Portfolio perspective: Investing in metals 2026

Looking at the state of the financial markets in January 2026, the investing landscape appears to have changed significantly. For the past 15 years, we have grown accustomed to portfolio returns being primarily driven by the stock markets, with a heavy emphasis on the technology sector.

Over the past year, however, physical commodities have taken center stage. Raw materials have emerged as one of the best-performing asset classes. For example, the price performance of the WisdomTree Enhanced Commodity ex-Agriculture (WXAG) ETF, which invests broadly in industrial raw materials, has left the S&P 500 index far behind over the last year.

Within the commodities sector, we have witnessed particularly strong rallies in the prices of various metals. There are several simultaneous drivers for this sharp rise in metal prices, such as:

Geopolitical instability
Inflation concerns
The electrification of society
AI infrastructure build-out

Together, these factors have created "a perfect storm" in the metals market, as many traditional raw materials are currently being completely repriced. In this article, we examine the current state of the commodity markets and explore which sectors are dominating investor discussions this year.

King of the Hill: Gold and Precious Metals

The first signs of the commodity boom were visible as early as the beginning of 2024. At that time, the price of gold rose to a new record, breaking through the $2,000 per ounce level that had acted as a ceiling for several years.

This raised some eyebrows among sharp-eyed investors. Gold's "break-out" occurred in the middle of a frantic, AI-driven bull market in stocks. Typically, gold is thought to act as a "safe haven" for investors amidst turbulence, and its rise to record highs while the stock market was in a state of near-euphoria did not seem quite typical.

As seen in the chart above, since the "break-out" two years ago, the price of gold has climbed at a breath-taking pace. In two years, it has more than doubled and is already approaching $5,000 per ounce.

Gold prices are being driven up by general geopolitical uncertainty, inflation fears, concerns regarding the independence of the U.S. Federal Reserve, massive central bank purchasing programs, and speculation fueled by strong price increases.

Primary risks to gold's price development would include geopolitical de-escalation, "hawkish" pivots by central banks, or a significant reduction in central bank gold purchases. Right now, there are no clear signs of any of these, which is why a continued rise in the price of gold appears to be the most likely scenario in the near future.

In other precious metals, we have seen even more dramatic price increases over the last year. For example, the price of silver has roughly tripled over the past year. In recent months, the price line of silver has turned almost vertical, approaching one hundred dollars per ounce.

The prices of platinum and palladium have also made massive gains over the past year.

However, it is worth reminding investors to be significantly more cautious with these smaller precious metals than when investing in gold. Smaller precious metals are considerably more volatile than gold and more susceptible to various speculative price swings.

Particularly the "parabolic" rising price curve of silver forces one to ask how sustainable such a rally can be. Silver has been a fantastic investment over the past year, but new market entrants should critically evaluate its future growth potential now that the price has already tripled in a short period.

The Challengers: Industrial Metals and Critical Rare Earths

If precious metals in 2026 represent safety and hedging against risk, industrial metals can be seen as the technological growth story of this decade. Industrial metals seem to be needed everywhere right now. They are needed by the AI revolution and its necessary infrastructure build-up, electric vehicles, the electrification of societies, and the defense industry.

At the same time, the availability of these metals and the reliability of supply chains face increasing uncertainties. When combined with the fact that developing mining operations and thereby increasing supply is notoriously slow, it is no wonder that the prices of industrial metals are in a steep climb.

This is also reflected in the price increases of the financial instruments that invest in them. For example, the price of the WisdomTree Industrial Metals (AIGI) ETF has risen by about twenty percent over the past year.

Notably, about half of this increase has occurred during December 2025 and January 2026 alone.

Investors wishing to delve deeper than a general sector ETF may want to explore ETFs focused on aluminum, copper, and nickel. In the accompanying chart, these are represented by WisdomTree Aluminium (ALUM), WisdomTree Copper (COPA), and WisdomTree Nickel (NICK).

An interesting sub-group of industrial metals is the so-called rare earth metals (e.g., neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium). These metals have vital applications in electronics and play a critical role in both electric vehicles and the defense industry.

While the primary challenge for industrial metals is the massive volume of demand and the slowness of scaling mining capacity, rare earths bring another variable to the table: geopolitical dependency. While copper is mined worldwide, the processing chains for rare earths are, in many places, to a startling degree concentrated in the hands of only a few players. This makes critical rare earths not only a technological necessity but also a focal point of global power play.

The price of the VanEck Rare Earth and Strategic Metals (VVMX) ETF, which provides exposure to critical rare earth price development, has risen by over 90 percent in the last year, and nearly 30 percent in the last three months alone.

How to Invest in Metals?

Metal prices have been in a steep climb over the past year, and no reversal is in sight. How should an interested investor approach these assets? First, it is good to realize that precious metals and industrial metals may play slightly different roles in a portfolio.

Investing in Precious Metals

Gold and other precious metals act primarily as a buffer against uncertainty and instability. They are likely to react positively to rising geopolitical concerns and inflation fears. Conversely, the easing of these concerns can cause prices to fall. For many, a sufficient way to gain exposure is to own a gold-focused ETF, such as WisdomTree Physical Gold (PHAU). Those wanting broader exposure can choose a thematic ETF like WisdomTree Physical Precious Metals (PHPM).A more advanced investor may additionally seek specific exposure through, for example, gold miners (such as the VanEck Gold Miners (G2X)) or ETFs focused on smaller precious metals (such as WisdomTree Physical Platinum (PHPT)). However, it is worth keeping in mind that these assets are significantly more volatile than gold itself, and their price development may be influenced by factors that are more difficult to predict than those affecting gold.

Investing in Industrial Metals

The price development of industrial metals is largely influenced by changes in industrial demand, often correlating with industrial activity. This is important to keep in mind if a portfolio already has overlapping exposure to the industrial sector through equities.

The simplest way to invest is the aforementioned WisdomTree Industrial Metals (AIGI). We consider the only drawback of the AIGI fund to be that it does not offer exposure to lithium, which is central to battery manufacturing. This can be supplemented with the Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF (LI7U), whose price has risen over 50 percent in the past year.

Investing in Rare Earths

For exposure to rare earth metals, the best option is likely the VanEck Rare Earth and Strategic Metals (VVMX). At the moment, there are not many ETF offerings for individual rare earth metals, and forming metal-specific views would require deep expertise in specific supply chains.

As a small but noteworthy detail, it is good to remember that while these ETFs offer effective exposure to the mentioned commodities, some allocate funds to companies producing or operating closely with the commodty. Therefore, it is theoretically possible for the ETF's performance to deviate significantly from the spot price of the commodity itself.

It should also be noted that many of the aforementioned funds use futures contracts for price exposure. Depending on the market situation, the price development of futures can deviate from the spot price of the raw material.

Summary

In this article, we took a look at the current landscape of investing in metals and offered some practical ways to get started.

2025 was the year of metals, and currently, everything indicates that 2026 is likely to continue the same theme. As the world order stands at a turning point, the investing world's attention is turning back to physical fundamentals. In our view, individual investors should seriously consider having some exposure to this megatrend.