 25.8% | 28.7% | OILK | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −82.6% | −85.0% | OILK (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.26 | 0.30 | USO | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.36 | 0.43 | USO | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Calmar | 0.06 | 0.08 | USO | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 524 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
OILK and USO on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
OILK and USO are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- What each follows. OILK follows Bloomberg Commodity Balanced WTI Crude Oil Index and USO follows Oil futures.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 OILK returned +91.1% and USO +133.3% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 42.2 points.
- Cost. OILK charges 0.70% of assets a year and USO 0.86%, a gap of 0.16 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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OILK
OILK tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +91.1% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.70% a year.
USO
USO holds oil futures. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +133.3% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.86% a year. It sat 82.3% below its high of Jul 14, 2008 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, OILK or USO?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, OILK returned +91.1% and USO +133.3%.
- Which is cheaper, OILK or USO?
- OILK is cheaper, by 0.16 percentage points a year. That is about $16 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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ETFIQ, OILK against USO, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/oilk-vs-uso
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). OILK against USO. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/oilk-vs-uso
[OILK against USO (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/oilk-vs-uso)
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