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Summary Information

Investment Objectives

The First Trust Income Opportunities ETF (formerly First Trust CEF Income Opportunity ETF) (the "Fund") seeks to provide current income with a secondary emphasis on total return.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.

Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)

Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)

None

Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Management Fees	0.85%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees	0.00%
Other Expenses	0.00%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	1.61%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	2.46%

Example

The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.

The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
$249	$767	$1,311	$2,796

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 8% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the Fund seeks to achieve its investment objectives by investing in a portfolio of closed-end investment companies ("closed-end funds") and exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") that are listed and traded in the United States on registered exchanges. Closed-end funds and ETFs are managed registered investment companies which invest in various types of securities. Both closed-end funds and ETFs trade on a securities exchange and their shares may, at times, trade at a premium or discount to their net asset value. As a shareholder in a pooled investment vehicle, the Fund will bear its ratable share of an underlying fund's expenses and would remain subject to payment of the underlying fund’s advisory and administrative fees with respect to assets so invested.

In selecting the closed-end funds and ETFs for the Fund’s portfolio, the Fund’s investment advisor utilizes a range of investment approaches. The Fund’s investment advisor generally takes a systemic approach to investing, including the utilization of a proprietary model that identifies, sorts and scores closed-end funds and ETFs based upon various market metrics and economic factors, including, but not limited to, fund size, duration, leverage ratio, average maturity, earnings rate, undistributed net investment income, distribution rate, premium or discount, net asset value and share price returns, sponsor and distribution policies. The specific metrics and factors considered depend upon the investment advisor’s current economic outlook and

will vary from time to time, as will the importance assigned to each factor in the scoring and weighting process. The model delivers a universe of possible investments, from which the investment advisor, after performing further issuer-specific research and analysis to determine the best fits for the Fund’s investment objective, selects a final portfolio for the Fund.

The Fund may hold closed-end funds and/or ETFs that invest in U.S. and non-U.S. equity securities, U.S. and non-U.S. government debt securities, corporate debt securities, municipal securities, commodities, preferred securities, convertible securities, high yield securities (also known as “junk bonds”), master limited partnerships ("MLPs"), real estate investment trusts ("REITs"), asset-backed securities, bank loans, covenant-lite loans, custodial receipts, derivatives, distressed securities, floating rate securities, inverse floaters, mortgage-related securities, pre-refunded bonds, private activity bonds, companies with various market capitalizations, zero coupon bonds and senior loans. The Fund may also invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that utilize leverage.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX RISK. Although the interest received from municipal securities is generally exempt from federal income tax, the Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold municipal securities subject to the federal alternative minimum tax. Accordingly, investment in the Fund could cause shareholders to be subject to the federal alternative minimum tax.

AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount (the difference between the market price of the Fund's shares and the Fund's net asset value) and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread (the difference between the the price that someone is willing to pay for shares of the Fund at a specific point in time versus the price at which someone is willing to sell) on the Fund’s shares may widen.

BANK LOANS RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold bank loans. Investments in bank loans are subject to the same risks as investments in other types of debt securities, including credit risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk and valuation risk that may be heightened because of the limited public information available regarding bank loans and because loan borrowers may be leveraged and tend to be more adversely affected by changes in market or economic conditions. If an underlying fund holds a bank loan through another financial institution or relies on a financial institution to administer the loan, its receipt of principal and interest on the loan may be subject to the credit risk of that financial institution. It is possible that any collateral securing a loan may be insufficient or unavailable to the underlying fund, particularly for second lien loans or other junior or subordinated loans held by the Fund. The underlying fund’s rights to collateral also may be limited by bankruptcy or insolvency laws. Additionally, there is no central clearinghouse for loan trades and the loan market has not established enforceable settlement standards or remedies for failure to settle. As such, the secondary market for bank loans may be subject to irregular trading activity, wide bid/ask spreads and extended trade settlement periods (in some cases longer than 7 days) which may cause the underlying fund to be unable to realize the full value of its investment. In addition, bank loans are generally not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be considered “securities,” and an underlying fund may not be entitled to rely on the anti-fraud protections of the federal securities laws.

CALL RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold debt securities. Some debt securities may be redeemed, or “called,” at the option of the issuer before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. An underlying fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. An underlying fund would then be forced to invest the proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the fund’s income.

CASH TRANSACTIONS RISK. The Fund may effect some or all of its creations and redemptions for cash rather than in-kind. As a result, an investment in the Fund may be less tax-efficient than an investment in an ETF that effects all of its creations and redemptions in-kind. Because the Fund may effect redemptions for cash, it may be required to sell portfolio securities in order to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. A sale of portfolio securities may result in capital gains or losses and may also result in higher brokerage costs.

CLOSED-END FUNDS RISK. Shares of closed-end funds trade on exchanges at market prices rather than net asset value and cannot be redeemed on demand. Accordingly, closed-end fund shares may trade at a price greater than net asset value (premium) or less than net asset value (discount). There can be no assurance that a discount on shares of closed-end funds purchased by the Fund will not decrease or that when the Fund seeks to sell shares of a closed-end fund it can receive the net asset value for those shares. As a shareholder in a closed-end fund, the Fund bears its ratable share of the fund’s expenses, subjecting Fund shareholders to additional expenses. Additionally, closed-end funds may utilize leverage. As a result, the Fund may be exposed indirectly to leverage through an investment in such securities.

COMMODITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that have exposure to commodities. Commodity prices can have significant volatility, and exposure to commodities can cause the value of an underlying fund’s shares to decline or fluctuate in a rapid and unpredictable manner. The values of physical commodities may be affected by changes in overall market movements, real or perceived inflationary trends, commodity index volatility, changes in interest rates or currency exchange rates, population growth and changing demographics, international economic, political and regulatory developments, and factors affecting a particular region, industry or commodity, such as drought, floods, or other weather conditions, livestock disease, changes in storage costs, trade embargoes, competition from substitute products, transportation bottlenecks or shortages, fluctuations in supply and demand, and tariffs. The commodity markets are subject to temporary distortions or other disruptions due to, among other factors, lack of liquidity, the participation of speculators, and government regulation and other actions.

CONVERTIBLE SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold convertible securities. A convertible security has characteristics of both equity and debt securities and, as a result, is exposed to risks that are typically associated with both types of securities. The value of convertible securities may rise and fall with the market value of the underlying stock or, like a debt security, vary with changes in interest rates and the credit quality of the issuer. A convertible security tends to perform more like a stock when the underlying stock price is high relative to the conversion price and more like a debt security when the underlying stock price is low relative to the conversion price.

COUNTERPARTY RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that are subject to counterparty risk. Underlying fund transactions involving a counterparty are subject to the risk that the counterparty will not fulfill its obligation to the underlying fund. Counterparty risk may arise because of the counterparty’s financial condition (i.e., financial difficulties, bankruptcy, or insolvency), market activities and developments, or other reasons, whether foreseen or not. A counterparty’s inability to fulfill its obligation may result in significant financial loss to an underlying fund. An underlying fund may be unable to recover its investment from the counterparty or may obtain a limited recovery, and/or recovery may be delayed.

COVENANT-LITE LOANS RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold covenant-lite loans. Covenant-lite loans contain fewer maintenance covenants than traditional loans, or no maintenance covenants at all, and may not include terms that allow the lender to monitor the financial performance of the borrower and declare a default if certain criteria are breached. This may hinder an underlying fund’s ability to reprice credit risk associated with the borrower and reduce the fund’s ability to restructure a problematic loan and mitigate potential loss. As a result, an underlying fund’s exposure to losses on such investments is increased, especially during a downturn in the credit cycle.

and interest payments on underlying municipal obligations. Custodial receipt trusts may also issue inverse floater securities. If an underlying fund was to hold inverse floaters issued by custodial receipt trusts, the fund would be subject to the risks of inverse floaters described herein. In particular, because the instruments may be leveraged, their market values may be more volatile than other types of debt securities.

DEBT SECURITIES RISK. The Fund invests in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold debt securities. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by an underlying fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock.

DERIVATIVES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that utilize derivative instruments. The use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. These risks include: (i) the risk that the counterparty to a derivative transaction may not fulfill its contractual obligations; (ii) risk of mispricing or improper valuation; and (iii) the risk that changes in the value of the derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset. Derivative prices are highly volatile and may fluctuate substantially during a short period of time. Such prices are influenced by numerous factors that affect the markets, including, but not limited to: changing supply and demand relationships; government programs and policies; national and international political and economic events, changes in interest rates, inflation and deflation and changes in supply and demand relationships. Trading derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities. Derivative contracts ordinarily have leverage inherent in their terms. The low margin deposits normally required in trading derivatives, including futures contracts, permit a high degree of leverage. Accordingly, a relatively small price movement may result in an immediate and substantial loss. The use of leverage may also cause an underlying fund to liquidate portfolio positions when it would not be advantageous to do so in order to satisfy its obligations or to meet collateral segregation requirements. The use of leveraged derivatives can magnify potential for gain or loss and, therefore, amplify the effects of market volatility on share price.

DISTRESSED SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold distressed debt securities. Distressed debt securities are speculative and involve substantial risks in addition to the risks of investing in high-yield securities that are not in default. In some instances, an underlying fund will not receive interest payments from the distressed securities it holds, and there is a substantial risk that the principal will not be repaid. In any reorganization or liquidation proceeding related to a distressed debt security, an underlying fund may lose its entire investment in the security.

DIVIDENDS RISK. The Fund invests in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold dividend-paying securities. An underlying fund’s investment in dividend-paying securities could cause the fund to underperform similar funds that invest without consideration of an issuer’s track record of paying dividends. Companies that issue dividend-paying securities are not required to continue to pay dividends on such securities. Therefore, there is the possibility that such companies could reduce or eliminate the payment of dividends in the future.

prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.

ETF RISK. The Fund’s investment in shares of ETFs subjects it to the risks of owning the securities underlying the ETF, as well as the same structural risks faced by an investor purchasing shares of the Fund, including authorized participant concentration risk, market maker risk, premium/discount risk and trading issues risk. As a shareholder in another ETF, the Fund bears its proportionate share of the ETF’s expenses, subjecting Fund shareholders to duplicative expenses.

FLOATING RATE SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold floating rate securities. Floating rate securities are structured so that the security’s coupon rate fluctuates based upon the level of a reference rate. As a result, the coupon on floating rate securities will generally decline in a falling interest rate environment, causing an underlying fund to experience a reduction in the income it receives from the security. A floating rate security’s coupon rate resets periodically according to the terms of the security. Consequently, in a rising interest rate environment, floating rate securities with coupon rates that reset infrequently may lag behind the changes in market interest rates. Floating rate securities may also contain terms that impose a maximum coupon rate the issuer will pay, regardless of the level of the reference rate which would decrease the value of the security.

HIGH YIELD SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold high yield securities. High yield securities, or “junk” bonds, are subject to greater market fluctuations, are less liquid and provide a greater risk of loss than investment grade securities, and therefore, are considered to be highly speculative. In general, high yield securities may have a greater risk of default than other types of securities and could cause income and principal losses for an underlying fund.

INCOME RISK. The Fund invests in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold debt securities. An underlying fund’s income may decline when interest rates fall or if there are defaults in its portfolio. This decline can occur because an underlying fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding securities as debt securities in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, or the fund otherwise needs to purchase additional debt securities.

INTEREST RATE RISK. The Fund invests in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold debt securities. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt securities in an underlying fund’s portfolio will decline because of rising market interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt securities and higher for longer-term debt securities. An underlying fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates and a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. In general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. For example, the price of a debt security with a three-year duration would be expected to drop by approximately 3% in response to a 1% increase in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt security changes over time, so will its duration.

INVERSE FLOATERS RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold inverse floaters. Inverse floaters are a type of debt instrument that has a coupon rate that varies inversely with a benchmark interest rate. The use of inverse floaters by an underlying fund creates effective leverage. Due to the leveraged nature of these investments, they will typically

be more volatile and involve greater risk than the fixed rate municipal bonds underlying the inverse floaters. An investment in certain inverse floaters will involve the risk that an underlying fund could lose more than its original principal investment. Distributions on inverse floaters bear an inverse relationship to short-term municipal bond interest rates. Thus, distributions paid to an underlying fund on its inverse floaters will be reduced or even eliminated as short-term municipal bond interest rates rise and will increase when short-term municipal bond interest rates fall. Inverse floaters generally will underperform the market for fixed rate municipal bonds in a rising interest rate environment.

INVESTMENT RESTRICTION RISK. The Fund’s investment in other investment companies is restricted by federal securities laws which limit the size of the position the Fund can take in another investment company. These limitations may prevent the Fund from purchasing shares of an investment company that it may have otherwise purchased pursuant to its principal investment strategy.

LARGE CAPITALIZATION COMPANIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold the securities of large capitalization companies. Large capitalization companies may grow at a slower rate and be less able to adapt to changing market conditions than smaller capitalization companies. Thus, the return on investment in securities of large capitalization companies may be less than the return on investment in securities of small and/or mid capitalization companies. The performance of large capitalization companies also tends to trail the overall market during different market cycles.

LEVERAGE RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that utilize leverage. Leverage may result in losses that exceed the amount originally invested and may accelerate the rates of losses. Leverage tends to magnify, sometimes significantly, the effect of any increase or decrease in an underlying fund’s exposure to an asset or class of assets and may cause the value of the fund’s shares to be volatile and sensitive to market swings.

LIBOR TRANSITION RISK. The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), which regulates LIBOR, intends to cease making LIBOR available as a reference rate over a phase-out period that is currently expected to begin after the end of 2021. However, subsequent announcements by the FCA, the LIBOR administrators, and other regulators indicate that it is possible that the most widely used LIBOR rates may continue until mid-2023. The unavailability or replacement of LIBOR may affect the value, liquidity or return on certain underlying fund investments and may result in costs incurred in connection with closing out positions and entering into new trades. Any potential effects of the transition away from LIBOR on the Fund or on certain instruments in which the Fund invests can be difficult to ascertain, and they may vary depending on a variety of factors. In the United States, it is anticipated that in many instances the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) will replace LIBOR as the reference rate for many of the floating rate instruments held by the underlying funds. There is no assurance that the composition or characteristics of SOFR, or any alternative reference rate, will be similar to or produce the same value or economic equivalence as LIBOR or that instruments using an alternative rate will have the same volume or liquidity. As a result, the transition process might lead to increased volatility and reduced liquidity in markets that currently rely on LIBOR to determine interest rates; a reduction in the value of some LIBOR-based investments; increased difficulty in borrowing or refinancing and diminished effectiveness of any applicable hedging strategies against instruments whose terms currently include LIBOR; and/or costs incurred in connection with temporary borrowings and closing out positions and entering into new agreements. Any such effects (as well as other unforeseen effects) of the transition away from LIBOR and the adoption of alternative reference rates could result in losses to the Fund.

LIQUIDITY RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs with investments that may be subject to restrictions on resale, trade over-the-counter or in limited volume, or lack an active trading market. Accordingly, an underlying fund may not be able to sell or close out of such investments at favorable times or prices (or at all), or at the prices approximating those at which the fund currently values them. Illiquid securities may trade at a discount from comparable, more liquid investments and may be subject to wide fluctuations in market value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.

MANAGEMENT RISK. The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed portfolio. In managing the Fund’s investment portfolio, the portfolio managers will apply investment techniques and risk analyses that may not produce the desired result. There can be no guarantee that the Fund will meet its investment objectives.

MARKET MAKER RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which

could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.

MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.

MLP RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold MLPs. MLPs are limited partnerships or limited liability companies that are taxed as partnerships and whose interests (limited partnership units or limited liability company units) are traded on securities exchanges like shares of common stock. An MLP consists of a general partner and limited partners. The general partner manages the partnership, has an ownership stake in the partnership and is eligible to receive an incentive distribution. The limited partners provide capital to the partnership, have a limited (if any) role in the operation and management of the partnership and receive cash distributions. Currently, most MLPs operate in the energy, natural resources or real estate sectors. Investments in securities of MLPs involve certain risks different from or in addition to the risks of investing in common stocks. MLP common units can be affected by macro-economic factors and other factors unique to the partnership or company and the industry or industries in which the MLP operates. Certain MLP securities may trade in relatively low volumes due to their smaller capitalizations or other factors, which may cause them to have a high degree of price volatility and illiquidity. The structures of MLPs create certain risks, including, for example, risks related to the limited ability of investors to control an MLP and to vote on matters affecting the MLP, risks related to potential conflicts of interest between an MLP and the MLP's general partner, the risk that an MLP will generate insufficient cash flow to meet its current operating requirements, the risk that an MLP will issue additional securities or engage in other transactions that will have the effect of diluting the interests of existing investors, and risks related to the general partner's right to require unit-holders to sell their common units at an undesirable time or price. On March 15, 2018, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) changed its long-standing tax allowance policy which no longer permits MLPs to include in their cost of service an income tax allowance. This has had a negative impact on the performance of some MLPs affected by this decision. This policy change and any similar policy changes in the future could adversely impact an MLP’s business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows and ability to pay cash distributions or dividends.

MORTGAGE-RELATED SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold mortgage-related securities. Mortgage-related securities are subject to the same risks as investments in other types of debt securities, including credit risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk and valuation risk. However, these investments make an underlying fund more susceptible to adverse economic, political or regulatory events that affect the value of real estate. Mortgage-related securities are also significantly affected by the rate of prepayments and modifications of the mortgage loans underlying those securities, as well as by other factors such as borrower defaults, delinquencies, realized or liquidation losses and other shortfalls. The incidence of borrower defaults or delinquencies may rise significantly during financial downturns and could adversely affect the value of mortgage-related securities held by the Fund. Events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events that result in broad and simultaneous financial hardships for individuals and businesses could have a significant negative impact on the value of mortgage-related securities. Mortgage-related securities are particularly sensitive to prepayment risk and extension risk, given that mortgage loans generally allow borrowers to refinance. In periods of declining interest rates, borrowers may be more apt to prepay their mortgage sooner than expected. This can reduce the returns to the security holder as the amount of interest related to the price may be reduced while the proceeds may have to be reinvested at lower prevailing interest rates. This is prepayment risk. In periods of rising interest rates, borrowers may be less likely to refinance than expected thus extending the cash flows of the security such that there is increased downward price sensitivity to interest rate changes. This is extension risk. As the timing and amount of prepayments

cannot be accurately predicted, the timing of changes in the rate of prepayments of the mortgage loans may significantly affect an underlying fund's actual yield to maturity on any mortgage-related securities. Along with prepayment risk, mortgage-related securities are significantly affected by interest rate risk.

MUNICIPAL LEASE PARTICIPATIONS RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold municipal lease participations. Participation interests in municipal leases pose special risks because many leases and contracts contain “non-appropriation” clauses that provide that the governmental issuer has no obligation to make future payments under the lease or contract unless money is appropriated for this purpose by the appropriate legislative body.

MUNICIPAL SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold municipal securities. Issuers, including governmental issuers, may be unable to pay their obligations as they come due. The values of municipal securities that depend on a specific revenue source to fund their payment obligations may fluctuate as a result of actual or anticipated changes in the cash flows generated by the revenue source or changes in the priority of the municipal obligation to receive the cash flows generated by the revenue source. The values of municipal securities held by an underlying fund may be adversely affected by local political and economic conditions and developments. Adverse conditions in an industry significant to a local economy could have a correspondingly adverse effect on the financial condition of local issuers. In addition, income from municipal securities held by an underlying fund could be declared taxable because of, among other things, unfavorable changes in tax laws, adverse interpretations by the Internal Revenue Service or state tax authorities, or noncompliant conduct of an issuer or other obligated party. Loss of tax-exempt status may cause interest received and distributed to shareholders by an underlying fund to be taxable and may result in a significant decline in the values of such municipal securities. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the risks of the municipal securities market have been magnified. The costs associated with combating the pandemic and the negative impact on tax revenues has adversely affected the financial condition of many states and political subdivisions. These risks may also adversely affect several sectors of the municipal bond market, such as airports, toll roads, hospitals and colleges, among many others. The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on state and political subdivisions’ ability to make payments on debt obligations is impossible to predict, but could negatively impact the value of bonds, the ability of state and political subdivisions to make payments when due and the performance of the Fund.

MUNICIPAL SECURITIES VALUATION RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold municipal securities. The municipal securities in which an underlying fund invests are typically valued by a pricing service utilizing a range of market-based inputs and assumptions, including readily available market quotations obtained from broker-dealers making markets in such securities, cash flows and transactions for comparable instruments. There is no assurance that an underlying fund will be able to sell a portfolio security at the price established by the pricing service, which could result in a loss to the fund.

NON-U.S. SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold non-U.S. securities. Non-U.S. securities are subject to higher volatility than securities of domestic issuers due to possible adverse political, social or economic developments, restrictions on foreign investment or exchange of securities, capital controls, lack of liquidity, currency exchange rates, excessive taxation, government seizure of assets, the imposition of sanctions by foreign governments, different legal or accounting standards, and less government supervision and regulation of securities exchanges in foreign countries.

OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.

to greater credit risk than those debt securities. Generally, holders of preferred securities have no voting rights with respect to the issuing company unless preferred dividends have been in arrears for a specified number of periods, at which time the preferred security holders may obtain limited rights. In certain circumstances, an issuer of preferred securities may defer payment on the securities and, in some cases, redeem the securities prior to a specified date. Preferred securities may also be substantially less liquid than other securities, including common stock.

PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund’s investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.

PREPAYMENT RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold debt securities. Prepayment risk is the risk that the issuer of a debt security will repay principal prior to the scheduled maturity date. Debt securities allowing prepayment may offer less potential for gains during a period of declining interest rates, as an underlying fund may be required to reinvest the proceeds of any prepayment at lower interest rates. These factors may cause the value of an investment in an underlying fund to change.

PRE-REFUNDED BONDS RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold pre-refunded bonds. Pre-refunded bonds are bonds that have been refunded to a call date prior to the final maturity of principal, or, in the case of pre-refunded bonds commonly referred to as “escrowed-to-maturity bonds,” to the final maturity of principal, and remain outstanding in the municipal market. The payment of principal and interest of the pre-refunded bonds held by an underlying fund is funded from securities held in a designated escrow account where such securities are obligations of and carry the full faith and credit of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The securities held in the escrow fund pledged to pay the principal and interest of the pre-refunded bond do not guarantee the price of the bond. Investment in pre-refunded municipal bonds held by an underlying fund may subject the fund to interest rate risk, market risk and credit risk.

PRIVATE ACTIVITY BONDS RISK. The Fund invests in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold private activity bonds. Municipalities and other public authorities issue private activity bonds to finance development of industrial facilities for use by a private enterprise. The private enterprise is responsible for the payment of principal and interest on the bond and the issuer ordinarily does not pledge its full faith, credit and taxing power for repayment. The private enterprise can have a substantially different credit profile than the issuer. The private activity bonds in which an underlying fund may invest may be negatively impacted by conditions affecting either the general credit of the private enterprise or the project itself. An underlying fund’s private activity bond holdings may also pay interest subject to the alternative minimum tax.

REIT RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold REITs. REITs typically own and operate income-producing real estate, such as residential or commercial buildings, or real-estate related assets, including mortgages. As a result, investments in REITs are subject to the risks associated with investing in real estate, which may include, but are not limited to: fluctuations in the value of underlying properties; defaults by borrowers or tenants; market saturation; changes in general and local operating expenses; and other economic, political or regulatory occurrences affecting companies in the real estate sector. REITs are also subject to the risk that the real estate market may experience an economic downturn generally, which may have a material effect on the real estate in which the REITs invest and their underlying portfolio securities. REITs may have also a relatively small market capitalization which may result in their shares experiencing less market liquidity and greater price volatility than larger companies. Increases in interest rates typically lower the present value of a REIT's future earnings stream, and may make financing property purchases and improvements more costly. Because the market price of REIT stocks may change based upon investors' collective perceptions of future earnings, the value of the Fund will generally decline when investors anticipate or experience rising interest rates.

traditional high yield bonds in that senior loans are typically senior to other obligations of the borrower and generally secured by a lien on all or some portion of the assets of the borrower. The senior loan market has seen a significant increase in loans with weaker lender protections including, but not limited to, limited financial maintenance covenants or, in some cases, no financial maintenance covenants (i.e., “covenant-lite loans”) that would typically be included in a traditional loan agreement and general weakening of other restrictive covenants applicable to the borrower such as limitations on incurrence of additional debt, restrictions on payments of junior debt or restrictions on dividends and distributions. Weaker lender protections such as the absence of financial maintenance covenants in a loan agreement and the inclusion of “borrower-favorable” terms may impact recovery values and/or trading levels of senior loans in the future. The absence of financial maintenance covenants in a loan agreement generally means that the lender may not be able to declare a default if financial performance deteriorates. This may hinder an underlying fund’s ability to reprice credit risk associated with a particular borrower and reduce an underlying fund’s ability to restructure a problematic loan and mitigate potential loss. As a result, an underlying fund’s exposure to losses on investments in senior loans may be increased, especially during a downturn in the credit cycle or changes in market or economic conditions.

No active trading market may exist for certain senior loans, which may impair the ability of an underlying fund to realize full value in the event of the need to sell its position in a senior loan and which may make it difficult to accurately value senior loans. Lastly, senior loans may not be considered “securities,” and an underlying fund may not be entitled to rely on the anti-fraud protections of the federal securities laws.

SIGNIFICANT EXPOSURE RISK. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified.

SMALLER COMPANIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold the securities of small and/or mid capitalization companies. Small and/or mid capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse general market or economic developments, and their securities may be less liquid and may experience greater price volatility than larger, more established companies as a result of several factors, including limited trading volumes, fewer products or financial resources, management inexperience and less publicly available information. Accordingly, such companies are generally subject to greater market risk than larger, more established companies.

SOVEREIGN DEBT SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold Sovereign debt securities that are issued or guaranteed by foreign governmental entities. Investments in such securities are subject to the risk that the relevant sovereign government or governmental entity may delay or refuse to pay interest or repay principal on its debt. Such delays or refusals may be due to cash flow problems, insufficient foreign currency reserves, political considerations, the size of its debt relative to the economy or the failure to put in place economic reforms required by the International Monetary Fund or other multilateral agencies. There is no legal process for collecting sovereign debt that is not repaid, nor are there bankruptcy proceedings through which all or part of the unpaid sovereign debt may be collected.

TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.

lower than the yields available from other debt securities. U.S. government securities are guaranteed only as to the timely payment of interest and the payment of principal when held to maturity.While securities issued or guaranteed by U.S. federal government agencies (such as Ginnie Mae) are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, securities issued by government sponsored entities (such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) are solely the obligation of the issuer and generally do not carry any guarantee from the U.S. government.

VALUATION RISK. The Fund invests in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold debt securities. Unlike publicly traded securities that trade on national securities exchanges, there is no central place or exchange for trading most debt securities. Debt securities generally trade on an “over-the-counter” market. Due to the lack of centralized information and trading, and variations in lot sizes of certain debt securities, the valuation of debt securities may carry more uncertainty and risk than that of publicly traded securities. Debt securities are commonly valued by third-party pricing services that utilize a range of market-based inputs and assumptions, including readily available market quotations obtained from broker-dealers making markets in such securities, cash flows and transactions for comparable instruments. However, because the available information is less reliable and more subjective, elements of judgment may play a greater role in valuation of debt securities than for other types of securities. There is no assurance that the Fund will be able to sell a portfolio security at the price established by the pricing service, which could result in a loss to the Fund.

ZERO COUPON BOND RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold zero coupon bonds. Zero coupon bonds do not pay interest on a current basis and may be highly volatile as interest rates rise or fall. Although zero coupon bonds generate income for accounting purposes, they do not produce cash flow, and thus an underlying fund could be forced to liquidate securities at an inopportune time in order to generate cash to distribute to shareholders as required by tax laws.

Annual Total Return

The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of a broad-based market index and a blended benchmark. See “Total Return Information” for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund’s updated performance information is accessible on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com.

First Trust Income Opportunities ETF
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31 (1)

(1)

The Fund's calendar year-to-date total return based on net asset value for the period 12/31/21 to 03/31/22 was -7.12%.

During the periods shown in the chart above:

Best Quarter		Worst Quarter
16.72%	June 30, 2020	-27.74%	March 31, 2020

The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.

All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends

and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.

Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.

Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2021

	1 Year	5 Years	Since Inception	Inception Date
Return Before Taxes	19.16%	10.83%	10.47%	9/27/2016
Return After Taxes on Distributions	16.88%	8.54%	8.16%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares	11.35%	7.41%	7.11%
Russell 3000® Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)	25.66%	17.97%	18.02%
Blended Benchmark(1) (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)	16.46%	9.76%	9.28%

(1)

Management

Investment Advisor

First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”)

Portfolio Managers

The following persons serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.

•

Ken Fincher, Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager of First Trust

•

Jordan Ramsland, Vice President and Portfolio Manager of First Trust

The portfolio managers are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Ken Fincher has served as part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since September 2016. Jordan Ramsland has served as part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since November 2018.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, bid-ask spreads and the median bid-ask spread for the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, is available online at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.

Tax Information

The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions on shares held in a tax-deferred account, while not immediately taxable, will be subject to tax when the shares are no longer held in a tax-deferred account.

Additional Information on the Fund's Investment Objectives and Strategies

The Fund is a series of First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII and is regulated as an “investment company” under the 1940 Act. The Fund is actively managed and does not seek to track the performance of an index. The Fund’s investment objectives are fundamental and may not be changed without approval by the holders of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund. Unless an investment policy is identified as being fundamental, all investment policies included in this prospectus and the Fund's Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”) are non-fundamental and may be changed by the Board of Trustees of the Trust (the “Board”) without shareholder approval. If there is a material change to the Fund’s principal investment strategies, you should consider whether the Fund remains an appropriate investment for you. There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its investment objectives.

Additional Information on the Fund’s Strategy

The Fund's investment objective is to seek to provide current income with a secondary emphasis on total return. Under normal market conditions, the Fund seeks to achieve its investment objectives by investing in a portfolio of closed-end investment companies and ETFs that are listed and traded in the United States on registered exchanges. In determining which closed-end funds and ETFs to buy and sell, the Fund’s investment advisor utilizes a range of investment approaches. The Fund’s investment advisor generally takes a systemic approach to investing, including the utilization of a proprietary model that identifies, sorts and scores closed-end funds and ETFs based upon various market metrics and economic factors, including, but not limited to, fund size, duration, leverage ratio, average maturity, earnings rate, undistributed net investment income, distribution rate, premium or discount, net asset value and share price returns, sponsor and distribution policies. The model delivers a universe of possible investments, from which the investment advisor, after performing further issuer-specific research and analysis to determine the best fits for the Fund’s investment objective, selects a final portfolio for the Fund. The Fund has no specific credit quality, duration or maturity policy.

Fund Investments

Principal Investments

Investment Companies

The Fund will principally invest in securities issued by closed-end funds and ETFs. Closed-end funds and ETFs are managed registered investment companies which invest in various types of securities. Both closed-end funds and ETFs trade on a securities exchange and their shares may, at times, trade at a premium or discount to their net asset value. As a shareholder in a pooled investment vehicle, the Fund will bear its ratable share of that vehicle’s expenses and would remain subject to payment of the underlying fund’s advisory and administrative fees with respect to assets so invested. Shareholders would therefore be subject to duplicative expenses to the extent the Fund invests in other pooled investment vehicles. In addition, the Fund will incur brokerage costs when purchasing and selling shares of ETFs and closed-end funds. Securities of other pooled investment vehicles may be leveraged, in which case the value and/or yield of such securities will tend to be more volatile than securities of unleveraged vehicles.

Generally, investments in closed-end funds and ETFs are subject to statutory limitations prescribed by the 1940 Act. These limitations include a prohibition on the Fund acquiring more than 3% of the voting shares of any other investment company, and a prohibition on the Fund investing more than 5% of its total assets in the securities of any one investment company or more than 10% of its total assets, in the aggregate, in investment company securities. However, the Fund may rely on certain exemptions from the general statutory limitations to invest in closed-end funds and ETFs beyond those limitations, in accordance with Section 12 of the 1940 act and the rules thereunder. Pursuant to Section 12 of the 1940 Act and the rules thereunder, including Rule 12d1-4, and in certain instances, pursuant to an agreement with an acquired fund entered into under Rule 12d1-4, the Fund may be required to vote in a particular manner. Absent alternative requirements under the rules or such an agreement, the Fund generally intends to vote its shares in an acquired fund in the same proportion as other holders of the acquired fund’s shares.

Asset-Backed Securities

The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold asset-backed securities. Asset-backed securities are securities backed by installment contracts, credit-card receivables or other assets. Asset-backed securities represent interests in “pools” of assets in which payments of both interest and principal on the securities are made on a regular basis. The payments are, in effect, “passed through” to the holder of the securities (net of any fees paid to the issuer or guarantor of the securities).

The average life of asset-backed securities varies with the maturities of the underlying instruments and, as a result of prepayments, can often be less than the original maturity of the assets underlying the securities.

Bank Loans

The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold bank loans. Bank loans include floating rate loans and institutionally traded floating rate debt obligations issued by asset-backed pools and other issuers, and interests therein. Bank loan interests may be acquired from U.S. or foreign commercial banks, insurance companies, finance companies or other financial institutions that have made loans or are members of a lending syndicate or from other holders of loan interests. Bank loans typically pay interest at rates which are re-determined periodically on the basis of a floating base lending rate plus a premium. Bank loans are typically of below investment-grade quality. Bank loans generally hold the most senior position in the capital structure of a borrower and are often secured with collateral.

An underlying fund may invest in bank loans through assignments or participations. When an underlying fund is a purchaser of an assignment, it succeeds to all the rights and obligations under the loan agreement of the assigning lender and becomes a lender under the loan agreement with the same rights and obligations as the assigning lender. These rights include the ability to vote along with the other lenders on such matters as enforcing the terms of the loan agreement (e.g., declaring defaults, initiating collection actions, etc.). Taking such actions typically requires at least a vote of the lenders holding a majority of the investment in the loan and may require a vote by lenders holding two-thirds or more of the investment in the loan. Because an underlying fund usually does not hold a majority of the investment in any loan, it will not be able by itself to control decisions that require a vote by the lenders. A participation interest represents a fractional interest in a loan held by the lender selling an underlying fund the participation interest. In the case of participations, an underlying fund will not have any direct contractual relationship with the borrower, the underlying fund’s rights to consent to modifications of the loan are limited and it is dependent upon the participating lender to enforce the underlying fund’s rights upon a default. An underlying fund will have the right to receive payments of principal, interest, and any fees to which it is entitled only from the lender selling the participation and only upon receipt by the lender of the payments from the borrower.

Senior Loans

An underlying fund’s investments in bank loans may include investments in senior loans. Senior loans are secured and are senior to other indebtedness of the borrower. Senior loans are generally secured by collateral such as accounts receivable, inventory, equipment, real estate, intangible assets such as trademarks, copyrights and patents, and securities of subsidiaries or affiliates. The value of the collateral generally will be determined by reference to financial statements of the borrower, by an independent appraisal, by obtaining the market value of such collateral, in the case of cash or securities if readily ascertainable, or by other customary valuation techniques. Senior loans generally consist of obligations of companies and other entities incurred for the purpose of reorganizing the assets and liabilities of a borrower, acquiring another company, taking over control of a company, temporary refinancing or financing internal growth or other general business purposes. Senior loans are often obligations of borrowers who have incurred a significant percentage of debt compared to their total assets and thus are highly leveraged.

Other Loans

In addition to their investment in senior loans, certain underlying funds may also invest in secured loans that are not first lien and loans that are unsecured. These loans have the same characteristics as senior loans except that such loans are not first in priority of repayment and/or are not secured by collateral. Because these loans are lower in priority and/or unsecured, they are subject to the additional risk that the cash flow of the borrower may be insufficient to meet scheduled payments after giving effect to the secured obligations of the borrower. In the event of default on such a loan, the first priority lien holder has first claim to the underlying collateral of the loan. It is possible that no value would remain for the holders of secured loans that are not first lien and loans that are unsecured and therefore result in a loss of investment.

Commodities

The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that have exposure to commodities. Such exposure may be derived in various ways, including, but not limited to, investments in equity securities issued by commodity or natural resources companies, derivatives with exposure to commodity or natural resources companies or investments in securities and derivatives linked to the underlying price movement of commodities or natural resources.

Convertible Securities

The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold convertible securities. Convertible securities are generally bonds, debentures, notes, preferred securities or other securities or investments that may be converted or exchanged into equity securities (and/or the cash equivalent thereof), which may be at a stated exchange ratio or predetermined price (the “conversion price”). A convertible security is designed to provide current income and also the potential for capital appreciation through the conversion feature, which enables the holder to benefit from increases (if any) in the market price of the underlying equity security. Accordingly, these equity-linked instruments offer the potential for equity market participation along with, in light of their bond-like characteristics, potential mitigated downside risk (which is generally the risk that a security may suffer a decline in value) in periods of equity market declines.

Corporate Debt Securities

The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold corporate debt securities. Corporate debt securities include obligations issued by corporations to borrow money from investors, such as corporate bonds, debentures and notes. These securities may be either secured or unsecured. Holders of debt securities, as creditors, have a prior legal claim over common and preferred shareholders as to both income and assets of the issuer for the principal and interest due them and may have a prior claim over other creditors if liens or mortgages are involved. Interest on debt securities is typically paid semi-annually and is fully taxable to the holder of the securities. The investment return of debt securities reflects interest on the security and changes in the market value of the security. The market value of a fixed rate debt security generally may be expected to rise and fall inversely with changes in interest rates and also may be affected by the credit rating of the issuer, the issuer’s performance and perceptions of the issuer in the marketplace. Debt securities issued by corporations usually have a higher yield than government or agency bonds due to the presence of credit risk.

Derivatives

The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that utilize derivatives instruments. Derivatives are financial instruments whose value depends upon, or is derived from, an underlying reference asset, such as an index or security, that are commonly used to hedge risk, enhance returns, as a substitute for a position in an underlying asset, maintain a desired level of market exposure, manage cash flows or foreign currency exposures and preserve capital.

Equity Securities

The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold equity securities, including common stocks and depositary receipts. Common stock represents an equity ownership interest in issuers. Holders of common stock are entitled to the income and increase in the value of the assets and business of the issuers after all debt obligations and obligations to preferred stockholders are satisfied. Depositary receipts are certificates typically issued by a bank or trust company that represent ownership interests in securities of non-U.S. companies. Depositary receipts may or may not be jointly sponsored by the underlying issuer.

High Yield Securities

The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold high yield securities. High yield securities are debt instruments that are rated below investment grade. Such securities are also commonly referred to as “junk” securities. High yield securities may be issued by companies without long track records of sales and earnings, or by issuers that have questionable credit strength. High yield securities will likely have some quality and protective characteristics that, in the judgment of the rating agency evaluating the instrument, are out-weighed by large uncertainties or major risk exposures to adverse conditions and are predominantly speculative with respect to the issuer’s capacity to pay dividends or interest and repay principal in accordance with the terms of the obligation.

Master Limited Partnerships

The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold master limited partnerships. An MLP is a limited partnership or a limited liability company that is treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, the interests in which (known as units) are traded on securities exchanges or over-the-counter. MLPs are typically engaged in one or more aspects of the exploration, production, processing, transmission, marketing, storage or delivery of energy-related commodities such as natural gas, natural gas liquids, coal, crude oil or refined petroleum products. Holders of MLP units have limited control and voting rights on matters affecting the partnership. If publicly traded, to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the MLP must receive at least 90% of its income from qualifying sources, including interest, dividends, real estate rents, gain from the sale or disposition of real property, income and gain from mineral or natural resources activities, income and gain

from the transportation or storage of certain fuels, gain from the sale or disposition of a capital asset held for the production of income described in the foregoing. Mineral or natural resources activities include exploration, development, production, mining, refining, marketing and transportation (including pipelines), of oil and gas, minerals, geothermal energy, fertilizer, timber or carbon dioxide.

Mortgage-Related Securities

The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold mortgage-related securities. Mortgage-related securities are structured debt obligations collateralized by pools of residential or commercial mortgage loans made by banks and other financial institutions to finance purchases of residential homes, commercial buildings and other real estate. The individual mortgage loans are packaged or “pooled” together for sale to investors by various governmental and private organizations and provide the holder with monthly payments derived from the principal and interest payments made by the individual borrowers on the pooled mortgage loans. In their simplest form, mortgage-related securities are structured as “pass-through” securities, meaning they provide investors with monthly payments consisting of a pro rata share of both regular interest and principal payments as well as unscheduled prepayments on the underlying mortgage loans. In the basic mortgage-pass through structure, mortgages with similar issuer, term and coupon characteristics are collected and aggregated into a pool consisting of multiple mortgage loans. The pool is assigned a CUSIP number and undivided interests in the pool are traded and sold as pass-through securities. The holder of the security is entitled to a pro rata share of principal and interest payments (including unscheduled prepayments) from the pool of mortgage loans. However, mortgage-related securities may also be structured as collateralized mortgage obligations (“CMOs”). A CMO is a multi-class bond backed by a pool of mortgage pass-through certificates or mortgage loans. While CMOs may be collateralized by whole mortgage loans or private mortgage bonds, they are generally collateralized by portfolios of mortgage pass-through securities guaranteed by Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and their income streams. Each class of CMOs, often referred to as a “tranche,” is issued at a specific coupon rate and offers investors various maturity and credit risk characteristics. Tranches are categorized as senior, mezzanine, and subordinated/equity or “first loss,” according to their degree of risk. The most senior tranche has the greatest collateralization and pays the lowest interest rate. If there are defaults or the collateral otherwise underperforms, scheduled payments to senior tranches take precedence over those of mezzanine tranches, and scheduled payments to mezzanine tranches take precedence over those to subordinated/equity tranches. Lower tranches represent lower degrees of credit quality and pay higher interest rates intended to compensate for the increased risks. The return on the lower tranches is especially sensitive to the rate of defaults in the collateral pool. The lowest tranche (i.e., the “equity” or “residual” tranche) specifically receives the residual interest payments (money that is left over after the higher tranches have been paid and expenses of the issuing entities have been paid) rather than a fixed interest rate.

Mortgage-related investments may be issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities (such as Ginnie Mae), and U.S. government-sponsored entities (such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). Government agency or instrumentality securities have different levels of credit support. Securities issued by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities carry a guarantee as to the timely repayment of principal and interest that is backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. However, the full faith and credit guarantee does not apply to the market prices and yields of the Ginnie Mae securities or to the net asset value, trading price or performance of an underlying fund which will vary with changes in interest rates and other market conditions. Securities issued by government-sponsored entities may only be backed by the creditworthiness of the issuing institution, not the U.S. government. Government-sponsored entity issuers may have the right to borrow from the U.S. Treasury to meet their obligations.

Municipal Obligations

The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold municipal obligations. Municipal obligations are debt obligations issued by or on behalf of states, territories and possessions of the United States, including the District of Columbia, and any political subdivisions or financing authority of any of these, the income from which is, in the opinion of qualified legal counsel, exempt from regular federal income tax. Such securities include municipal lease obligations (and certificates of participation in such obligations), municipal general obligation bonds, municipal revenue bonds, municipal notes, municipal cash equivalents, private activity bonds (including industrial development bonds), and pre-refunded and escrowed to maturity bonds. In addition, municipal obligations include securities issued by tender option bond trusts and custodial receipt trusts, each of which are investment vehicles the underlying assets of which are municipal bonds.

Municipal obligations are generally issued to finance public works such as airports, bridges, highways, housing, hospitals, mass transportation projects, schools, street and water and sewer works. They are also issued to repay outstanding obligations, to raise funds for general operating expenses and to make loans to other public institutions and facilities. The two principal classifications of municipal securities are “general obligation” and “revenue” bonds. General obligation bonds are secured by

the issuer’s pledge of its full faith and credit and taxing power for the payment of principal and interest. Interest on and principal of revenue bonds, however, are payable only from the revenue generated by the facility financed by the bond or other specified sources of revenue. Revenue bonds do not represent a pledge of credit or create any debt of or charge against the general revenues of a municipality or public authority. Industrial development bonds are typically classified as revenue bonds.

Non-U.S. Debt Securities

The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold non-U.S. debt securities. Non-U.S. debt securities include debt securities issued or guaranteed by companies organized under the laws of countries other than the United States, debt securities issued or guaranteed by foreign, national, provincial, state, municipal or other governments with taxing authority or by their agencies or instrumentalities and debt obligations of supranational governmental entities such as the World Bank or European Union. These debt securities may be U.S. dollar-denominated or non-U.S. dollar-denominated. Non-U.S. debt securities also include U.S. dollar-denominated debt obligations, such as “Yankee Dollar” obligations, of foreign issuers and of supranational government entities. Yankee Dollar obligations are U.S. dollar-denominated obligations issued in the U.S. capital markets by foreign corporations, banks and governments. Non-U.S. debt securities also may be traded on non-U.S. securities exchanges or in over-the-counter capital markets.

Preferred Securities

The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold preferred securities. Preferred stocks pay fixed or floating dividends to investors and have “preference” over common stock in the payment of dividends and the liquidation of an issuer’s assets. Generally, this means that an issuer must pay dividends on preferred stocks before paying any dividends on its common stock. Some preferred stocks offer a fixed rate of return with no maturity date. Because those preferred stocks never mature, they trade like long-term bonds, can be more volatile than other types of preferred stocks and may have heightened sensitivity to changes in interest rates. Other preferred stocks have variable dividends, generally determined on a quarterly or other periodic basis, either according to a formula based upon a specified premium or discount to the yield on particular U.S. Treasury securities or based on an auction process involving bids submitted by holders and prospective purchasers of such securities. Because preferred stocks represent an equity ownership interest in an issuer, their value usually will react more strongly than bonds and other debt instruments to actual or perceived changes in an issuer’s financial condition or prospects or to fluctuations in the equity markets. Preferred stockholders usually have no voting rights or their voting rights are limited to certain extraordinary transactions or events.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold real estate investment trusts. REITs are financial vehicles that pool investors’ capital to purchase or finance real estate. REITs are generally classified as equity REITs, mortgage REITs or a combination of equity and mortgage REITs. Equity REITs invest the majority of their assets directly in real property and derive income primarily from the collection of rents. Equity REITs can also realize capital gains by selling properties that have appreciated in value. Mortgage REITs invest the majority of their assets in real estate mortgages and derive income from the collection of interest payments. REITs are not taxed on income distributed to shareholders provided they comply with the applicable tax requirements.

Non-Principal Investments

Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments

The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in short-term debt securities, money market funds and other cash equivalents, or it may hold cash. The percentage of the Fund invested in such holdings will vary and will depend on several factors, including market conditions. For temporary defensive purposes and during periods of high cash inflows or outflows, the Fund may depart from its principal investment strategies and invest part or all of its assets in these securities or it may hold cash. During such periods, the Fund may not be able to achieve its investment objectives. The Fund may adopt a defensive strategy when the Advisor believes securities in which the Fund normally invests have elevated risks due to political or economic factors and in other extraordinary circumstances. Short-term debt securities are securities from issuers having a long-term debt rating of at least BBB-/Baa3 by S&P Ratings, Moody’s or Fitch and having a maturity of one year or less.

The use of temporary investments will not be a part of a principal investment strategy of the Fund. Short-term debt securities are defined to include, without limitation, the following: (i) fixed rate and floating rate U.S. government securities, including bills, notes and bonds differing as to maturity and rates of interest, which are either issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury or by U.S. government agencies or instrumentalities; (ii) certificates of deposit issued against funds deposited in a bank or

savings and loan association; (iii) bankers’ acceptances, which are short-term credit instruments used to finance commercial transactions; (iv) repurchase agreements, which involve purchases of debt securities; (v) bank time deposits, which are monies kept on deposit with banks or savings and loan associations for a stated period of time at a fixed rate of interest; and (vi) commercial paper, which is short-term unsecured promissory notes. The Fund may only invest in commercial paper rated A-1 or higher by S&P Ratings, Prime-1 or higher by Moody’s or F1 or higher by Fitch.

Illiquid Investments

The Fund may invest up to 15% of its net assets in securities and other instruments that are, at the time of investment, illiquid (determined using the Securities and Exchange Commission's standard applicable to investment companies, i.e., any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without the sale or disposition significantly changing the market value of the investment). For this purpose, illiquid investments may include, but are not limited to, certain restricted securities (securities the disposition of which is restricted under the federal securities laws), certain securities that may only be sold pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act, and certain repurchase agreements, among others.

Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings

A description of the policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund's portfolio securities is included in the Fund's SAI, which is available on the Fund's website at www.ftportfolios.com.

Risks of Investing in the Fund

Risk is inherent in all investing. Investing in the Fund involves risk, including the risk that you may lose all or part of your investment. There can be no assurance that the Fund will meet its stated objectives. Before you invest, you should consider the following disclosure pertaining to the Principal Risks set forth above as well as additional Non-Principal Risks set forth below in this prospectus. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

Principal Risks

ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX RISK. Although the interest received from municipal securities is generally exempt from federal income tax, the Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold municipal securities subject to the federal alternative minimum tax. Therefore, all or a portion of the Fund’s otherwise exempt interest, may be taxable to shareholders subject to (or result in an increased liability under) the federal alternative minimum tax.

ASSET-BACKED SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold asset-backed securities. Asset-backed securities are debt securities typically created by buying and pooling loans or other receivables other than mortgage loans and creating securities backed by those similar type assets. They are typically issued by trusts and special purpose co-purchasers that pass income from the underlying pool to investors. As with other debt securities, asset-backed securities are subject to credit risk, extension risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk and valuation risk. Certain asset-backed securities do not have the benefit of the same security interest in the related collateral as do mortgage-backed securities, nor are they provided government guarantees of repayment. Credit card receivables are generally unsecured, and the debtors are entitled to the protection of a number of state and federal consumer credit laws, many of which give such debtors the right to set off certain amounts owed on the credit cards, thereby reducing the balance due. In addition, some issuers of automobile receivables permit the servicers to retain possession of the underlying obligations. If the servicer were to sell these obligations to another party, there is a risk that the purchaser would acquire an interest superior to that of the holders of the related automobile receivables. The impairment of the value of collateral or other assets underlying an asset-backed security, such as a result of non-payment of loans or non-performance of underlying assets, may result in a reduction in the value of such asset-backed securities and losses to an underlying fund.

AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. However, participants are not obligated to make a market in the Fund’s shares or submit purchase and redemption orders for creation units. To the extent that these institutions exit the business, reduce their role or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.

BANK LOANS RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold bank loans. An underlying fund may invest in secured and unsecured participations in bank loans and assignments of such loans. In making investments in such loans, which are made by banks or other financial intermediaries to borrowers, an underlying fund will depend primarily upon the creditworthiness of the borrower for payment of principal and interest which will expose the fund to the credit risk of the underlying borrower. Participations by an underlying fund in a lender's portion of a bank loan typically will result in the Fund having a contractual relationship only with such lender, not with the borrower. An underlying fund may have the right to receive payments of principal, interest and any fees to which it is entitled only from the lender selling a loan participation and only upon receipt by such lender of such payments from the borrower, which exposes the Fund to the credit risk of the lender. In connection with purchasing participations, an underlying fund generally will have no right to enforce compliance by the borrower with the terms of the loan agreement, nor any rights with respect to any funds acquired by other lenders through set-off against the borrower, and an underlying fund may not directly benefit from any collateral supporting the loan in which it has purchased the participation. There is also the risk that the value of any collateral securing a loan may decline and that the collateral may be insufficient to cover the amount owed on the loan, particularly for second lien loans or other junior or subordinated loans held by the Fund. The secondary market for bank loans may not be highly liquid, and an underlying fund may have difficulty selling bank loans (other than at a discount) and it may experience settlement delays with respect to bank loan trades (in some cases longer than 7 days.) Further, loans held by an underlying fund may not be considered securities and, therefore, purchasers, such as an underlying fund, may not be entitled to rely on the anti-fraud protections of the federal securities laws and would be forced to rely upon the contractual persons in the loan agreement and states law to enforce its rights to repayment. Many of the loans in which an underlying fund may invest or obtain exposure to may be “covenant-lite” loans. The amount of public information available with respect to bank loans may be less extensive than available for registered or exchange-traded securities. Covenant-lite loans may contain fewer or no maintenance covenants compared to other loans and may not include terms which allow the lender to monitor the performance of the borrower and declare a default if certain criteria are breached. An underlying fund may experience relatively greater realized or unrealized losses or delays in enforcing its rights on its holdings of covenant-lite loans than its holdings of loans with the usual covenants.

CALL RISK. The Fund invests in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold debt securities. Some debt securities may be redeemed at the option of the issuer, or “called,” before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its debt securities if they can be refinanced by issuing new debt securities which bear a lower interest rate. An underlying fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates an issuer will call its high yielding debt securities. An underlying fund would then be forced to invest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates, likely resulting in a decline in the fund’s income. Such redemptions and subsequent reinvestments would also increase an underlying fund’s portfolio turnover. If a called debt security was purchased by an underlying fund at a premium, the value of the premium may be lost in the event of a redemption.

CASH TRANSACTIONS RISK. The Fund may, under certain circumstances, effect a portion of its creations and redemptions for cash rather than in-kind. As a result, an investment in the Fund may be less tax-efficient than an investment in an ETF that effects its creations and redemptions only in-kind. ETFs are able to make in-kind redemptions and avoid being taxed on gains on the distributed portfolio securities at the fund level. The Fund that effects redemptions for cash may be required to sell portfolio securities in order to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. Any recognized gain on these sales by the Fund will generally cause the Fund to recognize a gain it might not otherwise have recognized, or to recognize such gain sooner than would otherwise be required if it were to distribute portfolio securities only in-kind. The Fund intends to distribute these gains to shareholders to avoid being taxed on this gain at the fund level and otherwise comply with the special tax rules that apply to it. This strategy may cause shareholders to be subject to tax on gains they would not otherwise be subject to, or at an earlier date than if they had made an investment in a different ETF. Moreover, cash transactions may have to be carried out over several days if the securities market is relatively illiquid and may involve considerable brokerage fees and taxes. These brokerage fees and taxes, which will be higher than if the Fund sold and redeemed its shares entirely in-kind, will be passed on to those purchasing and redeeming Creation Units in the form of creation and redemption transaction fees. In addition, these factors may result in wider spreads between the bid and the offered prices of the Fund’s shares than for ETFs that distribute portfolio securities in-kind.

CLOSED-END FUNDS RISK. The Fund invests in shares of closed-end funds. Shares of closed-end funds trade on exchanges at market prices rather than net asset value and cannot be redeemed on demand. Accordingly, closed-end fund shares may trade at a price greater than net asset value (premium) or less than net asset value (discount). There can be no assurance that a discount on shares of closed-end funds purchased by the Fund will not decrease or that when the Fund seeks to sell shares of a closed-end fund it can receive the net asset value for those shares. As a shareholder in a closed-end fund, the Fund bears its ratable share of the fund’s expenses, subjecting Fund shareholders to additional expenses. Additionally, closed-end funds may utilize leverage. As a result, the Fund may be exposed indirectly to leverage through an investment in such securities. An investment in the shares of closed-end funds that utilize leverage may expose the Fund to higher volatility in the market

value of such securities and the possibility that the Fund’s long-term return on such securities will be diminished. Closed-end funds may also issue senior securities (including preferred stock and debt obligations) for the purpose of leveraging the closed-end fund’s assets in an attempt to enhance the closed-end fund’s return. The organizational documents of certain closed-end funds may include provisions that could inhibit the ability of other entities or persons to acquire control of the closed-end fund or to change the composition of its board of directors, which could limit the ability of shareholders to sell their shares at a premium over the prevailing market prices by discouraging a third party from seeking to obtain control of the closed-end fund.

COMMODITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that have exposure to commodities either directly or through investments in commodity-linked securities. Commodity prices can have significant volatility, and exposure to commodities can cause the value of an underlying fund’s shares to decline or fluctuate in a rapid and unpredictable manner. The values of physical commodities may be affected by changes in overall market movements, real or perceived inflationary trends, commodity index volatility, changes in interest rates or currency exchange rates, population growth and changing demographics, international economic, political and regulatory developments, and factors affecting a particular region, industry or commodity, such as drought, floods, or other weather conditions, livestock disease, changes in storage costs, trade embargoes, competition from substitute products, transportation bottlenecks or shortages, fluctuations in supply and demand, and tariffs. The commodity markets are subject to temporary distortions or other disruptions due to, among other factors, lack of liquidity, the participation of speculators, and government regulation and other actions.

CONVERTIBLE SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold convertible securities. Convertible securities are bonds, debentures, notes, preferred stocks or other securities that may be converted or exchanged (by the holder or by the issuer, depending on the terms of the securities) into shares of the underlying common stock (or cash or securities of equivalent value) at a stated exchange ratio. If a convertible security held by an underlying fund is called for redemption or conversion, the underlying fund could be required to tender it for redemption, convert it into the underlying equity security or sell it to a third party, which may have an adverse effect on an underlying fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective. The market values of convertible securities tend to decline as interest rates increase. However, a convertible security’s market value also tends to reflect the market price of the equity security of the issuing company, particularly when the price of the equity security is greater than the convertible security’s conversion price (i.e., the predetermined price or exchange ratio at which the convertible security can be converted or exchanged for the underlying equity security). Convertible securities are also exposed to the risk that an issuer will be unable to meet its obligation to make dividend or principal payments when due as a result of changing financial or market conditions. Convertible debt securities generally offer lower interest or dividend yields than non-convertible debt securities of similar credit quality because of their potential for capital appreciation. Moreover, there can be no assurance that convertible securities will provide current income prior to conversion because the issuers of the convertible securities may default on their obligations. If the convertible security has a conversion or call feature that allows the issuer to redeem the security before the conversion date, the potential for capital appreciation may be diminished. In the event that convertible securities are not optional but mandatory based upon the price of the underlying common stock, an underlying fund may be subject to additional exposure to loss of income in situations where it would prefer to hold debt.

COUNTERPARTY RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs subject to counterparty risk. If an underlying fund enters into an investment or transaction that depends on the performance of another party, the fund becomes subject to the credit risk of that counterparty. An underlying fund's ability to profit from these types of investments and transactions depends on the willingness and ability of an underlying fund’s counterparty to perform its obligations. If a counterparty fails to meet its contractual obligations, an underlying fund may be unable to terminate or realize any gain on the investment or transaction, resulting in a loss to the fund. An underlying fund may experience significant delays in obtaining any recovery in an insolvency, bankruptcy, or other reorganization proceeding involving a counterparty (including recovery of any collateral posted by it) and may obtain only a limited recovery or may obtain no recovery in such circumstances. If an underlying fund holds collateral posted by its counterparty, it may be delayed or prevented from realizing on the collateral in the event of a bankruptcy or insolvency proceeding relating to the counterparty. Under applicable law or contractual provisions, including if an underlying fund enters into an investment or transaction with a financial institution and such financial institution (or an affiliate of the financial institution) experiences financial difficulties, then the fund may in certain situations be prevented or delayed from exercising its rights to terminate the investment or transaction, or to realize on any collateral and may result in the suspension of payment and delivery obligations of the parties under such investment or transactions or in another institution being substituted for that financial institution without the consent of an underlying fund. Further, an underlying fund may be subject to “bail-in” risk under applicable law whereby, if required by the financial institution's authority, the financial institution's liabilities could be written down, eliminated or converted into equity or an alternative instrument of ownership.

A bail-in of a financial institution may result in a reduction in value of some or all of securities and, if an underlying fund holds such securities or has entered into a transaction with such a financial security when a bail-in occurs, the fund may also be similarly impacted.

COVENANT-LITE LOANS RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold covenant-lite loans. The loan agreement, which sets forth the terms of a loan and the obligations of the borrower and lender, contains certain covenants that mandate or prohibit certain borrower actions, including financial covenants that dictate certain minimum and maximum financial performance levels. Covenants that require the borrower to maintain certain financial metrics during the life of the loan (such as maintaining certain levels of cash flow and limiting leverage) are known as “maintenance covenants.” These covenants are included to permit the lender to monitor the performance of the borrower and declare an event of default if breached, allowing the lender to renegotiate the terms of the loan based upon the elevated risk levels or take other actions to help mitigate losses. Covenant-lite loans contain fewer or no maintenance covenants making an investment in these types of loans inherently riskier than an investment in loans containing provisions allowing the lender reprice credit risk associated with the borrower or restructure a problematic loan. An underlying fund’s elevated exposure to such loans during a downturn in the credit cycle could cause the fund to experience outsized losses.

CREDIT RISK. An issuer or other obligated party of a debt security held by an underlying fund may be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due. In addition, the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or unwillingness to make such payments. Debt securities are subject to varying degrees of credit risk which are often reflected in credit ratings. The credit rating of a debt security may be lowered if the issuer or other obligated party suffers adverse changes to its financial condition. These adverse changes may lead to greater volatility in the price of the debt security and affect the security’s liquidity. High yield and comparable unrated debt securities, while generally offering higher yields than investment grade debt with similar maturities, involve greater risks, including the possibility of dividend or interest deferral, default or bankruptcy, and are regarded as predominantly speculative with respect to the issuer’s capacity to pay dividends or interest and repay principal. To the extent that an underlying fund holds debt securities that are secured or guaranteed by financial institutions, changes in credit quality of such financial institutions could cause values of the debt security to deviate.

CUSTODIAL RECEIPTS TRUST RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold custodial receipts. Custodial receipts are financial instruments sold through private placements that represent the right to receive future principal and interest payments on underlying municipal obligations. As such, a custodial receipt represents ownership of a security owned by a trust and not ownership of the security itself. Nonetheless, a custodial receipt is subject to the same risks as those applicable to the underlying security. The interest rate on custodial receipts is generally expected to be lower than the coupon rate on the underlying security and is generally set at a level comparable to municipal securities of similar quality having a maturity equal to the rate adjustment period rather than the maturity date of the underlying obligation. Custodial receipt trusts may also issue inverse floater securities. If an underlying fund was to hold inverse floaters issued by custodial receipt trusts, the fund would be subject to the risks of inverse floaters described herein. In particular, because the instruments may be leveraged, their market values may be more volatile than other types of debt securities. Also, as custodial receipts are privately placed, they may be less liquid than securities trading on an exchange.

CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. These risks typically are not covered by insurance. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber incidents include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (e.g., through “hacking” or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data or causing operational disruption. Cyber attacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (i.e., efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Cyber security failures by or breaches of the systems of the Advisor, distributor and other service providers (including, but not limited to, sub-advisors, index providers, fund accountants, custodians, transfer agents and administrators), market makers, authorized participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests, have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in: financial losses; interference with the Fund’s ability to calculate its net asset value; disclosure of confidential trading information; impediments to trading; submission of erroneous trades or erroneous creation or redemption orders; the inability of the Fund or its service providers to transact business; violations of applicable privacy and other laws; regulatory fines penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs; or additional compliance costs. Substantial costs may be incurred by the Fund in order to resolve or prevent cyber incidents in the future.

While the Fund has established business continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent, such cyber attacks, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified and that prevention and remediation efforts will not be successful. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cyber security plans and systems put in place by service providers to the Fund, issuers in which the Fund invests, market makers or authorized participants. However, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, and the Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

DEBT SECURITIES RISK. The Fund invests in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold debt securities. Investments in debt securities subject the holder to the credit risk of the issuer. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer or other obligor of a security will not be able or willing to make payments of interest and principal when due. Generally, the value of debt securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by an underlying fund may decline. If the principal on a debt security is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. Debt securities generally do not trade on a centralized securities exchange making them generally less liquid and more difficult to value than common stock. The values of debt securities may also increase or decrease as a result of market fluctuations, actual or perceived inability or unwillingness of issuers, guarantors or liquidity providers to make scheduled principal or interest payments or illiquidity in debt securities markets generally.

DISTRESSED SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold distressed debt securities. Distressed securities are speculative and involve substantial risks in addition to the risks of investing in high-yield debt securities that are not in default. In some instances, an underlying fund will not receive interest payments from the distressed securities it holds and may incur additional expenses to protect its investment. These securities may present a substantial risk of default and there is a substantial risk that the principal will not be repaid. An underlying fund may incur additional expenses to the extent it is required to seek recovery upon a default in the payment of principal or of interest on its portfolio holdings. In any reorganization or liquidation proceeding relating to a portfolio company, an underlying fund may lose its entire investment or may be required to accept cash or securities with a value less than its original investment. Distressed securities and any securities received in exchange for such securities may be subject to restrictions on resale.

DIVIDENDS RISK. The Fund invests in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold dividend-paying securities. An underlying fund’s investment in dividend-paying securities could cause the fund to underperform similar funds that invest without consideration of an issuer’s track record of paying dividends. Companies that issue dividend-yielding securities are not required to continue to pay dividends on such securities. Therefore, there is the possibility that such companies could reduce or eliminate the payment of dividends in the future especially if the companies are facing an economic downturn, which could negatively affect the Fund’s performance.

EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The Fund invests in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold equity securities. The value of an underlying fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors' perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting the issuers occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing

costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market. Additionally, holders of an issuer's common stock may be subject to greater risks than holders of its preferred stock and debt securities because common stockholders' claims are subordinated to those of holders of preferred stocks and debt securities upon the bankruptcy of an issuer.

ETF RISK. The Fund invests in ETFs. Most ETFs use a “passive” investment strategy and seek to replicate the performance of a market index. Such ETFs do not take defensive positions in volatile or declining markets their shares may trade below net asset value. While some ETFs seek to achieve the same return as a particular market index, the performance of the ETF may diverge from the performance of the index. Some ETFs are actively managed ETFs and do not track a particular index which indirectly subjects an investor to active management risk. An active secondary market in ETF shares may not develop or be maintained and may be halted or interrupted due to actions by its listing exchange, unusual market conditions or other reasons. There can be no assurance that an ETF’s shares will continue to be listed on an active exchange. In addition, shareholders bear both their proportionate share of the Fund’s expenses and, indirectly, the ETF’s expenses, incurred through the Fund’s ownership of the ETF. Because the expenses and costs of an ETF are shared by its investors, redemptions by other investors in the ETF could result in decreased economies of scale and increased operating expenses for such ETF. These transactions might also result in higher brokerage, tax or other costs for the ETF. This risk may be particularly important when one investor owns a substantial portion of the ETF. There is a risk that ETFs in which the Fund invests may terminate due to extraordinary events. For example, any of the service providers to ETFs, such as the trustee or sponsor, may close or otherwise fail to perform their obligations to the ETF, and the ETF may not be able to find a substitute service provider. Also, certain ETFs may be dependent upon licenses to use various indexes as a basis for determining their compositions and/or otherwise to use certain trade names. If these licenses are terminated, the ETFs may also terminate. In addition, an ETF may terminate if its net assets fall below a certain amount.

EXTENSION RISK. The Fund invests in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold debt securities. Extension risk is the risk that, when interest rates rise, certain obligations will be paid off by the issuer (or other obligated party) more slowly than anticipated, causing the value of these debt securities to fall. Rising interest rates tend to extend the duration of debt securities, making them more sensitive to changes in interest rates. The value of longer-term debt securities generally changes more in response to changes in interest rates than shorter-term debt securities. As a result, in a period of rising interest rates, securities may exhibit additional volatility and may lose value. Extension risk is particularly prevalent for a callable debt security where an increase in interest rates could result in the issuer of that security choosing not to redeem the debt security as anticipated on the security’s call date. Such a decision by the issuer could have the effect of lengthening the debt security’s expected maturity, making it more vulnerable to interest rate risk and reducing its market value.

FLOATING RATE SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold floating rate securities. rate securities are structured so that the security’s coupon rate fluctuates based upon the level of a reference rate. Most commonly, the coupon rate of a floating rate security is set in the loan agreement at the level of a widely followed interest rate, plus a fixed spread. As a result, it is expected that when interest rates change, the value of floating rate securities will fluctuate less than the value fixed rate debt securities. The coupon on floating rate securities will generally decline in a falling interest rate environment, causing an underlying fund to experience a reduction in the income it receives from the security. A floating rate security’s coupon rate resets periodically according to the terms of the security. Consequently, in a rising interest rate environment, floating rate securities with coupon rates that reset infrequently may lag behind the changes in market interest rates and may effect the value of the security. Floating rate securities may also contain terms that impose a maximum coupon rate the issuer will pay, regardless of the level of the reference rate which would decrease the value of the security. The secondary market value of a floating rate security is based on the volatility of the reference rate, the time remaining to maturity, the outstanding amount of such securities, market interest rates and the credit quality or perceived financial status of the issuer. Floating rate securities may be less liquid than other types of securities.

HIGH YIELD SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold high yield securities. An underlying fund’s investment in high yield securities, or “junk” bonds, may entail increased credit risks and the risk that the value of the fund’s assets will decline, and may decline precipitously, with increases in interest rates. In recent years there have been wide fluctuations in interest rates and therefore in the value of debt securities generally. High yield securities are, under most circumstances, subject to greater market fluctuations and risk of loss of income and principal than are investments in lower-yielding, higher-rated debt securities. As interest rates rise, the value of high yield securities may decline precipitously. Increased rates may also indicate a slowdown in the economy which may adversely affect the credit of issuers of high yield securities resulting in a higher incidence of defaults among such issuers. A slowdown in the economy, or a development adversely affecting an issuer’s creditworthiness, may result in the issuer being unable to maintain earnings or sell assets at

the rate and at the prices, respectively, that are required to produce sufficient cash flow to meet its interest and principal requirements. The fund’s portfolio managers cannot predict future economic policies or their consequences or, therefore, the course or extent of any similar market fluctuations in the future. In addition, high yield securities are generally less liquid than investment grade securities.

INCOME RISK. The Fund invests in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold debt securities. An underlying fund’s income may decline when interest rates fall. This decline can occur because an underlying fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding securities as debt securities in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, or the fund otherwise needs to purchase additional debt securities. In addition, an underlying fund’s income could decline when the fund experiences defaults on the debt securities it holds.

INFLATION RISK. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money. As inflation increases, the present value of the Fund’s assets and distributions may decline. Inflation creates uncertainty over the future real value (after inflation) of an investment. Inflation rates may change frequently and drastically as a result of various factors, including unexpected shifts in the domestic or global economy, and the Fund’s investments may not keep pace with inflation, which may result in losses to Fund investors.

INTEREST RATE RISK. The Fund invests in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold debt securities. The value of debt securities held by an underlying fund will fluctuate in value with changes in interest rates. In general, debt securities will increase in value when interest rates fall and decrease in value when interest rates rise. An underlying fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term investments and higher for longer term investments. Duration is a common measure of interest rate risk. Duration measures a debt security’s expected life on a present value basis, taking into account the debt security’s yield, interest payments and final maturity. Duration is a reasonably accurate measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates. The longer the duration of a debt security, the greater the debt security’s price sensitivity is to changes in interest rates. Rising interest rates also may lengthen the duration of debt securities with call features, since exercise of the call becomes less likely as interest rates rise, which in turn will make the securities more sensitive to changes in interest rates and result in even steeper price declines in the event of further interest rate increases. An increase in interest rates could also cause principal payments on a debt security to be repaid at a slower rate than expected. This risk is particularly prevalent for a callable debt security where an increase in interest rates could cause the issuer of that security to not redeem the security as anticipated on the call date, effectively lengthening the security’s expected maturity, in turn making that security more vulnerable to interest rate risk and reducing its market value. When interest rates fall, an underlying fund may be required to reinvest the proceeds from the sale, redemption or early prepayment of a debt security at a lower interest rate.

INVERSE FLOATERS RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold inverse floaters. The use of inverse floaters by an underlying fund creates effective leverage. Due to the leveraged nature of these investments, the value of an inverse floater will typically be more volatile and involve greater risk than the fixed rate municipal bonds underlying the inverse floaters. An investment in certain inverse floaters will involve the risk that an underlying fund could lose more than its original principal investment. Distributions on inverse floaters bear an inverse relationship to short-term municipal bond interest rates. Thus, distributions paid to an underlying fund on its inverse floaters will be reduced or even eliminated as short-term municipal bond interest rates rise and will increase when short-term municipal bond interest rates fall. Inverse floaters generally will underperform the market for fixed rate municipal bonds in a rising interest rate environment. In addition, the transactions which give rise to the creation of an inverse floater may be terminated without an underlying fund’s consent upon the occurrence of certain events, such as the bankruptcy or other default by the issuer. In that case, the inverse floaters will be redeemed from the sale of the underlying municipal securities and could result in a loss of principal for an underlying fund.

INVESTMENT RESTRICTION RISK. The Fund’s investment in other investment companies is restricted by federal securities laws which limit the size of the position the Fund can take in another investment company. These restrictions apply to the Fund’s individual positions, as well as the aggregate positions of all other registered investment companies and private investment pools advised by First Trust and its affiliates. These limitations may prevent the Fund from purchasing shares of an investment company that it may have otherwise purchased pursuant to its principal investment strategy in order to fulfill the Fund’s investment objective.

companies may be less than the return on investment in securities of small and/or mid capitalization companies. The performance of large capitalization companies also tends to trail the overall market during different market cycles.

LEVERAGE RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that utilize leverage. Leverage may result in losses that exceed the amount originally invested and may accelerate the rates of losses. Leverage tends to magnify, sometimes significantly, the effect of any increase or decrease in the fund’s exposure to an asset or class of assets and may cause the value of the fund’s portfolio and the fund’s shares to be volatile and sensitive to market swings. Certain instruments have the potential for unlimited loss, regardless of the size of the initial investment.

LIQUIDITY RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs with investments that it may not be able to dispose of or close out readily at a favorable time or price (or at all), or at a price approximating an underlying fund’s valuation of the investment. For example, certain investments may be subject to restrictions on resale, may trade over-the-counter or in limited volume, or may not have an active trading market. Illiquid securities may trade at a discount from comparable, more liquid investments and may be subject to wide fluctuations in market value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen. It may be difficult for an underlying fund to value illiquid securities accurately. The market for certain investments may become illiquid under adverse market or economic conditions independent of any specific adverse changes in the conditions of a particular issuer. If an underlying fund needed to sell a large block of illiquid securities to meet shareholder redemption request or to raise cash, these sales could further reduce the securities’ prices and adversely affect performance of the fund. Disposal of illiquid securities may entail registration expenses and other transaction costs that are higher than those for liquid securities.

recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.

MLP RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold MLPs. Investments in securities of MLPs involve certain risks different from or in addition to the risks of investing in common stocks, including for example risks related to the limited ability of investors to control an MLP and to vote on matters affecting the MLP, risks related to potential conflicts of interest between an MLP and the MLP's general partner, the risk that an MLP will generate insufficient cash flow to meet its current operating requirements, the risk that an MLP will issue additional securities or engage in other transactions that will have the effect of diluting the interests of existing investors, and risks related to the general partner's right to require investors to sell their common units at an undesirable time or price. MLP common units can be affected by macro-economic and other factors affecting the stock market in general, changes or anticipated changes in interest rates, investor sentiment towards MLPs or the energy sector generally, changes in a particular issuer's financial condition, or unfavorable or unanticipated poor performance of a particular issuer (in the case of MLPs, generally measured in terms of distributable cash flow). Prices of common units of individual MLPs also can be affected by other factors unique to the partnership or company, including earnings power and coverage ratios. Certain MLP securities may trade in relatively low volumes due to their smaller capitalizations or other factors, which may cause them to have a high degree of price volatility and lack sufficient market liquidity to enable an underlying fund to effect a sale at an advantageous time or price. Because many MLPs pay out most of their operating cash flows, the MLPs rely on capital markets for access to equity and debt financing to fund growth through organization. If market conditions limit an MLPs access to capital markets, the MLPs growth prospects could diminish and its costs of capital increase, which would decrease the value of the common units held by an underlying fund.

MORTGAGE-RELATED SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold mortgage-related securities, including mortgage-backed securities. Mortgage-related securities are subject to the same risks as investments in other types of debt securities, including credit risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk and valuation risk. However, these investments make an underlying fund more susceptible to adverse economic, political or regulatory events that affect the value of real estate. Mortgage-related securities are also significantly affected by the rate of prepayments and modifications of the mortgage loans underlying those securities, as well as by other factors such as borrower defaults, delinquencies, realized or liquidation losses and other shortfalls. The incidence of borrower defaults or delinquencies may rise significantly during financial downturns and could adversely affect the value of mortgage-related securities held by the Fund. Events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events that result in broad and simultaneous financial hardships for individuals and businesses could have a significant negative impact on the value of mortgage-related securities. Mortgage-related securities are particularly sensitive to prepayment risk and extension risk, given that mortgage loans generally allow borrowers to refinance. In periods of declining interest rates, borrowers may be more apt to prepay their mortgage sooner than expected. This can reduce the returns to the security holder as the amount of interest related to the price may be reduced while the proceeds may have to be reinvested at lower prevailing interest rates. This is prepayment risk. In periods of rising interest rates, borrowers may be less likely to refinance than expected thus extending the cash flows of the security such that there is increased downward price sensitivity to interest rate changes. This is extension risk. As the timing and amount of prepayments cannot be accurately predicted, the timing of changes in the rate of prepayments of the mortgage loans may significantly affect an underlying fund's actual yield to maturity on any mortgage-related securities. Along with prepayment risk, mortgage-related securities are significantly affected by interest rate risk.

MUNICIPAL LEASE PARTICIPATIONS RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold municipal lease participations. These investments are undivided interests in a lease, installment purchase contract or conditional sales contract entered into by a government entity to acquire equipment or facilities. Participation interests in municipal leases pose special risks because many leases and contracts contain “non-appropriation” clauses that provide that the governmental entity issuing the obligations has no obligation to make future payments under the lease or contract unless money is appropriated for this purpose by the appropriate legislative body. Although these kinds of obligations are secured by the leased equipment or

facilities, it might be difficult and time consuming to dispose of the equipment or facilities in the event of non-appropriation, and an underlying fund might not recover the full principal amount of the obligation.

MUNICIPAL SECURITIES MARKET LIQUIDITY RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold municipal securities. From time to time, inventories of municipal securities held by brokers and dealers may decrease, lessening their ability to make a market in these securities. Any reduction in market making capacity has the potential to decrease an underlying fund’s ability to buy or sell municipal securities and increase price volatility and trading costs, particularly during periods of economic or market stress. In addition, federal banking regulations may cause certain dealers to reduce their inventories of municipal securities, which may further decrease an underlying fund’s ability to buy or sell municipal securities. As a result, an underlying fund may be forced to accept a lower price to sell a municipal security, to sell other securities to raise cash, or to give up an investment opportunity, any of which could have a negative effect on performance. The market for unrated municipal securities may be less liquid than the market for rated municipal securities of comparable quality. Decreased liquidity may negatively affect an underlying fund’s ability to mitigate risk and meet redemptions. Also, less public information is typically available about unrated municipal securities or their issuer which can affect the liquidity of the market.

MUNICIPAL SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold municipal obligations. The values of municipal securities may be adversely affected by local political and economic conditions and developments. Adverse conditions in an industry significant to a local economy could have a correspondingly adverse effect on the financial condition of local issuers. Other factors that could affect municipal securities include a change in the local, state, or national economy, demographic factors, ecological or environmental concerns, statutory limitations on the issuer’s ability to increase taxes, and other developments generally affecting the revenue of issuers (for example, legislation or court decisions reducing state aid to local governments or mandating additional services). This risk would be heightened to the extent that an underlying fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in bonds issued pursuant to similar projects (such as those relating to the education, health care, housing, transportation, or utilities industries), in industrial development bonds, or in particular types of municipal securities (such as general obligation bonds, private activity bonds or moral obligation bonds) that are particularly exposed to specific types of adverse economic, business or political events. Changes in a municipality’s financial health may also make it difficult for the municipality to make interest and principal payments when due. The values of municipal securities that depend on a specific revenue source to fund their payment obligations may fluctuate as a result of actual or anticipated changes in the cash flows generated by the revenue source or changes in the priority of the municipal securities to receive the cash flows generated by the revenue source. Under some circumstances, municipal securities might not pay interest unless the state legislature or municipality authorizes money for that purpose. Municipal securities may be more susceptible to downgrades or defaults during recessions or similar periods of economic stress. In addition, since some municipal obligations may be secured or guaranteed by banks and other institutions, the risk to an underlying fund could increase if the banking or financial sector suffers an economic downturn and/or if the credit ratings of the institutions issuing the guarantee are downgraded or at risk of being downgraded by a national rating organization. Such a downward revision or risk of being downgraded may have an adverse effect on the market prices of the bonds and thus the value of an underlying fund’s investments. In addition to being downgraded, an insolvent municipality may file for bankruptcy. The reorganization of a municipality’s debts may significantly affect the rights of creditors and the value of the securities issued by the municipality and the value of an underlying fund’s investments. In addition, income from municipal securities held by an underlying fund could be declared taxable because of, among other things, unfavorable changes in tax laws, adverse interpretations by the Internal Revenue Service or state tax authorities, or noncompliant conduct of an issuer or other obligated party. Loss of tax-exempt status may cause interest received and distributed to shareholders by an underlying fund to be taxable and may result in a significant decline in the values of such municipal securities. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the risks of the municipal securities market have been magnified. The costs associated with combating the pandemic and the negative impact on tax revenues has adversely affected the financial condition of many states and political subdivisions. These risks may also adversely affect several sectors of the municipal bond market, such as airports, toll roads, hospitals and colleges, among many others. The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on state and political subdivisions’ ability to make payments on debt obligations is impossible to predict, but could negatively impact the value of bonds, the ability of state and political subdivisions to make payments when due and the performance of the Fund.

services may incorporate different assumptions and inputs into their valuation methodologies, potentially resulting in different values for the same securities. As a result, if an underlying fund were to change pricing services, or if an underlying fund’s pricing service were to change its valuation methodology, there could be a material impact, either positive or negative, on the Fund’s net asset value.

NON-U.S. SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold non-U.S. securities. An investment in securities of non-U.S. companies involves risks not associated with domestic issuers. Investment in non-U.S. securities may involve higher costs than investment in U.S. securities, including higher transaction and custody costs as well as the imposition of additional taxes by non-U.S. governments. Non-U.S. investments may also involve risks associated with the level of currency exchange rates, less complete financial information about the issuers, less market liquidity, more market volatility and political instability. Future political and economic developments, the possible imposition of withholding taxes on dividend income, the possible seizure or nationalization of non-U.S. holdings, the imposition of sanctions by foreign governments, the possible establishment of capital controls, exchange controls or freezes on the convertibility of currency or the adoption of other governmental restrictions might adversely affect an investment in non-U.S. securities. Additionally, non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less stringent regulation, and to different accounting, auditing and recordkeeping requirements. The U.S. and non-U.S. markets often rise and fall at different times or by different amounts due to economic or other regional developments particular to a given country or region.

OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund’s investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.

PREFERRED SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold preferred securities. Preferred securities combine some of the characteristics of both common stocks and bonds. Preferred securities are typically subordinated to bonds and other debt securities in a company’s capital structure in terms of priority to corporate income, subjecting them to greater credit risk than those debt securities. Preferred securities often include provisions that permit the issuer, at its discretion, to defer distributions for a stated period without any adverse consequences to the issuer. If an underlying fund owns a preferred security that is deferring its distributions, the fund may be required to report income for federal income tax purposes although it has not yet received such income in cash. Generally, holders of preferred securities have no voting rights with respect to the issuing company unless preferred dividends have been in arrears for a specified number of periods, at which time the preferred security holders may elect a number of directors to the issuer’s board of director. Generally, once the issuer pays all the arrearages, the preferred security holders no longer have voting rights. In certain circumstances, an issuer of preferred securities may redeem the securities prior to a specified date. For instance, for certain types of preferred securities, a redemption may be triggered by a change in federal income tax or securities laws or a change in regulatory trademark. As with redemption provisions of debt securities, a special redemption by the issuer may negatively impact the return of the preferred security held by an underlying fund. Preferred securities may also be substantially less liquid than other securities, including common stock.

PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. First Trust cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), First Trust believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained absent disruptions to the creation and redemption mechanism, extreme market volatility or potential lack of authorized participants. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.

PREPAYMENT RISK. The Fund invests in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold debt securities. Prepayment risk is the risk that the issuer of a debt security will repay principal (in part or in whole) prior to the scheduled maturity date. Debt securities allowing prepayment may offer less potential for gains during a period of declining interest rates, as an underlying fund may be required to reinvest the proceeds of any prepayment at lower interest rates, reducing its income. If an underlying fund purchased the debt securities at a premium, prepayments on the securities could cause an underlying fund to lose a portion of its principal investment. These factors may cause the value of an investment in an underlying fund to change. The impact of prepayments on the price of a debt security may be difficult to predict and may increase the security’s volatility.

PRIVATE ACTIVITY BONDS RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold private activity bonds. Municipalities and other public authorities issue private activity bonds to finance development of industrial facilities for use by a private enterprise. The private enterprise is responsible for the payment of principal and interest on the bond and the issuer ordinarily does not pledge its full faith, credit and taxing power for repayment. The private enterprise can have a substantially different credit profile than the issuer. The private activity bonds in which an underlying fund may invest may be negatively impacted by conditions affecting either the general credit of the private enterprise or the project itself. Defaults may occur in the event project revenues fall short of projections due to a number of factors such as competitive pricing, construction delays or lack of demand for the project. In addition, private activity bonds typically have a longer term and are adversely affected by a rise in interest rates. An underlying fund’s private activity bond holdings may also pay interest subject to the alternative minimum tax.

REIT RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold REITs. REITs typically own and operate income-producing real estate, such as residential or commercial buildings, or real-estate related assets, including mortgages. As a result, investments in REITs are subject to the risks associated with investing in real estate, which may include, but are not limited to: fluctuations in the value of underlying properties; defaults by borrowers or tenants; market saturation; changes in general and local operating expenses; and other economic, political or regulatory occurrences affecting companies in the real estate sector. Additionally, investing in REITs involves certain other risks related to their structure and focus, which include, but are not limited to, dependency upon management skills, limited diversification, the risks of locating and managing financing for projects, heavy cash flow dependency, possible default by borrowers, the costs and potential losses of self-liquidation of one or more holdings, the risk of a possible lack of mortgage funds and associated interest rate risks, overbuilding, property vacancies, increases in property taxes and operating expenses, changes in zoning laws, losses due to environmental damages, changes in neighborhood values and appeal to purchasers, the possibility of failing to maintain exemptions from registration under the 1940 Act, failure to satisfy the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for maintaining REIT status and, in many cases, relatively small market capitalization, which may result in less market liquidity and greater price volatility for a REIT’s shares. REITs are also subject to the risk that the real estate market may experience an economic downturn generally, which may have a material effect on the real estate in which the REITs invest and their underlying portfolio securities.

SENIOR LOAN RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold senior loans. Senior loans represent debt obligations of sub-investment grade corporate borrowers, similar to high yield bonds; however, senior loans are different from traditional high yield bonds in that senior loans are typically senior to other obligations of the borrower and generally secured by the assets of the borrower. The senior loan market has seen a significant increase in loans with limited financial maintenance covenants or, in some cases, no financial maintenance covenants (i.e., “covenant-lite loans”) that would typically be included in a traditional loan credit agreement and general weakening of other restrictive covenants applicable to the borrower such as limitations on incurrence of additional debt, restrictions on payments of junior debt or restrictions on dividends and distributions, all of which may impact recovery values and/or trading levels of senior loans in the future. The absence of financial maintenance covenants in a loan agreement generally means that the lender may be unable to declare a default if financial performance deteriorates. This may hinder an underlying fund’s ability to reprice credit risk associated with the borrower and reduce an underlying fund’s ability to restructure a problematic loan and mitigate potential loss. As a result, an underlying

fund’s exposure to losses on investments in senior loans may be increased, especially during a downturn in the credit cycle or changes in market or economic conditions.

Senior loans are also subject to the same risks as investments in other types of debt securities, including credit risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk and valuation risk that may be heightened because of the limited public information available regarding senior loans and because loan borrowers may be more highly leveraged and tend to be more adversely affected by changes in market or economic conditions. If an underlying fund holds a senior loan through another financial institution or relies on a financial institution to administer the loan, its receipt of principal and interest on the loan may be subject to the credit risk of that financial institution. Although senior loans are generally secured by specific collateral, there can be no assurance that liquidation of such collateral would satisfy the borrower’s obligation in the event of non-payment of scheduled interest or principal or that such collateral could be readily liquidated. To the extent that a senior loan is collateralized by equity interests in the borrower or its subsidiaries, such equity interest may lose all of its value in the event of the bankruptcy of the borrower. Uncollateralized senior loans involve a greater risk of loss. Senior loans made in connection with highly leveraged transactions are subject to greater risks than other senior loans. For example, the risks of default or bankruptcy of the borrower or the risks that other creditors of the borrower may seek to nullify or subordinate an underlying fund’s claims on any collateral securing the loan are greater in highly leveraged transactions.

Additionally, there is no central clearinghouse for loan trades and the loan market has not established enforceable settlement standards or remedies for failure to settle. As such, the secondary market for senior loans may be subject to irregular trading activity, wide bid/ask spreads and extended trade settlement periods, which may cause an underlying fund to be unable to realize the full value of its investment. Lastly, senior loans may not be considered “securities,” and an underlying fund may not be entitled to rely on the anti-fraud protections of the federal securities laws and could be forced to rely on the contractual provisions in the loan agreement and state law to enforce its right to repayment.

SIGNIFICANT EXPOSURE RISK. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development that affected a particular asset class, region or industry may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater volatility and market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified.

SMALLER COMPANIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold the securities of small and/or mid capitalization companies. The stock price of small and/or mid capitalization companies may be more volatile than those of larger companies and therefore the Fund’s share price may be more volatile than those of funds that invest a larger percentage of their assets in stocks issued by large capitalization companies. Stock prices of small and/or mid capitalization companies are also generally more vulnerable than those of large capitalization companies to adverse business and economic developments. Securities of small and/or mid capitalization companies may be thinly traded, making it difficult for the Fund to buy and sell them. In addition, small and/or mid capitalization companies are typically less financially stable than larger, more established companies and may reinvest a high proportion of their earnings in their business and may not pay dividends. Small and/or mid capitalization companies may also depend on a small number of essential personnel who may also be less experienced than the management of larger companies, making these companies more vulnerable to experiencing adverse effects due to the loss or inexperience of personnel. Small and/or mid capitalization companies also normally have less diverse product lines than those of large capitalization companies and are more susceptible to adverse developments concerning their products.

SOVEREIGN DEBT SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold sovereign debt securities. Sovereign debt securities are issued or guaranteed by foreign governmental entities. Investments in such securities are subject to the risk that the relevant sovereign government or governmental entity may delay or refuse to pay interest or repay principal on its debt. Such delays or refusals may be due to cash flow problems, insufficient foreign currency reserves, political considerations, the size of its debt relative to the economy or the failure to put in place economic reforms required by the International Monetary Fund or other multilateral agencies. A governmental entity may default on its obligations or may require renegotiation as to maturity or interest rate units of debt payments. Any restructuring of a sovereign debt obligation held by a closed-end fund and/or ETF will likely have a significant adverse effect on the value of the obligation. A restricting or default of sovereign debt security may cause additional impacts on financial markets such as downgrades to credit ratings, disruptions in trading markets, reduced liquidity and increase volatility. Additionally, a closed-end fund and/or ETF may be unable to pursue legal action against the sovereign issuer or to realize on collateral securing the debt. The sovereign debt of many non-U.S. governments, including their sub-divisions and instrumentalities, is rated below investment-grade.

U.S. GOVERNMENT SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold U.S. government securities. U.S. government securities are subject to interest rate risk but generally do not involve the credit risks associated with investments in other types of debt securities. As a result, the yields available from U.S. government securities are generally lower than the yields available from other debt securities. U.S. government securities are guaranteed only as to the timely payment of interest and the payment of principal when held to maturity. While securities issued or guaranteed by U.S. federal government agencies (such as Ginnie Mae) are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, securities issued by government sponsored entities (such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) are solely the obligation of the issuer and generally do not carry any guarantee from the U.S. government. No assurance can be given that the U.S. government will provide financial support to its government sponsored entities or any other agency if not obligated by law to do so.

ZERO COUPON BOND RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold zero coupon bonds. As interest on zero coupon bonds is not paid on a current basis, the value of the bonds is subject to greater fluctuation than bonds that distribute income regularly. Accordingly, the value of zero coupon bonds may be highly volatile as interest rates rise or fall. Although zero coupon bonds generate income for accounting purposes, they do not produce cash flow, and thus an underlying fund could be forced to liquidate securities at an inopportune time in order to generate cash to distribute to shareholders as required by tax laws.

Non-Principal Risks

AFRICA RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold securities of African issuers. A fund that invests in securities issued by African issuers is subject to certain risks specifically associated with investments in the securities of African issuers. Investing in the economies of African countries involves risks not typically associated with investments in securities of issuers in more developed economies, countries or geographic regions that may negatively affect the value of investments in the Fund. Such heightened risks include, among others, expropriation and/or nationalization of assets, restrictions on and government intervention in international trade, confiscatory taxation, political instability, including authoritarian and/or military involvement in governmental decision making, armed conflict, civil war, and social instability as a result of religious, ethnic and/or socioeconomic unrest or widespread outbreaks of disease. The securities markets in Africa are underdeveloped and are often considered to be less correlated to global economic cycles than markets located in more developed economies, countries or geographic regions. Securities markets in African countries are subject to greater risks associated with market volatility, lower market capitalization, lower trading volume, illiquidity, inflation, greater price fluctuations, uncertainty regarding the existence of trading markets, governmental control and heavy regulation of labor and industry. Moreover, trading on African securities markets may be suspended altogether. Certain governments in African countries may restrict or control to varying degrees the ability of foreign investors to invest in securities of issuers located or operating in those countries. Moreover, certain countries in Africa may require governmental approval or special licenses prior to investment by foreign investors; may limit the amount of investment by foreign investors in a particular industry and/or issuer; may limit such foreign investment to a certain class of securities of an issuer that may have less advantageous rights than the classes available for purchase by domestic investors of those countries; and/or may impose additional taxes on foreign investors. These factors, among others, make investing in issuers located or operating in countries in Africa significantly riskier than investing in issuers located or operating in more developed countries.

ASIA RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold securities of Asian issuers. Such investments subject the Fund to certain risks associated specifically with investments in securities of Asian issuers, including distinct legal, regulatory, political and economic risks. Many Asian economies have experienced rapid growth and industrialization, and there is no assurance that this growth rate will be maintained. Some Asian economies are highly dependent on trade, and economic conditions in other countries within and outside Asia can impact these economies. Certain of these economies may be adversely affected by trade or policy disputes with its major trade partners. There is also a high concentration of market capitalization and trading volume in a small number of issuers representing a limited number of industries, as well as a high concentration of investors and financial intermediaries. Certain Asian countries have experienced and may in the future experience expropriation and nationalization of assets, confiscatory taxation, currency manipulation, political instability, armed conflict and social instability as a result of religious, ethnic, socio-economic and/or political unrest. In particular, escalated tensions involving North Korea and any outbreak of hostilities involving North Korea could have a severe adverse effect on Asian economies. Governments of certain Asian countries have exercised, and continue to exercise, substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector. In certain cases, the government owns or controls many companies, including the largest in the country. Accordingly, government actions could have a significant effect on the issuers of the Fund’s securities or on economic conditions generally. Issuers in Asia may not be subject to the same accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards as U.S. companies and if their securities are not listed on a U.S. exchange, they may not be subject to the same corporate governance standards as U.S. issuers. In addition, satisfactory custodial services for investment securities may not be available in some Asia countries, which may result in the Fund incurring additional costs and delays in providing transportation and custody services for such securities outside such countries. Recent developments in relations between the U.S. and China have heightened concerns of increased tariffs and restrictions on trade between the two countries. An increase in tariffs or trade restrictions, or even the threat of such developments, could lead to a significant reduction in international trade, which could have a negative impact on the economy of Asian countries and a commensurately negative impact on the Fund.

BORROWING AND LEVERAGE RISK. If the Fund borrows money, it must pay interest and other fees, which may reduce the Fund’s returns. Any such borrowings are intended to be temporary. However, under certain market conditions, including periods of decreased liquidity, such borrowings might be outstanding for longer periods of time. As prescribed by the 1940 Act, the Fund will be required to maintain specified asset coverage of at least 300% with respect to any bank borrowing immediately following such borrowing and at all times thereafter. The Fund may be required to dispose of assets on unfavorable terms if market fluctuations or other factors reduce the Fund’s asset coverage to less than the prescribed amount.

CREDIT RATING AGENCY RISK. Credit ratings are determined by credit rating agencies such as Standard & Poor’s, Inc., Moody’s Investors Services, Inc. and Fitch Inc., and are only the opinions of such entities. Ratings assigned by a rating agency are not absolute standards of credit quality and do not evaluate market risk or the liquidity of securities. Any shortcomings or inefficiencies in credit rating agencies’ processes for determining credit ratings may adversely affect the credit ratings of securities held by the closed-end funds and/or ETFs in which the Fund invests and, as a result, may adversely affect those securities’ perceived or actual credit risk.

CURRENCY RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold securities denominated in a non-U.S. currency. Changes in currency exchange rates affect the value of investments denominated in a foreign currency, the value of dividends and interest earned from such securities and gains and losses realized on the sale of such securities. An underlying fund’s net asset value could decline if a currency to which the fund has exposure depreciates against the U.S. dollar or if there are delays or limits on repatriation of such currency. Currency exchange rates can be very volatile and can change quickly and unpredictably. Changes in currency exchange rates may affect an underlying fund's net asset value, the value of dividends and interest earned, and gains and losses realized on the sale of securities. An increase in the strength of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies may cause the value of an underlying fund to decline. Certain non-U.S. currencies may be particularly volatile, and non-U.S. governments may intervene in the currency markets, causing a decline in value or liquidity in an underlying fund's non-U.S. holdings whose value is tied to the affected non-U.S. currency. Additionally, the prices of non-U.S. securities that are traded in U.S. dollars are often indirectly influenced by currency fluctuations.

DEPENDENCE ON KEY PERSONNEL. The Advisor is dependent upon the experience and expertise of the Fund’s portfolio manager in providing advisory services with respect to the Fund’s investments. If the Advisor were to lose the services of the portfolio manager, its ability to service the Fund could be adversely affected. There can be no assurance that a suitable replacement could be found for the portfolio manager in the event of his death, resignation, retirement or inability to act on behalf of the Advisor.

EMERGING MARKETS RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold investments issued by governments and companies operating in emerging market countries. Investments in securities issued by governments and

companies operating in emerging market countries involve additional risks relating to political, economic, or regulatory conditions not associated with investments in securities and instruments issued by U.S. companies or by companies operating in other developed market countries. This is due to, among other things, the potential for greater market volatility, lower trading volume, a lack of liquidity, potential for market manipulation, higher levels of inflation, political and economic instability, greater risk of a market shutdown and more governmental limitations on foreign investments in emerging market countries than are typically found in more developed market countries. Moreover, emerging market countries often have less uniformity in accounting and reporting requirements, unsettled securities laws, less reliable securities valuations and greater risks associated with custody of securities than developed markets. In addition, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which regulates auditors of U.S. public companies, is unable to inspect audit work papers in certain emerging market countries. Emerging market countries often have greater risk of capital controls through such measures as taxes or interest rate control than developed markets. Certain emerging market countries may also lack the infrastructure necessary to attract large amounts of foreign trade and investment. Local securities markets in emerging market countries may trade a small number of securities and may be unable to respond effectively to increases in trading volume, potentially making prompt liquidation of holdings difficult or impossible. Settlement procedures in emerging market countries are frequently less developed and reliable than those in the U.S. and other developed market countries. In addition, significant delays may occur in registering the transfer of securities. Settlement or registration problems may make it more difficult for an underlying fund to value its portfolio securities and could cause the fund to miss attractive investment opportunities. Investing in emerging market countries involves a higher risk of expropriation, nationalization, confiscation of assets and property or the imposition of restrictions on foreign investments and on repatriation of capital invested by certain emerging market countries. Enforcing legal rights may be made difficult, costly and slow in emerging markets as there may be additional problems enforcing claims against non-U.S. governments. As such, the rights and remedies associated with emerging market investment securities may be different than those available for investments in more developed markets. For example, it may be more difficult for shareholders to bring derivative litigation or for U.S. regulators to bring enforcement actions against issuers in emerging markets.

In addition, due to the differences in regulatory, accounting, audit and financial recordkeeping standards, including financial disclosures, less information about emerging market companies is publicly available and information that is available may be unreliable or outdated. This may affect the Index Provider’s ability to compute and construct the Index and may further impede the Advisor’s ability to accurately evaluate the index data provided. This potential for error in index construction and index data could affect the overall performance of an underlying fund.

EUROPE RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold securities of European issuers. Therefore, in addition to the risks associated with investments in non-U.S. securities generally, the Fund is subject to certain risks associated specifically with investments in securities of European issuers. Political or economic disruptions in European countries, even in countries in which the Fund is not invested, may adversely affect security values and thus the Fund’s holdings. A significant number of countries in Europe are member states in the EU, and the member states no longer control their own monetary policies by directing independent interest rates for their currencies. In these member states, the authority to direct monetary policies, including money supply and official interest rates for the Euro, is exercised by the European Central Bank. In a 2016 referendum, the United Kingdom elected to withdraw from the EU. After years of negotiations between the United Kingdom and the EU, a withdrawal agreement was reached whereby the United Kingdom formally left the EU. As the second largest economy among EU members, the implications of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal are difficult to gauge and cannot be fully known. Trade between the United Kingdom and the EU is highly integrated through supply chains and trade in services, as well as through multinational companies. The United Kingdom’s departure may negatively impact the EU and Europe as a whole by causing volatility within the EU, triggering prolonged economic downturns in certain European countries or sparking additional member states to contemplate departing the EU (thereby perpetuating political instability in the region).

FAILURE TO QUALIFY AS A REGULATED INVESTMENT COMPANY RISK. If, in any year, the Fund fails to qualify as a regulated investment company under the applicable tax laws, that Fund would be taxed as an ordinary corporation. In such circumstances, the Fund could be required to recognize unrealized gains, pay substantial taxes and interest and make substantial distributions before requalifying as a regulated investment company that is accorded special tax treatment.

ISSUER SPECIFIC CHANGES RISK. Changes in the financial condition of an issuer or counterparty, changes in specific economic or political conditions that affect a particular type of security or issuer, and changes in general economic or political conditions can affect a security’s or instrument’s value. The value of securities of smaller, less well-known issuers can be more volatile than that of larger issuers. Issuer specific events can have a negative impact on the value of the Fund.

LATIN AMERICA RISK. The Fund may invest in closed-end funds and/or ETFs that hold securities of Latin American issuers. The economies of Latin American countries have in the past experienced considerable difficulties, including high inflation

rates, high interest rates, high unemployment, government overspending and political instability. International economic conditions, particularly those in the United States, Europe and Asia, as well as world prices for oil and other commodities may also influence the development of Latin American economies. Many Latin American countries are highly reliant on the exportation of commodities and their economies may be significantly impacted by fluctuations in commodity prices and the global demand for certain commodities. In the past, certain Latin American economies have been influenced by changing supply and demand for a particular currency, monetary policies of governments (including exchange control programs, restrictions on local exchanges or markets and limitations on foreign investment in a country or on investment by residents of a country in other countries), and currency devaluations and revaluations. Other Latin American investment risks may include inadequate investor protection, less developed regulatory, accounting, auditing and financial standards, unfavorable changes in laws or regulations, natural disasters, corruption and military activity. The governments of many Latin American countries may also exercise substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector, and any such exercise could have a significant effect on companies in which the Fund invests. Securities of companies in Latin America may also be subject to significant price volatility.

LEGISLATION/LITIGATION RISK. From time to time, various legislative initiatives are proposed in the United States and abroad, which may have a negative impact on certain companies in which an underlying fund invests. In addition, litigation regarding any of the issuers of the securities owned by an underlying fund, or industries represented by these issuers, may negatively impact the value of the Fund’s shares. Such legislation or litigation may cause the Fund to lose value or may result in higher portfolio turnover if the Advisor determines to sell such a holding.

Fund Organization

The Fund is a series of the Trust, an investment company registered under the 1940 Act. The Fund is treated as a separate fund with its own investment objectives and policies. The Trust is organized as a Massachusetts business trust. The Board is responsible for the overall management and direction of the Trust. The Board elects the Trust’s officers and approves all significant agreements, including those with the Advisor, distributor, custodian and fund administrative and accounting agent.

Management of the Fund

First Trust Advisors L.P., 120 East Liberty Drive, Wheaton, Illinois 60187, is the investment advisor to the Fund. In this capacity, First Trust is responsible for the selection and ongoing monitoring of the securities in the Fund's portfolio and certain other services necessary for the management of the portfolio.

First Trust is a limited partnership with one limited partner, Grace Partners of DuPage L.P., and one general partner, The Charger Corporation. Grace Partners of DuPage L.P. is a limited partnership with one general partner, The Charger Corporation, and a number of limited partners. The Charger Corporation is an Illinois corporation controlled by James A. Bowen, the Chief Executive Officer of First Trust. First Trust discharges its responsibilities subject to the policies of the Fund.

First Trust serves as advisor or sub-advisor for 8 mutual fund portfolios, 10 exchange-traded funds consisting of 194 series and 16 closed-end funds. It is also the portfolio supervisor of certain unit investment trusts sponsored by First Trust Portfolios L.P. (“FTP”), an affiliate of First Trust, 120 East Liberty Drive, Wheaton, Illinois 60187. FTP specializes in the underwriting, trading and distribution of unit investment trusts and other securities. FTP is the principal underwriter of the shares of the Fund.

Ken Fincher and Jordan Ramsland are the Fund's portfolio managers and are jointly and primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund’s investment portfolio.

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Ken Fincher is a Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager at First Trust. Mr. Fincher joined First Trust with over 20 years of experience in financial markets. His current responsibilities include management of separately managed accounts that invest primarily in closed-end funds. He has also helped develop new product structures in the closed-end fund space. Mr. Fincher has been named Outstanding Individual Contributor to the Closed-End Fund Sector in 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 by financial analysts and his peers in the closed-end fund community and also served on the Closed-End Fund committee of the Investment Company Institute. Mr. Fincher received a B.A. in financial administration from Michigan State University and an M.B.A. from Loyola University Graduate School of Business.

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Jordan Ramsland is a Vice President and Portfolio Manager at First Trust Advisors. Mr. Ramsland graduated from Palm Beach Atlantic University in 2011 with a B.S. in Finance. Mr. Ramsland joined First Trust in 2013, and his current responsibilities include research and management of strategies that invest primarily in

closed-end funds. He is responsible for updating and maintaining First Trust’s proprietary CEF models as part of the investment process for the First Trust Closed-End Fund ETFs and SMAs. Prior to working at First Trust, he worked at a high net worth wealth management firm, as well as a technology firm in Chicago.

For additional information concerning First Trust, including a description of the services provided to the Fund, see the Fund’s SAI. Additional information about the portfolio managers’ compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio managers and the portfolio managers’ ownership of shares in the Fund is provided in the SAI.

Management Fee

Pursuant to an investment management agreement between First Trust and the Trust, on behalf of the Fund (the "Investment Management Agreement"), First Trust manages the investment of the Fund’s assets. First Trust is paid an annual unitary management fee by the Fund equal to 0.85% of the Fund's average daily net assets and is responsible for the Fund’s expenses, including the cost of transfer agency, custody, fund administration, legal, audit, license and other services, but excluding fee payments under the Investment Management Agreement, interest, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses, if any, brokerage commissions and other expenses connected with the execution of portfolio transactions, distribution and service fees payable pursuant to a 12b-1 plan, if any, and extraordinary expenses. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund paid management fees of 0.85%.

A discussion regarding the Board’s approval of the continuation of the Investment Management Agreement is available in the Fund’s Annual Report to shareholders for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2021.

How to Buy and Sell Shares

Most investors buy and sell shares of the Fund in secondary market transactions through brokers. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on the secondary market on one or more national securities exchanges. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like other publicly traded shares. There is no minimum investment when buying shares on an Exchange. Although shares are generally purchased and sold in “round lots” of 100 shares, brokerage firms typically permit investors to purchase or sell shares in smaller “odd lots,” at no per-share price differential. When buying or selling shares through a broker, investors should expect to pay brokerage commissions, investors may receive less than the net asset value of the shares because shares are bought and sold at market prices rather than at net asset value, and investors may pay some or all of the bid-ask spread for each transaction (purchase or sale) of Fund shares. Share prices are reported in dollars and cents per share.

Under normal circumstances, the Fund will pay out redemption proceeds to a redeeming authorized participant within two days after the authorized participant’s redemption request is received, in accordance with the process set forth in the Fund’s SAI and in the agreement between the authorized participant and the Fund’s distributor. However, the Fund reserves the right, including under stressed market conditions, to take up to seven days after the receipt of a redemption request to pay an authorized participant, all as permitted by the 1940 Act. If the Fund has foreign investments in a country where a local market holiday, or series of consecutive holidays, or the extended delivery cycles for transferring foreign investments to redeeming authorized participants prevents the Fund from delivering such foreign investments to an authorized participant in response to a redemption request, the Fund may take up to 15 days after the receipt of the redemption request to deliver such investments to the authorized participant.

For purposes of the 1940 Act, the Fund is treated as a registered investment company and the acquisition of shares by other registered investment companies is subject to the restrictions of Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act and the related rules and interpretations.

Book Entry

Shares are held in book-entry form, which means that no share certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) or its nominee is the record owner of all outstanding shares of the Fund and is recognized as the owner of all shares for all purposes.

Investors owning shares are beneficial owners as shown on the records of DTC or its participants. DTC serves as the securities depository for all shares. Participants in DTC include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and other institutions that directly or indirectly maintain a custodial relationship with DTC. As a beneficial owner of shares, you are not entitled to receive physical delivery of share certificates or to have shares registered in your name, and you are not considered a registered owner of shares. Therefore, to exercise any right as an owner of shares, you must rely

upon the procedures of DTC and its participants. These procedures are the same as those that apply to any other stocks that you hold in book-entry or “street name” form.

Share Trading Prices

The trading price of shares of the Fund on the secondary market is based on market price and may differ from the Fund’s daily net asset value and can be affected by market forces of supply and demand, economic conditions and other factors.

Frequent Purchases and Redemptions of the Fund's Shares

The Fund imposes no restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions (“market timing”). In determining not to approve a written, established policy, the Board evaluated the risks of market timing activities by the Fund's shareholders. The Board considered that the Fund's shares can only be purchased and redeemed directly from the Fund in Creation Units by broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (i.e., authorized participants (“APs”)) and that the vast majority of trading in the Fund's shares occurs on the secondary market. Because the secondary market trades do not involve the Fund directly, it is unlikely those trades would cause many of the harmful effects of market timing, including dilution, disruption of portfolio management, increases in the Fund's trading costs and the realization of capital gains. With respect to trades directly with the Fund, to the extent effected in‑kind (i.e., for securities), those trades do not cause any of the harmful effects that may result from frequent cash trades. To the extent that the Fund may effect the purchase or redemption of Creation Units in exchange wholly or partially for cash, the Board noted that such trades could result in dilution to the Fund and increased transaction costs, which could negatively impact the Fund's ability to achieve its investment objectives. However, the Board noted that direct trading by APs is critical to ensuring that the shares trade at or close to net asset value. In addition, the Fund imposes fixed and variable transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units to cover the custodial and other costs incurred by the Fund in effecting trades. Finally, the Advisor monitors purchase and redemption orders from APs for patterns of abusive trading.

Dividends, Distributions and Taxes

Dividends from net investment income, if any, are declared and paid at least monthly by the Fund. The Fund distributes its net realized capital gains, if any, to shareholders at least annually.

Distributions in cash may be reinvested automatically in additional whole shares only if the broker through whom you purchased shares makes such option available. Such shares will generally be reinvested by the broker based upon the market price of those shares and investors may be subject to customary brokerage commissions charged by the broker.

Federal Tax Matters

This section summarizes some of the main U.S. federal income tax consequences of owning shares of the Fund. This section is current as of the date of this prospectus. Tax laws and interpretations change frequently, and these summaries do not describe all of the tax consequences to all taxpayers. For example, these summaries generally do not describe your situation if you are a corporation, a non-U.S. person, a broker-dealer, or other investor with special circumstances. However, with respect to certain tax issues, the summaries describe the general tax treatment of certain distributions made to corporations and non-U.S. persons. In addition, this section does not describe your state, local or non-U.S. tax consequences.

This federal income tax summary is based in part on the advice of counsel to the Fund. The Internal Revenue Service could disagree with any conclusions set forth in this section. In addition, counsel to the Fund may not have been asked to review, and may not have reached a conclusion with respect to, the federal income tax treatment of the assets to be included in the Fund. The following disclosure may not be sufficient for you to use for the purpose of avoiding penalties under federal tax law.

As with any investment, you should seek advice based on your individual circumstances from your own tax advisor.

Fund Status

The Fund intends to continue to qualify as a “regulated investment company” under the federal tax laws. If the Fund qualifies as a regulated investment company and distributes its income as required by the tax law, the Fund generally will not pay federal income taxes.

The Fund has based its analysis of its qualification as a RIC on the belief that its portfolio funds are themselves RICs. The Fund intends to qualify as a “qualified fund of funds.” If the Fund is a qualified fund of funds, some or all of the dividends paid by

the Fund may be treated as exempt-interest dividends. If a portfolio fund were to lose its status as a RIC, the Fund may fail its requirement to have a diversified portfolio, and, thus, lose its own RIC status.
If the Fund did not qualify as a RIC for any taxable year and certain relief provisions were not available, the Fund’s taxable income would be subject to tax at the Fund level and to a further tax at the shareholder level when such income is distributed. In such event, in order to re-qualify for taxation as a RIC, the Fund might be required to recognize unrealized gains, pay substantial taxes and interest and make certain distributions. This would cause investors to incur higher tax liabilities than they otherwise would have incurred and would have a negative impact on Fund returns. In such event, the Fund’s Board of Trustees may determine to reorganize or close the Fund or materially change the Fund’s investment objective and strategies. In the event that the Fund fails to qualify as a RIC, the Fund will promptly notify shareholders of the implications of that failure.

Distributions

After the end of each year, you will receive a tax statement that separates the distributions of the Fund into three categories: exempt-interest dividends, ordinary income distributions and capital gain dividends. Dividends that qualify as “exempt-interest dividends” generally are excluded from your gross income for federal income tax purposes. Some or all of the exempt-interest dividends, however, may be taken into account in determining your alternative minimum tax and may have other tax consequences (e.g., they may affect the amount of your social security benefits that are taxed). Ordinary income distributions are generally taxed at your ordinary tax rate, however, as further discussed below certain ordinary income distributions received from the Fund may be taxed at the capital gains tax rates. Generally, you will treat all capital gain dividends as long-term capital gains regardless of how long you have owned your shares.

To determine your actual tax liability for your capital gain dividends, you must calculate your total net capital gain or loss for the tax year after considering all of your other taxable transactions, as described below. In addition, the Fund may make distributions that represent a return of capital for tax purposes and thus will generally not be taxable to you; however, such distributions may reduce your tax basis in your shares, which could result in you having to pay higher taxes in the future when shares are sold, even if you sell the shares at a loss from your original investment. A "return of capital" is a return, in whole or in part, of the funds that you previously invested in the Fund. A return of capital distribution should not be considered part of the Fund’s dividend yield or total return of an investment in Fund shares. The tax status of your distributions from the Fund is not affected by whether you reinvest your distributions in additional shares or receive them in cash. The income from the Fund that you must take into account for federal income tax purposes is not reduced by amounts used to pay a deferred sales fee, if any. The tax laws may require you to treat distributions made to you in January as if you had received them on December 31 of the previous year.

Income from the Fund may also be subject to a 3.8% “Medicare tax.” This tax generally applies to your net investment income if your adjusted gross income exceeds certain threshold amounts, which are $250,000 in the case of married couples filing joint returns and $200,000 in the case of single individuals. Interest that is excluded from gross income and exempt-interest dividends from the Fund are generally not included in your net investment income for purposes of this tax.

Dividends Received Deduction

A corporation that owns shares generally will not be entitled to the dividends received deduction with respect to many dividends received from the Fund because the dividends received deduction is generally not available for distributions from regulated investment companies. However, certain ordinary income dividends on shares that are attributable to qualifying dividends received by the Fund from certain corporations may be reported by the Fund as being eligible for the dividends received deduction.

Capital Gains and Losses and Certain Ordinary Income Dividends

If you are an individual, the maximum marginal stated federal tax rate for net capital gain is generally 20% (15% or 0% for taxpayers with taxable income below certain thresholds). Some capital gains, including some portion of your capital gain dividends may be taxed at a higher maximum stated tax rate. Capital gains may also be subject to the Medicare tax described above.

Net capital gain equals net long-term capital gain minus net short-term capital loss for the taxable year. Capital gain or loss is long-term if the holding period for the asset is more than one year and is short-term if the holding period for the asset is one year or less. You must exclude the date you purchase your shares to determine your holding period. If you hold a share for six months or less, any loss incurred by you related to the disposition of such share will be disallowed to the extent of the exempt-interest dividends you received, except in the case of a regular dividend paid by the Fund if the Fund declares

exempt-interest dividends on a daily basis in an amount equal to at least 90 percent of its net tax-exempt interest and distributes such dividends on a monthly or more frequent basis. To the extent, if any, it is not disallowed, it will be recharacterized as long-term capital loss to the extent of any capital gain dividend received. The tax rates for capital gains realized from assets held for one year or less are generally the same as for ordinary income. The Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, treats certain capital gains as ordinary income in special situations.

An election may be available to you to defer recognition of the gain attributable to a capital gain dividend if you make certain qualifying investments within a limited time. You should talk to your tax advisor about the availability of this deferral election and its requirements.

Ordinary income dividends received by an individual shareholder from a regulated investment company such as the Fund are generally taxed at the same rates that apply to net capital gain (as discussed above), provided certain holding period requirements are satisfied and provided the dividends are attributable to qualifying dividends received by the Fund itself. The Fund will provide notice to its shareholders of the amount of any distribution which may be taken into account as a dividend which is eligible for the capital gains tax rates.

Sale of Shares

If you sell or redeem your shares, you will generally recognize a taxable gain or loss. To determine the amount of this gain or loss, you must subtract your tax basis in your shares from the amount you receive in the transaction. Your tax basis in your shares is generally equal to the cost of your shares, generally including sales charges. In some cases, however, you may have to adjust your tax basis after you purchase your shares. Further, if you hold your shares for six months or less, any loss incurred by you related to the disposition of such a share will be disallowed to the extent of the exempt-interest dividends you received, except as otherwise described in the prior paragraph. An election may be available to you to defer recognition of capital gain if you make certain qualifying investments within a limited time. You should talk to your tax advisor about the availability of this deferral election and its requirements.

Taxes on Purchase and Redemption of Creation Units

If you exchange securities for Creation Units, you will generally recognize a gain or a loss. The gain or loss will be equal to the difference between the market value of the Creation Units at the time and your aggregate basis in the securities surrendered and the cash component paid. If you exchange Creation Units for securities, you will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between your basis in the Creation Units and the aggregate market value of the securities received and the cash redemption amount. The Internal Revenue Service, however, may assert that a loss realized upon an exchange of securities for Creation Units or Creation Units for securities cannot be deducted currently under the rules governing “wash sales,” or on the basis that there has been no significant change in economic position.

Treatment of Expenses

Expenses incurred and deducted by the Fund will generally not be treated as income taxable to you. If the Fund pays exempt-interest dividends, which are treated as exempt interest for federal income tax purposes, you will not be able to deduct some of the interest expense for the debt that you incur or continue to purchase or carry shares in the Fund.

Non-U.S. Tax Credit

If the Fund invests in non-U.S. securities, the tax statement that you receive may include an item showing non-U.S. taxes the Fund paid to other countries. In this case, dividends taxed to you will include your share of the taxes the Fund paid to other countries. You may be able to deduct or receive a tax credit for your share of these taxes.

Non-U.S. Investors

If you are a non-U.S. investor (i.e., an investor other than a U.S. citizen or resident or a U.S. corporation, partnership, estate or trust), you should be aware that, generally, subject to applicable tax treaties, distributions from the Fund will be characterized as dividends for federal income tax purposes (other than dividends which the Fund properly reports as capital gain dividends) and, other than exempt-interest dividends, will be subject to U.S. federal income taxes, including withholding taxes, subject to certain exceptions described below. However, distributions received by a non-U.S. investor from the Fund that are properly reported by the Fund as capital gain dividends may not be subject to U.S. federal income taxes, including withholding taxes, provided that the Fund makes certain elections and certain other conditions are met. Distributions from the Fund that are properly reported by the Fund as an interest-related dividend attributable to certain interest income received by the Fund or as a short-term capital gain dividend attributable to certain net short-term capital gain income received by the Fund may not

be subject to U.S. federal income taxes, including withholding taxes when received by certain non-U.S. investors, provided that the Fund makes certain elections and certain other conditions are met.

Distributions may be subject to a U.S. withholding tax of 30% in the case of distributions to (i) certain non-U.S. financial institutions that have not entered into an agreement with the U.S. Treasury to collect and disclose certain information and are not resident in a jurisdiction that has entered into such an agreement with the U.S. Treasury and (ii) certain other non-U.S. entities that do not provide certain certifications and information about the entity’s U.S. owners. This withholding tax is also currently scheduled to apply to the gross proceeds from the disposition of securities that produce U.S. source interest or dividends. However, proposed regulations may eliminate the requirement to withhold on payments of gross proceeds from dispositions.

Investments in Certain Non-U.S. Corporations

If the Fund holds an equity interest in any “passive foreign investment companies” (“PFICs”), which are generally certain non-U.S. corporations that receive at least 75% of their annual gross income from passive sources (such as interest, dividends, certain rents and royalties or capital gains) or that hold at least 50% of their assets in investments producing such passive income, the Fund could be subject to U.S. federal income tax and additional interest charges on gains and certain distributions with respect to those equity interests, even if all the income or gain is timely distributed to its shareholders. The Fund will not be able to pass through to its shareholders any credit or deduction for such taxes. The Fund may be able to make an election that could ameliorate these adverse tax consequences. In this case, the Fund would recognize as ordinary income any increase in the value of such PFIC shares, and as ordinary loss any decrease in such value to the extent it did not exceed prior increases included in income. Under this election, the Fund might be required to recognize in a year income in excess of its distributions from PFICs and its proceeds from dispositions of PFIC stock during that year, and such income would nevertheless be subject to the distribution requirement and would be taken into account for purposes of the 4% excise tax. Dividends paid by PFICs are not treated as qualified dividend income.

Distribution Plan

FTP serves as the distributor of Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. FTP does not maintain a secondary market in shares.

The Board has adopted a Distribution and Service Plan pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. In accordance with the Rule 12b-1 plan, the Fund is authorized to pay an amount up to 0.25% of its average daily net assets each year to reimburse FTP for amounts expended to finance activities primarily intended to result in the sale of Creation Units or the provision of investor services. FTP may also use this amount to compensate securities dealers or other persons that are APs for providing distribution assistance, including broker-dealer and shareholder support and educational and promotional services.

The Fund does not currently pay 12b-1 fees, and pursuant to a contractual arrangement, the Fund will not pay 12b-1 fees any time before April 8, 2023. However, in the event 12b-1 fees are charged in the future, because these fees are paid out of the Fund's assets, over time these fees will increase the cost of your investment and may cost you more than certain other types of sales charges.

Net Asset Value

The Fund's net asset value is determined as of the close of trading (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time) on each day the New York Stock Exchange is open for trading. If the New York Stock Exchange closes early on a valuation day, the Fund’s net asset value will be determined as of that time. Net asset value per share is calculated for the Fund by taking the market price of the Fund’s total assets, including interest or dividends accrued but not yet collected, less all liabilities (including accrued expenses and dividends declared but unpaid), and dividing such amount by the total number of shares outstanding. The result, rounded to the nearest cent, is the net asset value per share. All valuations are subject to review by the Board or its delegate.

The Fund's investments are valued daily at market value or, in the absence of market value with respect to any portfolio securities, at fair value, in accordance with valuation procedures adopted by the Board and in accordance with the 1940 Act. Portfolio securities listed on any exchange other than Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange Alternative Investment Market (“AIM”) are valued at the last sale price on the business day as of which such value is being determined. Securities listed on Nasdaq or AIM are valued at the official closing price on the business day as of which such value is being determined. If there has been no sale on such day, or no official closing price in the case of securities traded on Nasdaq or AIM, the securities are fair valued at the mean of their most recent bid and ask price on such day. Portfolio securities traded on more than one securities

exchange are valued at the last sale price or official closing price, as applicable, on the business day as of which such value is being determined at the close of the exchange representing the principal market for such securities. Portfolio securities traded in the over-the-counter market, but excluding securities trading on Nasdaq or AIM, are fair valued at the mean of their most recent bid and asked price, if available, and otherwise at the closing bid price. Short-term investments that mature in less than 60 days when purchased are fair valued at cost adjusted for amortization of premiums and accretion of discount, provided the Advisor’s Pricing Committee has determined that the use of amortized cost is an appropriate reflection of fair value given market and issuer-specific conditions existing at the time of the determination. Net asset value may change on days when investors may not purchase or sell Fund shares.

Certain securities may not be able to be priced by pre-established pricing methods. Such securities may be valued by the Board or its delegate, the Advisor’s Pricing Committee, at fair value. The use of fair value pricing by the Fund is governed by valuation procedures adopted by the Board and in accordance with the provisions of the 1940 Act. These securities generally include, but are not limited to, certain restricted securities (securities which may not be publicly sold without registration under the Securities Act of 1933) for which a pricing service is unable to provide a market price; securities whose trading has been formally suspended; a security whose market or fair value price is not available from a pre-established pricing source; a security with respect to which an event has occurred that is likely to materially affect the value of the security after the market has closed but before the calculation of the Fund's net asset value or make it difficult or impossible to obtain a reliable market quotation; and a security whose price, as provided by the pricing service, does not reflect the security’s fair value. As a general principle, the current fair value of a security would appear to be the amount which the owner might reasonably expect to receive for the security upon its current sale. When fair value prices are used, generally they will differ from the current market quotations or official closing prices on the applicable exchange. A variety of factors may be considered in determining the fair value of such securities. See the Fund's SAI for details.

Because foreign securities exchanges may be open on different days than the days during which an investor may purchase or sell shares of the Fund, the value of the Fund's securities may change on days when investors are not able to purchase or sell shares of the Fund. The value of securities denominated in foreign currencies is converted into U.S. dollars at the exchange rates in effect at the time of valuation.

Fund Service Providers

The Bank of New York Mellon, 240 Greenwich Street, New York, New York 10286, acts as the administrator, custodian and fund accounting and transfer agent for the Fund. Chapman and Cutler LLP, 320 S. Canal St., Chicago, Illinois 60606, serves as legal counsel to the Fund. First Trust serves as the fund reporting agent for the Fund.

Premium/Discount Information

Information showing the number of days the market price of the Fund's shares was greater (at a premium) and less (at a discount) than the Fund's net asset value for the most recently completed year, and the most recently completed calendar quarters since that year (or life of the Fund, if shorter), is available at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.

Total Return Information

The table below compares the total return of the Fund to a broad-based market index and a blended benchmark. The information presented for the Fund is for the period indicated.

“Average annual total returns” represent the average annual change in the value of an investment over the period indicated. “Cumulative total returns” represent the total change in value of an investment over the period indicated. The return information shown under “Annual Total Return” in the Fund’s summary prospectus represents the average annual total returns of the Fund as of the calendar year end, while the information presented below is as of the Fund’s fiscal year end. The net asset value per share of the Fund is the value of one share of the Fund and is computed by dividing the value of all assets of the Fund (including accrued interest and dividends), less liabilities (including accrued expenses and dividends declared but unpaid), by the total number of outstanding shares. The net asset value return is based on the net asset value per share of the Fund and the market return is based on the market price per share of the Fund. The price used to calculate market return (“Market Price”) is determined by using the midpoint of the national best bid and offer price (“NBBO”) as of the time that the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Under SEC rules, the NBBO consists of the highest displayed buy and lowest sell prices among the various exchanges trading the Fund at the time the Fund's net asset value is calculated. Prior to January 1, 2019, the price used was the midpoint between the highest bid and the lowest offer on the stock exchange on which shares of the Fund were listed

for trading as of the time that the Fund's net asset value was calculated. Since the shares of the Fund typically do not trade in the secondary market until several days after the Fund's inception, for the period from inception to the first day of secondary market trading in shares of the Fund, the net asset value of the Fund is used as a proxy for the secondary market trading price to calculate market returns. Market and net asset value returns assume that all distributions have been reinvested in the Fund at Market Price and net asset value, respectively. An index is a statistical composite that tracks a specified financial market or sector. Unlike the Fund, an index does not actually hold a portfolio of securities and therefore does not incur the expenses incurred by the Fund. These expenses negatively impact the performance of the Fund. Also, market returns do not include brokerage commissions that may be payable on secondary market transactions. If brokerage commissions were included, market returns would be lower. The total returns reflect the reinvestment of dividends on securities in the index. The returns shown in the table below do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of shares of the Fund. The investment return and principal value of shares of the Fund will vary with changes in market conditions. Shares of the Fund may be worth more or less than their original cost when they are redeemed or sold in the market. The Fund's past performance is no guarantee of future results.

First Trust Income Opportunities ETF (FCEF)
Total Returns as of August 31, 2021

		Average Annual	Cumulative
	1 Year	Inception (9/27/2016)	Inception (9/27/2016)
Fund Performance
Net Asset Value	34.19%	10.90%	66.39%
Market Price	33.83%	10.83%	65.93%
Index Performance
Russell 3000® Index	33.04%	18.32%	129.05%
Blended Benchmark(1)	30.00%	9.92%	59.36%

(1)

A blended benchmark (the "Blended Benchmark") comprised 60% of the First Trust Equity Closed-End Fund Total Return Index, a cap-weighted index (based on NAV) designed to provide a broad representation of the equity based closed-end fund universe, and 40% of the First Trust Taxable Fixed Income Closed-End Fund Total Return Index, a cap-weighted index (based on NAV) designed to provide a broad representation of the taxable fixed income closed-end fund universe, has been selected as a secondary benchmark to provide a more direct correlation to the Fund's underlying portfolio. The indexes do not charge management fees or brokerage expenses, and no such fees or expenses were deducted from the performance shown. Indexes are unmanaged and an investor cannot invest directly in an index. The Blended Index returns are calculated by using the monthly return of the two indices during each period shown above. At the beginning of each month the two indices are rebalanced to a 60-40 ratio to account for divergence from that ratio that occurred during the course of each month. The monthly returns are then compounded for each period shown above, giving the performance for the Blended Index for each period shown above.

Financial Highlights

The financial highlights table is intended to help you understand the Fund's financial performance for the periods shown. Certain information reflects financial results for a single share of the Fund. The total returns represent the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the Fund (assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions). The information for the periods indicated has been derived from financial statements audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP, whose report, along with the Fund's financial statements, is included in the Fund's Annual Report to Shareholders dated August 31, 2021 and is incorporated by reference in the Fund's SAI, which is available upon request.

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII

Financial Highlights
For a share outstanding throughout each period

First Trust Income Opportunities ETF (FCEF)

		Year Ended August 31,			Period Ended 8/31/2017(a)
	2021	2020	2019	2018	Period Ended 8/31/2017(a)
Net asset value, beginning of period	$20.12	$21.75	$22.26	$21.66	$20.05
Income from investment operations:
Net investment income (loss)	0.65	0.82	0.82	0.78	1.02
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)	6.07	(1.29)	(0.18)	0.93	1.61
Total from investment operations	6.72	(0.47)	0.64	1.71	2.63
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
Net investment income	(0.84)	(1.10)	(0.96)	(1.01)	(0.79)
Net realized gain	(0.30)	(0.06)	(0.19)	(0.10)	(0.12)
Return of capital	—	—	—	—	(0.11)
Total Distributions	(1.14)	(1.16)	(1.15)	(1.11)	(1.02)
Net asset value, end of period	$25.70	$20.12	$21.75	$22.26	$21.66
Total Return (b)	34.19%	(2.04)%	3.18%	8.09%	13.49%
Ratios/supplemental data:
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)	$38,675	$33,301	$37,085	$45,754	$31,517
Ratios to average net assets:
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets (c)	0.85%	0.85%	0.85%	0.85%	0.85%(d)
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets	2.79%	4.01%	3.92%	3.14%	5.99%(d)
Portfolio turnover rate (e)	8%	6%	13%	15%	23%

(a)

Inception date is September 27, 2016, which is consistent with the commencement of investment operations and is the date the initial creation units were established.

(b)

Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year.

(c)

The Fund indirectly bears its proportionate share of fees and expenses incurred by the underlying funds in which the Fund invests. This ratio does not include these indirect fees and expenses.

(d)

Annualized.

(e)

Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions and in-kind transactions.

Other Information

Continuous Offering

The Fund issues, on a continuous offering basis, its shares in one or more groups of a fixed number of Fund shares (each such group of such specified number of individual Fund shares, a “Creation Unit Aggregation”). The method by which Creation Unit Aggregations of Fund shares are created and traded may raise certain issues under applicable securities laws. Because new Creation Unit Aggregations of shares are issued and sold by the Fund on an ongoing basis, a “distribution,” as such term is used in the Securities Act, may occur at any point. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner which could render them statutory underwriters and subject them to the prospectus delivery requirement and liability provisions of the Securities Act.

For example, a broker-dealer firm or its client may be deemed a statutory underwriter if it takes Creation Unit Aggregations after placing an order with FTP, breaks them down into constituent shares and sells such shares directly to customers, or if it chooses to couple the creation of a supply of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for shares. A determination of whether one is an underwriter for purposes of the Securities Act must take into account all the facts and circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker-dealer or its client in the particular case, and the examples mentioned above should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could lead to a characterization as an underwriter.

Broker-dealer firms should also note that dealers who are not “underwriters” but are effecting transactions in shares, whether or not participating in the distribution of shares, are generally required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(a)(3) of the Securities Act is not available in respect of such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the 1940 Act. As a result, broker-dealer firms should note that dealers who are not underwriters but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted with ordinary secondary market transactions) and thus dealing with the shares that are part of an overallotment within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the Securities Act would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the Securities Act. Firms that incur a prospectus delivery obligation with respect to shares are reminded that, under the Securities Act Rule 153, a prospectus delivery obligation under Section 5(b)(2) of the Securities Act owed to a broker-dealer in connection with a sale on the Exchange is satisfied by the fact that the prospectus is available from the Exchange upon request. The prospectus delivery mechanism provided in Rule 153 is available with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange, a trading facility or an alternative trading system.

First Trust

Exchange-Traded Fund VIII

First Trust Income Opportunities ETF

(formerly First Trust CEF Income Opportunity ETF)

For More Information

For more detailed information on the Fund, several additional sources of information are available to you. The SAI, incorporated by reference into this prospectus, contains detailed information on the Fund's policies and operation. Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the annual and semi-annual reports to shareholders. In the Fund's annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly impacted the Fund's performance during the last fiscal year. The Fund's most recent SAI, annual and semi-annual reports and certain other information are available free of charge by calling the Fund at (800) 621-1675, on the Fund's website at www.ftportfolios.com or through your financial advisor. Shareholders may call the toll-free number above with any inquiries.

You may obtain this and other information regarding the Fund, including the SAI and the Codes of Ethics adopted by First Trust, FTP and the Trust, directly from the SEC. Information on the SEC’s website is free of charge. Visit the SEC’s online EDGAR database at www.sec.gov. You may also request information regarding the Fund by sending a request (along with a duplication fee) to the SEC by sending an electronic request to [email protected].

First Trust Advisors L.P.
120 East Liberty Drive, Suite 400
Wheaton, Illinois 60187
(800) 621-1675

www.ftportfolios.com

SEC File #: 333-210186
811-23147

Ticker Symbol:	FCEF
Exchange:	Nasdaq