4 Best Nickel ETFs for 2026 and How to Invest

Benefits and risks of investing in nickel ETFs

Gaining exposure to this base metal through a nickel ETF may excite some, but investors must familiarize themselves with the benefits and risks before diving in.

Benefits

• Nickel is used in stainless steel and other alloys, so nickel ETFs can provide exposure to a range of industries — energy, transportation, and aerospace, to name a few.
• Nickel ETFs may help investors diversify their portfolios.
• The U.S. Geological Survey lists nickel on its 2025 Draft List of Critical Minerals, so government policies should support its production.
• A nickel ETF helps investors mitigate the risk of investing in an individual mining stock.
• The nickel market is projected to grow steadily over the next decade. According to Grand View Research, the global nickel-mining market size was estimated at $90.6 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow at a 2% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2033, when it’s forecast to reach $105.8 billion.

Risks

• Nickel prices can be volatile, so a downturn can cause nickel ETFs to decline in value.
• Companies that are constituents of nickel ETFs may choose to reduce their nickel operations, potentially lowering their exposure to the base metal.
• There aren’t many nickel ETFs that provide singular exposure to the metal, which means investors will likely have exposure to other commodities.

Methodology: How these ETFs were chosen

Among the numerous routes investors can take to gain nickel industry exposure, these ETFs offer the best opportunities for several reasons. For one, the ETFs discussed here include many nickel industry leaders, ranging from companies that mine nickel to those that make steel.

Another feature of these ETFs is that they don’t have exorbitant management fees. Instead, they have reasonable expense ratios that won’t significantly eat into the gains investors may realize from nickel ETF investments.

Should you invest in nickel ETFs?

For investors looking to introduce nickel production and potential growth in the metal mining industry to their portfolio, a nickel ETF can help provide diversification. However, this diversification is only at the industry level and provides limited safety from individual company stocks going haywire and upending overall investment performance.

Bear in mind that nickel prices and mining in general can be volatile. A nickel ETF should be paired with a diversified portfolio of investments across other industries and investment classes to achieve true portfolio diversification.

Nevertheless, nickel is a promising investment theme that’s worth some research. With top technologies heavily relying on this elemental metal, it could provide healthy returns over the next decade.