Market Intelligence
Which commodities are cheap, and which are running hot? This monitor tracks the trailing three-year return of 16 major commodities — from gold and silver to oil, uranium, and the grains. When one falls more than 50%, it lands on our bargain radar.
3-Year Commodity Returns
Trailing total return by commodity — sorted cheapest to hottest
Cheapest (3-yr)
Biggest gainer
On the bargain radar
Bars turn gold when a commodity is down more than 50% over three years.
What the Commodity Bargain Monitor shows
Each bar is a commodity’s total price return over the past three years, measured from spot and futures prices — not mining-company ETFs, so the numbers reflect the commodity itself. They’re sorted from the deepest losers at the top to the biggest winners at the bottom.
The idea is simple. Resource markets are brutally cyclical: prices overshoot on the way up and collapse on the way down. The best entry points show up precisely when an asset is hated, ignored, and deeply discounted — so a commodity that’s fallen more than 50% over three years earns a spot on the bargain radar and turns gold on the chart.
How to read it
Green bars are commodities up over three years; red bars are down; gold bars are down more than 50% — the bargain zone. Right now nothing sits in that zone, which tells its own story: after a strong run across metals and softs, there are fewer obvious bargains than there were a couple of years ago. That’s exactly when patience matters most.
- Spot & futures prices — the commodity itself, not miner stocks.
- 16 commodities across precious & base metals, energy, uranium, and agriculture.
- Down more than 50% over three years = a bargain-radar candidate.
Frequently asked questions
Which commodities are the cheapest right now?
The chart above ranks all 16 live, cheapest first. As of mid-2026 the grains and softs sit at the bottom — sugar, soybeans and corn have posted the weakest three-year returns — while none is down more than 50%, so nothing is on the bargain radar today.
Are commodities cheap or expensive right now?
It’s a split market. As of mid-2026 the metals have already run hard — silver is up ~169% and gold ~115% over three years — while the softs lag, with sugar down ~36%. Nothing is down more than 50%, the threshold that historically marks deep-bargain territory, so patience matters more than chasing.
What is the best-performing commodity of the last 3 years?
Silver, up roughly 169% over the trailing three years as of mid-2026, with gold next at about 115% — both rankings update live in the monitor above.
Why are commodity prices so cyclical?
Supply is slow to build and slow to shut down, while demand swings with the economy. That mismatch produces long boom-and-bust cycles — the core of resource-market investing.
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Disclaimer. For informational purposes only and not investment advice or a recommendation. Returns are computed from third-party spot and futures price data and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. Always do your own research.
