USO - word of caution, or perhaps - Time to switch

As some of you who took my advice a while back may have noticed, USO (which was an ETF that I recommended that is supposed to track crude oil) hasn't done as well as crude over the past few months since I recommended it.

There are a number of potential reasons for this:
- Because it doesn't own crude but rather uses derivatives, contango / backwardation can occur. This could be a positive or a negative relative to the underlying asset.
- There are fees associated with the management of this ETF. This article indirectly suggests that it is the fees that's causing the underperformance. I find this one hard to believe, but I'm sure there are a lot of fees associated with this.
- USO tracks West Texas Intermediate (WTI). As the WSJ has recently pointed out, WTI has fallen relative to other crude indexes. One might speculate that this is because the quality of Texas crude has fallen. But for whatever reason, most oil companies aren't 100% leveraged by WTI - not even close.

Here's the article that does it for me. Contagon shouldn't keep going the same direction for a year.

In a nutshell, I'm getting out of USO little by little and moving into DKA, GLD and other instruments.

I hope none of yall are too pissed at me!