How long should you hold on to USO?

Compared to SP500 component stocks for the past 2 years. We compute the median gain for each of the SP500 stocks, as well as USO. Purple dots are the median of the gain median for holding those SP500 stocks. Light purple area indicates the 25% to 75% of the SP500 stock gain median. Deep purple area covers the 10% to 90% of the SP500 stock gain median.

Last updated 2026-08-22T23:40:17.256541+00:00.

Ownership Length	Average Gain & Rank	Median Gain & Rank	Standard Deviation	Steady Growth Score*
One Single Day	+0.15% #116	+0.09% #226	2.59 #382	+0.06 #175
One Week	+0.72% #117	+0.41% #197	5.90 #401	+0.12 #179
One Month	+3.35% #115	+0.91% #278	13.06 #431	+0.26 #201
3 Months	+10.39% #106	+1.68% #293	28.10 #471	+0.37 #233
6 Months	+19.33% #113	+2.93% #308	34.22 #465	+0.56 #248
One Year	+19.29% #197	+1.98% #327	36.36 #445	+0.53 #280

*Steady Growth Score (SGS) measures the consistency of the gain over the specific ownership length. To consistently grow, the stock needs to have both high average gain and low gain deviation. SGS is then defined as the average gain divided by the standard deviation of the gain.