Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies) | 3 Months Ended |
Mar. 31, 2015 |
Accounting Policies [Abstract] | |
Basis of Presentation | (a) Basis of Presentation |
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The Fund has determined that it meets the definition of an investment company and has prepared the unaudited financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP for investment companies in conformity with accounting and reporting guidance of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification Topic 946—Investment Companies. |
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In August 2014, the FASB issued a new standard, Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-15 Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern, which will explicitly require management to assess an entity’s ability to continue as a going concern and to provide related footnote disclosure in certain circumstances. This new guidance is effective for all entities in the first annual reporting period ending after December 15, 2016. The Fund is currently evaluating this guidance and its impact on the Fund’s financial statement disclosures. |
Use of Estimates | (b) Use of Estimates |
The preparation of the financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, revenues and expenses and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities during the reporting period of the financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from those estimates. There were no significant estimates used in the preparation of these financial statements. |
Financial Instruments and Fair Value | (c) Financial Instruments and Fair Value |
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United States Treasury Obligations and commodity futures contracts are recorded in the statements of financial condition on a trade date basis at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in earnings in each period. U.S. GAAP defines fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date, under current market conditions. |
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U.S. GAAP establishes a hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs to valuation methods, giving the highest priority to readily available unadjusted quoted prices in an active market for identical assets (Level 1) and the lowest priority to significant unobservable inputs (Level 3), generally when market prices are not readily available or are unreliable. Based on the valuation inputs, the securities or other investments are tiered into one of three levels. Changes in valuation methods or market conditions may result in transfers in or out of an investment’s assigned level: |
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Level 1—Prices are determined using quoted prices in an active market for identical assets. |
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Level 2—Prices are determined using other significant observable inputs. Observable inputs are inputs that other market participants may use in pricing a security. These may include quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, yield curves, loss severities, default rates, discount rates, volatilities and others. |
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Level 3—Prices are determined using significant unobservable inputs. In situations where quoted prices or observable inputs are unavailable (for example, when there is little or no market activity for an investment at the end of the period), unobservable inputs may be used. Unobservable inputs reflect the Fund’s own assumptions about the factors market participants would use in determining fair value of the securities or instruments and would be based on the best available information. |
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The levels assigned to the securities valuations may not be an indication of the risk or liquidity associated with investing in those securities. Because of the inherent uncertainties of valuation, the values reflected in the financial statements may materially differ from the value received upon actual sale of those investments. |
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The following is a summary of the tiered valuation input levels as of March 31, 2015: |
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| | Level 1 | | | Level 2 | | | Level 3 | | | Total | | | | | | | | | |
United States Treasury Obligations | | $ | — | | | $ | 142,997,027 | | | $ | — | | | $ | 142,997,027 | | | | | | | | | |
Commodity Futures Contracts (a) | | $ | (543,992 | ) | | $ | — | | | $ | — | | | $ | (543,992 | ) | | | | | | | | |
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(a) | Unrealized appreciation (depreciation). | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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The Fund’s policy is to recognize transfers in and out of the valuation levels as of the end of the reporting period. Effective on the Closing Date, the Fund revised certain policies with respect to level classification. As a result, United States Treasury Obligations were transferred from Level 1 to Level 2. |
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The following is a summary of the tiered valuation input levels as of December 31, 2014: |
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| | Level 1 | | | Level 2 | | | Level 3 | | | Total | | | | | | | | | |
United States Treasury Obligations | | $ | 149,996,759 | | | $ | — | | | $ | — | | | $ | 149,996,759 | | | | | | | | | |
Commodity Futures Contracts (a) | | $ | (8,526,360 | ) | | $ | — | | | $ | — | | | $ | (8,526,360 | ) | | | | | | | | |
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(a) | Unrealized appreciation (depreciation). | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Deposits with Commodity Broker | (d) Deposits with Commodity Broker |
The Fund deposits cash and United States Treasury Obligations with its Commodity Broker subject to CFTC regulations and various exchange and broker requirements. The combination of the Fund’s deposits with its Commodity Broker of cash and United States Treasury Obligations and the unrealized profit or loss on open commodity futures contracts (variation margin) represents the Fund’s overall equity in its broker trading account. To meet the Fund’s initial margin requirements, the Fund holds United States Treasury Obligations. The Fund uses its cash held by the Commodity Broker to satisfy variation margin requirements. The Fund earns interest on its cash deposited with the Commodity Broker. |
Deposits with Custodian | (e) Deposits with Custodian |
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The combination of the Fund’s deposits with its Custodian of cash and United States Treasury Obligations represents the Fund’s overall assets held with its Custodian. |
United States Treasury Obligations | (f) United States Treasury Obligations |
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The Fund records purchases and sales of United States Treasury Obligations on a trade date basis. These holdings are marked to market based on quoted market closing prices. The Fund holds United States Treasury Obligations for deposit with the Fund’s Commodity Broker to meet margin requirements and for trading purposes. Interest income is recognized on an accrual basis when earned. Premiums and discounts are amortized or accreted in interest income over the life of the United States Treasury Obligations. The Fund purchased $7,000,000 face amount of United States Treasury Obligations valued at $6,999,513 which was recorded as payable for securities purchased as of March 31, 2015. The Fund purchased $19,000,000 face amount of United States Treasury Obligations valued at $18,998,337 which was recorded as payable for securities purchased as of December 31, 2014. The Fund sold $8,000,000 face amount of United States Treasury Obligations valued at $7,999,987 which was recorded as receivable for securities sold as of December 31, 2014. |
Cash Held by Commodity Broker | (g) Cash Held by Commodity Broker |
The Fund’s arrangement with the Commodity Broker requires the Fund to meet its variation margin requirement related to the price movements, both positive and negative, on commodity futures contracts held by the Fund by keeping cash on deposit with the Commodity Broker. The Fund assesses its variation margin requirements on a daily basis and additional cash required to satisfy the variation margin required is transferred from the Custodian to the Commodity Broker at the close of business each day. Effective February 24, 2015, only the current day’s variation margin receivable or payable is disclosed as an asset or liability on the Statement of Financial Condition. The Fund defines cash and cash equivalents to be highly liquid investments, with original maturities of three months or less when purchased. As of December 31, 2014, the Fund had cash held with the Predecessor Commodity Broker, of $10,651,900, which was on deposit to satisfy the Fund’s variation margin requirement on open futures contracts. There was no cash held by the Commodity Broker as of March 31, 2015. There were no cash equivalents held by the Fund as of March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014. |
Receivable/(Payable) for Shares Issued and Redeemed | (h) Receivable/(Payable) for Shares Issued and Redeemed |
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On any business day, an Authorized Participant may place an order to create or redeem Shares of the Fund. Cash settlement occurs at the creation order settlement date or the redemption order settlement date as discussed in Note 7. As of December 31, 2014, the Fund had a receivable for Shares issued of $7,999,987 and a payable for Shares redeemed of $7,834,782. |
Income Taxes | (i) Income Taxes |
The Fund is classified as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Accordingly, the Fund will not incur U.S. federal income taxes. No provision for federal, state, and local income taxes has been made in the accompanying financial statements, as investors are individually liable for income taxes, if any, on their allocable share of the Fund’s income, gain, loss, deductions and other items. |
The Managing Owner has reviewed all of the Fund’s open tax years and major jurisdictions and concluded that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits relating to uncertain income tax positions taken or expected to be taken in future tax returns. The Fund is also not aware of any tax positions for which it is reasonably possible that the total amounts of unrecognized tax benefits will significantly change in the next twelve months. On an ongoing basis, the Managing Owner will monitor the Fund’s tax positions taken under the interpretation (and consult with its tax counsel from time to time when appropriate) to determine if adjustments to conclusions are necessary based on factoring including, but not limited to, on-going analysis of tax law, regulation, and interpretations thereof. The major tax jurisdiction for the Fund and the earliest tax year subject to examination: United States, 2011. |
Futures Contracts | (j) Futures Contracts |
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All commodity futures contracts are held and used for trading purposes. Commodity futures contracts are recorded on trade date. Open contracts are recorded in the statement of financial condition at fair value on trade date and on each successive date as well as on the last business day of each of the periods presented, which represent market value for those commodity futures contracts for which market quotes are readily available. However, when market closing prices are not available, the Managing Owner may value an asset of the Fund pursuant to policies the Managing Owner has adopted, which are consistent with normal industry standards. Realized gains (losses) and changes in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on open positions are determined on a specific identification basis and recognized in the statement of income and expenses in the period in which the contract is closed or the changes occur, respectively. |
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The Value of Derivative Instruments is as follows: |
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| | March 31, 2015 | | | December 31, 2014 | | | | | | | | | |
Risk Exposure/Derivative Type | | Assets | | | Liabilities | | | Assets | | | Liabilities | | | | | | | | | |
Commodity risk | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Commodity Futures Contracts | | $ | — | | | $ | (543,992 | )(a) | | $ | — | | | $ | (8,526,360 | )(b) | | | | | | | | |
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(a) | Includes cumulative appreciation (depreciation) of commodity futures contracts. Only current day’s variation margin receivable (payable) is reported in the March 31, 2015 Statement of Financial Condition. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
(b) | Values are disclosed on the December 31, 2014 Statement of Financial Condition under Net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on commodity futures contracts. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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The Effect of Derivative Instruments on the Statements of Income and Expenses is as follows: |
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Risk Exposure/Derivative Type | | Location of Gain or (Loss) on Derivatives | | For the Three Months Ended | | | For the Three Months Ended | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Recognized in Income | March 31, 2015 | March 31, 2014 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Commodity risk | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Commodity Futures Contracts | | Net Realized Gain (Loss) | | $ | (11,690,959 | ) | | $ | 10,684,680 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Net Change in Unrealized Gain (Loss) | | | 7,982,368 | | | | (1,404,700 | ) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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Total | | | | $ | (3,708,591 | ) | | $ | 9,279,980 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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The brokerage agreement with the Commodity Broker provides for the net settlement of all financial instruments covered by the agreement in the event of default or termination of any one contract. The Managing Owner will utilize the cash held at the Commodity Broker to offset any realized losses incurred in the commodity futures contracts, if available. To the extent that cash held at the Commodity Broker is not adequate to cover any realized losses, a portion of the United States Treasury Obligations will be sold to make additional cash available. The table below summarizes the average monthly notional value of commodity futures contracts outstanding during the period: |
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| | Commodity Futures Contracts | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Three Months | | | Three Months | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Ended | Ended | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
March 31, 2015 | March 31, 2014 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Average Notional Value | | $ | 161,289,980 | | | $ | 159,308,955 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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The Fund utilizes derivative instruments to achieve its investment objective. For financial reporting purposes, the Fund offsets financial assets and financial liabilities that are subject to netting arrangements. In order for an arrangement to be eligible for netting, the Fund must have a basis to conclude that such netting arrangements are legally enforceable. The following table presents derivative instruments that are either subject to an enforceable netting agreement or offset by collateral arrangements as of March 31, 2015, net by contract: |
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| | | | | | | | | | | Gross Amounts Not Offset in the | | | | |
Statement of Financial Condition |
| | Gross Amounts | | | Gross Amounts | | | Net Amounts | | | Financial | | | Cash Collateral | | | Net Amount | |
Recognized(a) | Offset in the | Presented in | Instruments(b) | Pledged(b) |
| Statement of | the Statement of | | |
| Financial Condition | Financial Condition | | |
Liabilities | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Commodity Futures Contracts | | $ | (543,992 | ) | | $ | — | | | $ | (543,992 | ) | | $ | 543,992 | | | $ | — | | | $ | — | |
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The following table presents derivative instruments that are either subject to an enforceable netting agreement or offset by collateral arrangements as of December 31, 2014, net by contract: |
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| | | | | | | | | | | Gross Amounts Not Offset in the | |
Statement of Financial Condition |
| | Gross | | | Gross Amounts | | | Net Amounts | | | Financial | | | Cash Collateral | | | Net | |
Amounts | Offset in the | Presented in | Instruments(b) | Pledged(b) | Amount |
Recognized(a) | Statement of | the Statement of | | | |
| Financial Condition | Financial Condition | | | |
Liabilities | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Commodity Futures Contracts | | $ | (8,526,360 | ) | | $ | — | | | $ | (8,526,360 | ) | | $ | — | | | $ | 8,526,360 | | | $ | — | |
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(a) | Includes cumulative appreciation (depreciation) of futures contracts. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
(b) | As of March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, a portion of the Fund’s cash and US Treasury Obligations were required to be deposited as margin in support of the Fund’s futures positions as described in Note 3. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Brokerage Commissions and Fees | (k) Brokerage Commissions and Fees |
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The Fund incurs all brokerage commissions, including applicable exchange fees, National Futures Association (“NFA”) fees, give-up fees, pit brokerage fees and other transaction related fees and expenses charged in connection with trading activities by the Commodity Broker. These costs are recorded as brokerage commissions and fees in the statement of income and expenses as incurred. The Commodity Broker’s brokerage commissions and trading fees are determined on a contract-by-contract basis. On average, total charges paid to the Commodity Broker and the Predecessor Commodity Broker, as applicable, were less than $6.00 and $10.00 per round-turn trade for the Three Months Ended March 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. |
Routine Operational, Administrative and Other Ordinary Expenses | (l) Routine Operational, Administrative and Other Ordinary Expenses |
The Managing Owner assumes all routine operational, administrative and other ordinary expenses of the Fund, including, but not limited to, computer services, the fees and expenses of the Trustee, legal and accounting fees and expenses, tax preparation expenses, filing fees and printing, mailing and duplication costs. Prior to the Closing Date, the Predecessor Managing Owner assumed all routine operational, administrative and other ordinary expenses of the Fund. Accordingly, all such expenses are not reflected in the statement of income and expenses of the Fund. |
Organizational and Offering Costs | (m) Organizational and Offering Costs |
All organizational and offering expenses (including continuous offering expenses for the offering of the Shares) incurred by the Fund were assumed by either the Predecessor Managing Owner or the Managing Owner. The Fund is not responsible to either the Predecessor Managing Owner or the Managing Owner for the reimbursement of organizational and offering costs (including continuous offering expenses for the offering of the Shares). |
Non-Recurring Fees and Expenses | (n) Non-Recurring Fees and Expenses |
The Fund pays all non-recurring and unusual fees and expenses (referred to as extraordinary fees and expenses in the Trust Declaration), if any, of itself, as determined by the Managing Owner. Non-recurring and unusual fees and expenses are fees and expenses which are non-recurring and unusual in nature, such as legal claims and liabilities, litigation costs or indemnification or other unanticipated expenses. Such non-recurring and unusual fees and expenses, by their nature, are unpredictable in terms of timing and amount. For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2015 and 2014, the Fund did not incur such expenses. |