I think that this fund will continue to rise in price for at least a while. It is all invested in one single asset, so when the price of oil drops, this will drop like a stone, though probably not as severely as a gold fund. It has dropped as low as $46, half its present value within the past 3 years. Yahoo Finance does not provide data as to exactly what companies USO is invested in. There is a difference in profits gained from oil pumped in the US and oil imported elsewhere and refined here, by the way, so knowing what this is invested in is of great importance. Get a prospectus and read it carefully, so you will have some idea of where your money is invested.
I know from a daytrader friend that USO has been a favorite of daytraders recently.
I prefer to invest in PRNEX and RYBIX, which are more diversified, because (1) being perhaps older than you, I have fewer years to recuperate from a severe loss (2) they seem to be managed in a more studious way and are diversified, and (3) they are not subject to the violent fluctuations that daytrading can cause.
On the plus side, if you invested enough, the rising price of gasoline might be a plus for you in the same way that it is a burden to most other people. I would watch this VERY CAREFULLY between October and January. People hate Big Oil and politicians, wishing to win their favor, say things that can give funds like this the heebie jeebies.
Observe what happens to USO when a major contender for public office mentions ANWAR, for example.
