The paper Commodities and commodity futures as diversifiers of the investment portfolio through a systematic review of the literature analyses the role of commodities and commodity futures as an alternative form of investment in the service of means of protection and portfolio diversification. Moving away from traditional forms of investment such as shares and bonds, the paper analyzes the effects of investing in commodities and commodity futures as diversifiers of investors' portfolios, i.e. as means of protection against price changes, inflation and negative effects of the business cycle, i.e. so that investors can earn additional returns. There is different evidence of their real advantages as an alternative form of investment, therefore the theoretical presentation is based on secondary data collected from numerous professional and scientific sources. The empirical analysis is based on historical data on price movements of selected traditional forms of investment and a comparison of portfolio returns and risks with and without commodity futures contracts. The aim of the empirical analysis is to answer the question of how and to what extent the inclusion of commodities and commodity futures in a traditional investment portfolio contributes to increasing returns and reducing portfolio risk. The analysis will compare portfolio A, which consists of stocks and indices, with portfolio B, which, in addition to traditional forms of investment from portfolio A, also contains investments in commodities, and portfolio C, which contains investments in commodity futures contracts as well as commodity indices by calculating arithmetic the middle of the price increase to compare returns and to calculate the standard deviation to compare risk. The topicality of the topic is reflected in the importance of portfolio diversification at the time of the global COVID-19 pandemic, high levels of inflation and the war in Ukraine. The aforementioned circumstances increase the volatility of prices on markets around the world and increase uncertainty, which is why the importance of diversifying an investor's portfolio becomes even more pronounced. In addition to the above, the connection between commodity futures price movements and traditional forms of investment is also analyzed, as well as long-term investment in commodity futures contracts. The expected contribution of the work is manifested in a better understanding of commodities and commodity futures contracts, as well as a better understanding of the possibilities it offers to investors as a means of protecting the investment portfolio in unpredictable circumstances.