Gold Miners ETF Stands Out

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Since its Nov. 11 debut, the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF(GDXJ Quote) has advanced nearly 7% and drawn significant investor interest.

Already, this addition to the gold ETF funds universe has an average daily trading volume of more than 2.8 million shares.

Its popular large-cap predecessor, the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF(GDX Quote), has a three-month average daily trading volume of 12.6 million shares.

GDXJ helps to provide investors exposure to junior gold miners with enormous potential for growth, while helping to minimize security-specific risk.

Because some of the companies in GDXJ's underlying portfolio companies have yet to generate material revenues and operate at a loss, trying to pick individual junior mining stocks can be like playing the lottery. GDXJ's portfolio includes 39 junior gold miners, reducing the impact that the failure of any single underlying component would have on the investment as a whole.

While the number of GDXJ's underlying components helps to temper the risk of this ETF, 46% of assets are dedicated to the fund's top 10 holdings. Investors and prospective investors should, therefore, familiarize themselves with GDXJ's top components. The performances of GDXJ's top five holdings, in particular, have a significant impact on the fund's trading.

The largest holding at 6.41% is Coeur d'Alene Mines(CDE Quote).

In addition to being a gold producer, Couer d'Alene is one of the world's largest silver companies. CDE currently has mines in Bolivia, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and a surface mine in Nevada. In addition to owning mining operations, CDE also has non-operating interests in several mines.