5 Best Currency ETFs to Buy Now

Main Street investors looking to enter the foreign currency investing market, or forex, should do so with eyes wide open, as currencies are one of the more complex markets. Even so, currencies are a good way to diversify individual portfolios once you’ve learned the basics and start learning sector trading intricacies.

Doing so could be worth the effort. The global forex market is on the rise and is expected to grow from $792 billion in 2024 to $1.1 trillion in 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.2% over that period, according to the Business Research Co. That growth is attributed to expanding forex exposure, with the sector’s tentacles reaching into profit centers like commodities, resource exports, risk management, international trade, monetary speculation and capital investment flows, among other key economic areas.

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When doing your due diligence as a currency investor, remember that forex markets are complex, making investing directly in currencies risky. That’s where currency exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, can help — primarily by balancing out some of that downside risk by spreading exposure over a broad basket of currencies.

“Currency ETFs give you a way to back a currency or a basket of currencies without the need to have a separate forex trading account, as you can buy and sell them via your stock brokerage account,” says Vince Stanzione, CEO and founder of First Information, a Monaco-based financial publishing firm. “Some ETFs also have traded options, which allow you to profit from up and down moves and only require the option premium to be paid, so you have more leverage.” Be forewarned, however, as currency ETFs can bring undue risk. Consider working with a trusted money manager with experience in the forex markets.

“Currencies are only for the most risk-savvy investors,” says David Maigret, senior portfolio manager at Thriving Asset Management in Palo Alto, California. “A currency ETF is full of derivatives and synthetic investments like options and futures that can leverage and expire worthless.”

As Maigret points out, currency funds also come with different regulatory issues than basic stock funds. “For example, who is auditing what is currently inside the currency ETF?” he says. “This all gets confusing fast.”

Assuming you get the financial advisory guidance you need, opening and investing in a currency ETF can add value to your portfolio. When you start kicking some tires on forex ETFs, ensure these funds are at the top of your list:

Currency ETF	Expense Ratio	TTM Yield*
Invesco DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund (ticker: UUP)	0.75%	4.8%
WisdomTree Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Bullish Fund (USDU)	0.50%	4.2%
Invesco CurrencyShares Euro Trust (FXE)	0.40%	1.5%
Invesco CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust (FXY)	0.40%	0%
Invesco CurrencyShares British Pound Sterling Trust (FXB)	0.40%	2.7%

*Trailing-12-month yield as of June 11.

Invesco DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund (UUP)

Total assets:

$199 million Expense ratio: 0.75%

This U.S. dollar-based ETF follows the dollar against six of the world’s most prominent currencies: the euro, the Japanese yen, the British pound, the Canadian dollar, the Swedish krona and the Swiss franc. Launched in 2007, the fund is designed to track the Deutsche Bank Long US Dollar Index (USDX) Futures Index.

As of June 11, UUP is down 7.2% in 2025 and down 1.2% over the past year. The fund’s 10-year annual return average is 2.2%, significantly lower than the S&P 500’s 10.8% average return over the same period.

The ETF holds a key Invesco fund that comprises 47.5% of its holdings as of June 10 — the Short-Term Investment Trust – Invesco Government & Agency Portfolio (AGPXX) — and U.S. Treasury bills make up about 22% of that particular fund.

The fund is defensive by nature and has become a go-to parking spot for investors skittish about the global tariff wars and mounting economic uncertainties. With the Federal Reserve not committing to interest rate cuts, the U.S. dollar should stand strong against international currencies, giving currency investors some relief against weaker overseas currencies.

WisdomTree Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Bullish Fund (USDU)

Total assets: $165 million Expense ratio: 0.5%

Rolled out in 2013, this WisdomTree actively managed currency ETF takes a more global currency stance, closely tracking the Bloomberg Dollar Total Return Index. That index attempts to “reflect the performance of both developed and emerging market currencies that have high liquidity in the currency markets and large trade flows against the U.S. dollar,” according to Bloomberg.

The fund is down 5.7% on a year-to-date basis but is up 3.9% over the past three years, while offering a 3.8% 30-day SEC yield. Investors who opt for UUP or USDU are betting on the strength and stability of the U.S. dollar, a robust American economy and geopolitical instability. The fund is designed to benefit when the U.S. dollar rises relative to a diversified basket of global currencies like the Chinese yuan, the Mexican peso and the South Korean won.

Like most top U.S.-based currency ETFs, USDU holds short-term U.S. Treasury bills, and it has a 4.3% portfolio position in the WisdomTree Floating Rate Treasury ETF (USFR). USDU has demonstrated some volatility since its inception, with NAV returns ranging from +7.9% in 2015 to -7.9% in 2017.

[Read: 7 Best ETFs to Buy Now.]

Invesco CurrencyShares Euro Trust (FXE)

Total assets: $551 million Expense ratio: 0.4%

One of the most appealing global currency ETFs from a fee point of view (with a low 0.4% management cost), the Invesco CurrencyShares Euro Trust tracks the euro price against the dollar. The fact that the fund tracks 19 EU countries gives the fund some robust built-in diversity. The fund also refrains from holding futures contracts, instead tracking the spot exchange rate.

has benefited from the eurozone largely sidestepping the U.S.-China tariff showdown. However, President Donald Trump changed that dynamic recently with the threat of 50% tariffs against European countries, which could lead to currency turmoil. The fund is up 10.2% for the year, vastly outperforming U.S.-dominated currency funds. Those ETFs typically prosper when the U.S. dollar stands strong, but with the dollar dropping by 9% year to date, as measured by the US Dollar Index (DXY), U.S. currency funds are largely in decline.

FXE has garnered most of its gains over the past year, when the fund returned 9.6%. Over the past 10 years, the fund is up only 0.3%. If European countries are forced into a protracted tariff battle with Uncle Sam, FXE could see less favorable conditions for the rest of 2025.

Invesco CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust (FXY)

Total assets: $856 million Expense ratio: 0.4%

The Invesco CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust, which aims to reflect the price in U.S. dollars of the Japanese yen, is on a roll of late,, returning 8.7% year to date and 8.4% over the past year. That’s a vast improvement for a fund that shed 10.9% in 2024, 7.4% in 2023, 12.8% in 2022 and 10.9% in 2021, in a period where the the Japanese government ardently pursued a near-zero-percent interest rate and a low-inflation economic policy that beat down yen performance.

The fund is now benefiting from rising Japanese government bond yields, which have triggered interest in Japan’s 20-, 30- and 40-year bonds, all of which experienced sharply rising yields in 2025. That scenario has led international investors to steer cash into Japanese bonds and away from the U.S. bond market, which has lifted FXY’s return performance.

If global investors continue to flee U.S. assets over tariff tumbles and a rate-skittish U.S. Federal Reserve, expect FXY to prosper further in 2025, a year that looks like the best for yen performance since 2010.

Invesco CurrencyShares British Pound Sterling Trust (FXB)

Total assets: $84.6 million Expense ratio: 0.4%

Up 9.4% year to date and 9.3% over the past year, the Invesco CurrencyShares British Pound Sterling Trust ETF is another non-U.S. fund making hay amidst tariff turmoil and economic uncertainty. That trend should continue, as major U.S. investment banks like JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs estimate a continuing slide for the U.S. dollar in 2025.

FXB follows the venerable British pound. Like the Japanese yen, the pound has rebounded from a tepid decade-long low performance period, leaving this fund with sizable losses in 2018 (-5.7%) and 2022 (-10.4%), but with three-year performance gains of 5.8% for the fund.

There’s legitimate concern among economists that the pound is buoyed not by firm U.K. public policy but by aggressive U.S. dollar sellers. That’s likely accurate, given that Britain’s stagnant manufacturing sector, high tax burden, low market liquidity and rising energy prices are plaguing the country’s ruling Labour party. Yet, if rising inflation leads the U.K. to boost interest rates, as expected, that could bolster the pound for the rest of 2025, making FXB a decent landing spot for safe-haven-seeking global currency investors.

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5 Best Currency ETFs to Buy Now originally appeared on usnews.com

Update 06/12/25: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.