Do ETF/ETNs invest directly in futures or forex, or do they just invest in stocks and bonds?

External question — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: huab Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/144496 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. Do ETF/ETNs invest directly in futures or forex? Or do they just invest in stocks and bonds?

External answer — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: Flux Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/a/144501 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. Currencies ETFs that track currency movements are called currency ETFs . The simplest currency ETFs hold their foreign currency in a bank account. Futures Many synthetic ETFs use futures to track the price of an underlying. This is common in commodities ETFs, especially for commodities that are difficult and/or expensive to store long-term. An example would be a crude oil ETF that holds NYMEX futures to track the price of crude oil.