Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This report contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the goals, beliefs, plans or current expectations of First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”) and its representatives, taking into account the information currently available to them. Forward-looking statements include all statements that do not relate solely to current or historical fact. For example, forward-looking statements include the use of words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “expect,” “believe,” “plan,” “may,” “should,” “would” or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of any series of First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund (the “Trust”) described in this report (each such series is referred to as a “Fund” and collectively, as the “Funds”) to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. When evaluating the information included in this report, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect the judgment of the Advisor and its representatives only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to publicly revise or update these forward-looking statements to reflect events and circumstances that arise after the date hereof.

Performance and Risk Disclosure

There is no assurance that any Fund described in this report will achieve its investment objective. Each Fund is subject to market risk, which is the possibility that the market values of securities owned by the Fund will decline and that the value of the Fund’s shares may therefore be less than what you paid for them. Accordingly, you can lose money by investing in a Fund. See “Risk Considerations” in the Additional Information section of this report for a discussion of certain other risks of investing in the Funds.

Performance data quoted represents past performance, which is no guarantee of future results, and current performance may be lower or higher than the figures shown. For the most recent month-end performance figures, please visit www.ftportfolios.com or speak with your financial advisor. Investment returns, net asset value and share price will fluctuate and Fund shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

The Advisor may also periodically provide additional information on Fund performance on each Fund’s webpage at www.ftportfolios.com.

How to Read This Report

This report contains information that may help you evaluate your investment. It includes details about each Fund and presents data and analysis that provide insight into each Fund’s performance and investment approach.

By reading the market overview by Robert F. Carey, Chief Market Strategist of the Advisor, you may obtain an understanding of how the market environment affected the performance of each Fund. The statistical information that follows may help you understand each Fund’s performance compared to that of relevant market benchmarks.

It is important to keep in mind that the opinions expressed by personnel of the Advisor are just that: informed opinions. They should not be considered to be promises or advice. The opinions, like the statistics, cover the period through the date on the cover of this report. The material risks of investing in each Fund are spelled out in its prospectus, statement of additional information, and other Fund regulatory filings.

Page 1

Shareholder Letter

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Annual Letter from the Chairman and CEO
December 31, 2023

Dear Shareholders,

First Trust is pleased to provide you with the annual report for certain series of the First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund (the “Funds”), which contains detailed information about the Funds for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023.

As 2023 comes to a close, it strikes me that many of the critical themes investors have been navigating over the past year remain unresolved. High inflation, the direction of central bank policy, and the risk of an economic recession in the U.S. are just a few examples, but another is war. The war between Russia and Ukraine rages on and will enter its third full year in just a few short months. In addition, geopolitical tensions across the Middle East are rising. Israel is at war with Hamas, and the Houthi rebels have been attacking global shipping lanes in the Red Sea, threatening the global supply chain, and prompting a military response from the U.S. and Britain.

Despite these headwinds, the broader U.S. equity and fixed income markets surged during the year. In the U.S., the S&P 500® Index rose by 26.29% on a total return basis between December 31, 2022, and December 31, 2023, according to data from Bloomberg. The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index also enjoyed a positive total return, rising by 5.53% over the same period. These returns can be explained, in part, by expectations that the Federal Reserve (the “Fed”) could cut interest rates in 2024. In its December 2023 statement, the Fed indicated that it expects to reduce the Federal Funds target rate by as much as 75 basis points (“bps”) over three cuts throughout 2024. It appears investors expect even steeper cuts than the Fed announced. As of December 31, 2023, the Fed Funds Futures market was pricing in nearly six rate cuts totaling more than 150 bps by the end of 2024.

In some regards, the past year serves as a stark warning against taking an overly myopic view when it comes to investing. Data from the Investment Company Institute revealed that total net assets in money market accounts stood at a record $5.9 trillion on December 6, 2023, up from $4.8 trillion at the start of the year. While the figure may be sizable, it is not surprising, in my view, especially considering the impediments to growth mentioned above. While money market assets likely earned higher interest payments than they would have before the Fed began interest rate hikes, they certainly underperformed the S&P 500® Index’s staggering total return for the year.

Thank you for giving First Trust the opportunity to play a role in your financial future. We value our relationship with you and will report on the Funds again in six months.

Sincerely,

James A. Bowen
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Chief Executive Officer of First Trust Advisors L.P.

Page 2

Market Overview

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Annual Report
December 31, 2023

Robert F. Carey, CFA
Senior Vice President and Chief Market Strategist
First Trust Advisors L.P.

Mr. Carey is responsible for the overall management of research and analysis of the First Trust product line. Mr. Carey has more than 30 years of experience as an Equity and Fixed-Income Analyst and is a recipient of the Chartered Financial Analyst (“CFA”) designation. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana with a B.S. in Physics. He is also a member of the Investment Analysts Society of Chicago and the CFA Institute. Mr. Carey has appeared as a guest on such programs as Bloomberg TV, CNBC, and WBBM Radio, and has been quoted by several publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Wall Street Reporter, Bloomberg News Service and Registered Rep.

State of the Economy/Investing

The direction of central bank policy, inflation, and the threat that an economic recession might befall the U.S. economy dominated global headlines throughout much of 2023. In the U.S., the Federal Reserve (the “Fed”) increased the Federal Funds target rate (upper bound) from 4.50% to 5.50% over the first three quarters of the year before pausing in September. As a result, inflation, as measured by the trailing 12-month change in the rate of the Consumer Price Index, moderated from 6.5% on December 31, 2022 to 3.4% as of December 31, 2023. While the correlation between higher interest rates and declining inflation is welcome news, the metric remains elevated well-above the Fed’s stated goal of 2.0%, fueling continued debate regarding the Fed’s ability to orchestrate a “soft landing” in the U.S. economy.

Higher interest rates appear to be hindering global growth. In their October 2023 “World Economic Outlook”, the International Monetary Fund (“IMF”) projected that real gross domestic product (“GDP”) would decline from 3.5%, where it stood in 2022, to 2.9% in 2024. For comparison, global growth averaged 3.8% from 2000-2019. On a percentage basis, advanced economies are expected to fare worse than emerging markets and developing economies. The IMF is projecting a 1.4% growth rate for advanced economies in 2024, down from 2.6% in 2022. For comparison, GDP among emerging markets and developing economies is expected to fall to 4.0% in 2024, down from 4.1% in 2022.

U.S. Stocks and Bonds

All three of the major U.S. stock indices posted substantial gains in 2023. The S&P 500® Index (the “Index”), the S&P MidCap 400® Index and the S&P SmallCap 600® Index posted total returns of 26.29%, 16.44%, and 16.05%, respectively, according to Bloomberg. Nine of the eleven major sectors that comprise the Index posted positive total returns for the year. The Index’s top performing sector was the Information Technology sector, up 57.84%, while the worst performing sector was the Utilities sector, which fell by 7.08% on a total return basis during the year. After a forecasted contraction in 2023, earnings estimates are expected to recover in 2024. Bloomberg’s consensus year-over-year earnings growth rate estimates for the Index for 2023 and 2024 stood at -3.11% and 10.73%, respectively, as of January 12, 2024.

The yield on the benchmark 10-Year Treasury Note (“T-Note”) closed trading on December 29, 2023, at 3.88%, unchanged from where it stood on December 30, 2022, according to data from Bloomberg. The 3.88% yield stood 157 basis points (“bps”) above its 2.31% average for the 10-year period ended December 29, 2023. Despite ending the year unchanged, the yield on the 10-Year T-Note was quite volatile in 2023, falling to an intra-year low of 3.31% on April 6, peaking at 4.99% on October 19, then retreating again to 3.88% at year-end. Most bond investors likely know that bond prices and yields typically move in opposite directions. Between October 19, 2023 (the peak on the yield of the 10-Year T-Note), and December 29, 2023, the total return of the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index stood at 9.28%, reflecting a decline of 111 bps in the yield of the 10-Year T-Note over the period. All the major U.S. bond indices we track posted positive total returns in 2023. The top performing major debt group was corporate high yield bonds. The Bloomberg U.S. Corporate High Yield Index posted a total return of 13.44% over the period. The worst performing debt group that we track was intermediate U.S. Treasuries. The Bloomberg U.S. Intermediate Treasury Index posted a total return of 4.28% over the period.

Foreign Stocks and Bonds

The U.S. Dollar depreciated by 2.11% against a basket of major currencies in 2023, as measured by the U.S. Dollar Index (“DXY”), according to Bloomberg. The DXY closed 2023 at a reading of 101.33, significantly above its 20-year average of 88.91. The weaker U.S. Dollar likely had a positive influence on the returns of unhedged foreign securities held by U.S. investors.

The Bloomberg EM Hard Currency Aggregate Index of emerging markets debt posted a total return of 9.63% (USD), while the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index of higher quality debt rose 5.72% (USD). With respect to equities, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index of stocks posted a total return of 9.83% (USD), while the MSCI World ex USA Index rose by 17.94% (USD) on a total return basis, according to Bloomberg.

Page 3

Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited)

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)

The First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the Nasdaq-100 Equal WeightedTM Index (the “Index”). The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the securities that comprise the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by Nasdaq, Inc. (the “Index Provider”). According to the Index Provider, the Index is the equal-weighted version of the Nasdaq-100 Index®, which includes 100 of the largest U.S. and international non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq based on market capitalization. The Index is rebalanced quarterly and reconstituted annually and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Fund’s shares are listed for trading on the Nasdaq. The first day of secondary market trading in shares of the Fund was April 25, 2006.

Performance
		Average Annual Total Returns			Cumulative Total Returns
	1 Year Ended 12/31/23	5 Years Ended 12/31/23	10 Years Ended 12/31/23	Inception (4/19/06) to 12/31/23	5 Years Ended 12/31/23	10 Years Ended 12/31/23	Inception (4/19/06) to 12/31/23
Fund Performance
NAV	33.51%	17.17%	13.15%	11.09%	120.85%	243.97%	543.38%
Market Price	33.53%	17.18%	13.15%	11.09%	120.95%	243.96%	543.54%
Index Performance
Nasdaq-100 Equal WeightedTM Index	34.01%	17.80%	13.80%	11.75%	126.88%	264.17%	614.98%
S&P 500® Index	26.29%	15.69%	12.03%	9.74%	107.21%	211.49%	418.51%
Nasdaq-100 Index®	55.13%	22.66%	17.91%	14.78%	177.68%	419.34%	1,047.84%

(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 20.)

Performance Review

The Fund generated a net asset value (“NAV”) return of 33.51% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the Nasdaq-100 Index® (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of 55.13%. The Fund allocated 36.5% to the Information Technology sector, by far the greatest allocation to any sector in the Fund. This sector also had the most positive contribution to return of any sector during the period, with a 19.2% contribution to the Fund’s overall return. The Financials sector was the only sector that had a negative contribution to the Fund’s return. This allocation caused -0.2% drag on the Fund’s overall return during the period.

Nasdaq®, Nasdaq-100®, Nasdaq-100 Index®, and Nasdaq-100 Equal WeightedTM Index are registered trademarks and service marks of Nasdaq, Inc. (together with its affiliates hereinafter referred to as the “Corporations”) and are licensed for use by First Trust. The Fund has not been passed on by the Corporations as to its legality or suitability. The Fund is not issued, endorsed, sold or promoted by the Corporations. THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO WARRANTIES AND BEAR NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE FUND.

Page 4

Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW) (Continued)

Sector Allocation	% of Total Long-Term Investments
Information Technology	37.9%
Health Care	12.3
Consumer Discretionary	11.8
Communication Services	10.9
Industrials	10.0
Consumer Staples	9.2
Utilities	3.9
Energy	2.0
Financials	1.0
Real Estate	1.0
Total	100.0%

Top Ten Holdings	% of Total Long-Term Investments
ANSYS, Inc.	1.2%
Moderna, Inc.	1.1
Illumina, Inc.	1.1
Intel Corp.	1.1
Dollar Tree, Inc.	1.1
Cintas Corp.	1.1
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.	1.0
Meta Platforms, Inc., Class A	1.0
Micron Technology, Inc.	1.0
Monster Beverage Corp.	1.0
Total	10.7%

Performance figures assume reinvestment of

all distributions and do not reflect the

deduction of taxes that a shareholder would

pay on Fund distributions or the redemption

or sale of Fund shares. An index is a statistical

composite that tracks a specified financial

market or sector. Unlike the Fund, the indices

do not actually hold a portfolio of securities

and therefore do not incur the expenses

incurred by the Fund. These expenses

negatively impact the performance of the

Fund. The Fund’s past performance does not

predict future performance.

Frequency Distribution of Discounts and Premiums

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.

Page 5

Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)

First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)

The First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the Nasdaq-100 Technology SectorTM Index (the “Index”). The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the securities that comprise the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by Nasdaq, Inc. (the “Index Provider”). According to the Index Provider, the Index is an equal-weighted index composed of the securities comprising the Nasdaq-100 Index® that are classified as “technology” according to the Industry Classification Benchmark classification system. The Nasdaq-100 Index® includes 100 of the largest U.S. and international non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq based on market capitalization. The Index is rebalanced quarterly and reconstituted annually and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Fund’s shares are listed for trading on the Nasdaq. The first day of secondary market trading in shares of the Fund was April 25, 2006.

Performance
		Average Annual Total Returns			Cumulative Total Returns
	1 Year Ended 12/31/23	5 Years Ended 12/31/23	10 Years Ended 12/31/23	Inception (4/19/06) to 12/31/23	5 Years Ended 12/31/23	10 Years Ended 12/31/23	Inception (4/19/06) to 12/31/23
Fund Performance
NAV	66.89%	21.30%	18.20%	13.67%	162.62%	432.13%	865.80%
Market Price	66.93%	21.30%	18.19%	13.67%	162.56%	431.71%	865.83%
Index Performance
Nasdaq-100 Technology SectorTM Index	67.85%	22.03%	18.92%	14.38%	170.61%	465.78%	977.82%
S&P 500® Index	26.29%	15.69%	12.03%	9.74%	107.21%	211.49%	418.51%
S&P 500® Information Technology Index	57.84%	26.95%	20.79%	15.13%	229.73%	561.19%	1,111.57%

(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 20.)

Performance Review

The Fund generated a NAV return of 66.89% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the S&P 500® Information Technology Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of 57.84%. The largest industry allocations over the period were to the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment industry, at 44.9%, and to the Software industry, at 40.8%. These allocations contributed 29.3% and 27.5%, respectively, toward the Fund’s return, which were the largest contribution to return. No industry allocation contributed significantly negatively toward the Fund’s return during the period.

Nasdaq®, Nasdaq-100®, Nasdaq-100 Index®, and Nasdaq-100 Technology SectorTM Index are registered trademarks and service marks of Nasdaq, Inc. (together with its affiliates hereinafter referred to as the “Corporations”) and are licensed for use by First Trust. The Fund has not been passed on by the Corporations as to its legality or suitability. The Fund is not issued, endorsed, sold or promoted by the Corporations. THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO WARRANTIES AND BEAR NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE FUND.

Page 6

Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)

First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC) (Continued)

Sector Allocation(1)	% of Total Long-Term Investments
Information Technology	90.2%
Communication Services	5.1
Consumer Discretionary	4.7
Total	100.0%

(1)

The above sector classification is based on Standard & Poor’s

Global Industry Classification Standard (“GICS”) and is different

than the industry sector classification system used by the Index to

select securities, which is the Industry Classification Benchmark

(“ICB”) system, the joint classification system of Dow Jones

Indexes and FTSE Group.

Top Ten Holdings	% of Total Long-Term Investments
ANSYS, Inc.	3.0%
Intel Corp.	2.6
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.	2.6
Meta Platforms, Inc., Class A	2.5
Micron Technology, Inc.	2.5
Atlassian Corp., Class A	2.5
GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Inc.	2.5
Intuit, Inc.	2.5
Adobe, Inc.	2.5
CDW Corp.	2.5
Total	25.7%

Performance figures assume reinvestment of

all distributions and do not reflect the

deduction of taxes that a shareholder would

pay on Fund distributions or the redemption

or sale of Fund shares. An index is a statistical

composite that tracks a specified financial

market or sector. Unlike the Fund, the indices

do not actually hold a portfolio of securities

and therefore do not incur the expenses

incurred by the Fund. These expenses

negatively impact the performance of the

Fund. The Fund’s past performance does not

predict future performance.

Frequency Distribution of Discounts and Premiums

Page 7

Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)

The First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the Nasdaq-100 Ex-Tech SectorTM Index (the “Index”). The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the securities that comprise the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by Nasdaq, Inc. (the “Index Provider”). According to the Index Provider, the Index is an equal-weighted index composed of the securities comprising the Nasdaq-100 Index® that are not classified as “technology” according to the Industry Classification Benchmark classification system. The Nasdaq-100 Index® includes 100 of the largest U.S. and international non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq based on market capitalization. The Index is rebalanced quarterly and reconstituted annually and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Fund’s shares are listed for trading on the Nasdaq. The first day of secondary market trading in shares of the Fund was February 15, 2007.

Performance
		Average Annual Total Returns			Cumulative Total Returns
	1 Year Ended 12/31/23	5 Years Ended 12/31/23	10 Years Ended 12/31/23	Inception (2/8/07) to 12/31/23	5 Years Ended 12/31/23	10 Years Ended 12/31/23	Inception (2/8/07) to 12/31/23
Fund Performance
NAV	16.77%	14.79%	10.36%	9.74%	99.29%	167.94%	380.75%
Market Price	16.76%	14.80%	10.36%	9.74%	99.40%	168.09%	381.02%
Index Performance
Nasdaq-100 Ex-Tech SectorTM Index	17.08%	15.38%	10.96%	10.38%	104.46%	182.97%	430.64%
Russell 1000® Index	26.53%	15.52%	11.80%	9.44%	105.72%	205.22%	359.33%
Russell 3000® Index	25.96%	15.16%	11.48%	9.27%	102.54%	196.41%	347.37%

(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 20.)

Performance Review

The Fund generated a NAV return of 16.77% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the Russell 1000® Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of 26.53%. The Fund allocated a significant portion of its assets to the Consumer Discretionary sector and the Health Care sector. These two sectors had an average weight of 21.6% and 20.9%, respectively. These contributed 5.9% and 2.8% respectively, to the Fund’s return. The largest contribution to the Fund’s return was also the Consumer Discretionary sector. The largest drag to the Fund’s return came from the Information Technology sector, which contributed -0.9% to return over the period.

Nasdaq®, Nasdaq-100®, Nasdaq-100 Index®, and Nasdaq-100 Ex-Tech SectorTM Index are registered trademarks and service marks of Nasdaq, Inc. (together with its affiliates hereinafter referred to as the “Corporations”) and are licensed for use by First Trust. The Fund has not been passed on by the Corporations as to its legality or suitability. The Fund is not issued, endorsed, sold or promoted by the Corporations. THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO WARRANTIES AND BEAR NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE FUND.

Page 8

Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT) (Continued)

Sector Allocation	% of Total Long-Term Investments
Health Care	20.9%
Industrials	16.9
Consumer Discretionary	16.7
Consumer Staples	15.5
Communication Services	14.9
Utilities	6.6
Energy	3.4
Information Technology	1.7
Financials	1.7
Real Estate	1.7
Total	100.0%

Top Ten Holdings	% of Total Long-Term Investments
Moderna, Inc.	1.9%
Illumina, Inc.	1.8
Dollar Tree, Inc.	1.8
Cintas Corp.	1.8
Monster Beverage Corp.	1.7
Amgen, Inc.	1.7
Biogen, Inc.	1.7
AstraZeneca PLC, ADR	1.7
Lululemon Athletica, Inc.	1.7
Intuitive Surgical, Inc.	1.7
Total	17.5%

Performance figures assume reinvestment of

all distributions and do not reflect the

deduction of taxes that a shareholder would

pay on Fund distributions or the redemption

or sale of Fund shares. An index is a statistical

composite that tracks a specified financial

market or sector. Unlike the Fund, the indices

do not actually hold a portfolio of securities

and therefore do not incur the expenses

incurred by the Fund. These expenses

negatively impact the performance of the

Fund. The Fund’s past performance does not

predict future performance.

Frequency Distribution of Discounts and Premiums

Page 9

Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)

First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)

The First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the Nasdaq® Clean Edge® Green EnergyTM Index (the “Index”). The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the securities that comprise the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by Nasdaq, Inc., and Clean Edge, Inc. (“Clean Edge” and together with Nasdaq, Inc., the “Index Provider”). According to the Index Provider, the Index is designed to track the performance of small, mid and large capitalization clean energy companies that are publicly traded in the United States. The Index is rebalanced quarterly and reconstituted semi-annually and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Fund’s shares are listed for trading on the Nasdaq. The first day of secondary market trading in shares of the Fund was February 14, 2007.

Performance
		Average Annual Total Returns			Cumulative Total Returns
	1 Year Ended 12/31/23	5 Years Ended 12/31/23	10 Years Ended 12/31/23	Inception (2/8/07) to 12/31/23	5 Years Ended 12/31/23	10 Years Ended 12/31/23	Inception (2/8/07) to 12/31/23
Fund Performance
NAV	-9.98%	19.69%	9.69%	5.05%	145.63%	152.20%	129.80%
Market Price	-9.94%	19.74%	9.69%	5.05%	146.19%	152.20%	129.83%
Index Performance
Nasdaq® Clean Edge® Green EnergyTM Index	-9.91%	20.01%	9.82%	5.27%	148.97%	155.10%	137.96%
Russell 2000® Index	16.93%	9.97%	7.16%	6.99%	60.85%	99.59%	213.10%
Russell 3000® Index	25.96%	15.16%	11.48%	9.27%	102.54%	196.41%	347.37%

(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 20.)

Performance Review

The Fund generated a NAV return of -9.98% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the Russell 2000® Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of 16.93%. The largest average weight over the period was the Information Technology sector. This sector’s average weight was 38.5% and contributed -3.8% towards the Fund’s return. The Industrials sector and the Materials sector also contributed significantly negative returns during the period, at -6.3%, and -3.4%, respectively. The biggest positive contributor to the Fund’s return was the Consumer Discretionary sector, contributing 4.5%.

Nasdaq®, Clean Edge®, and Nasdaq® Clean Edge® Green EnergyTM Index are registered trademarks and service marks of Nasdaq, Inc. and Clean Edge, Inc., respectively (together with its affiliates hereinafter referred to as the “Corporations”) and are licensed for use by First Trust. The Fund has not been passed on by the Corporations as to its legality or suitability. The Fund is not issued, endorsed, sold or promoted by the Corporations. THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO WARRANTIES AND BEAR NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE FUND.

Page 10

Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)

First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN) (Continued)

Sector Allocation	% of Total Long-Term Investments
Information Technology	37.3%
Consumer Discretionary	20.4
Industrials	19.5
Utilities	11.2
Materials	9.8
Financials	1.3
Energy	0.5
Total	100.0%

Top Ten Holdings	% of Total Long-Term Investments
Rivian Automotive, Inc., Class A	9.1%
ON Semiconductor Corp.	8.1
First Solar, Inc.	7.5
Tesla, Inc.	7.2
Albemarle Corp.	6.9
Enphase Energy, Inc.	4.5
Universal Display Corp.	3.9
Lucid Group, Inc.	3.4
Brookfield Renewable Partners, L.P.	3.3
Acuity Brands, Inc.	2.7
Total	56.6%

Performance figures assume reinvestment of

all distributions and do not reflect the

deduction of taxes that a shareholder would

pay on Fund distributions or the redemption

or sale of Fund shares. An index is a statistical

composite that tracks a specified financial

market or sector. Unlike the Fund, the indices

do not actually hold a portfolio of securities

and therefore do not incur the expenses

incurred by the Fund. These expenses

negatively impact the performance of the

Fund. The Fund’s past performance does not

predict future performance.

Frequency Distribution of Discounts and Premiums

Page 11

Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)

First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)

The First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the S&P United States REIT Index (the “Index”). The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the securities that comprise the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC (the “Index Provider”). According to the Index Provider, the Index seeks to measure the performance of publicly-traded real estate investment trusts domiciled in the United States that meet certain eligibility requirements. The Index is rebalanced quarterly and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Fund’s shares are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca. The first day of secondary market trading in shares of the Fund was May 10, 2007.

Performance
		Average Annual Total Returns			Cumulative Total Returns
	1 Year Ended 12/31/23	5 Years Ended 12/31/23	10 Years Ended 12/31/23	Inception (5/8/07) to 12/31/23	5 Years Ended 12/31/23	10 Years Ended 12/31/23	Inception (5/8/07) to 12/31/23
Fund Performance
NAV	13.10%	6.66%	6.95%	4.38%	38.06%	95.82%	104.27%
Market Price	13.15%	6.66%	6.95%	4.38%	38.06%	95.83%	104.29%
Index Performance
S&P United States REIT Index(1)	13.77%	7.22%	7.50%	N/A	41.67%	106.07%	N/A
FTSE EPRA/NAREIT North America Index	13.03%	6.36%	6.80%	4.47%	36.14%	93.11%	107.15%
Russell 3000® Index	25.96%	15.16%	11.48%	9.15%	102.54%	196.41%	329.45%

(1)

On November 6, 2008, the Fund’s underlying index changed from the S&P REIT Composite Index to the S&P United States REIT Index.

Effective December 31, 2008, the S&P REIT Composite Index was discontinued. Therefore, the Fund’s performance and historical returns shown

for the periods prior to November 6, 2008 are not necessarily indicative of the performance that the Fund, based on its current Index, would have

generated. The inception date of the Index was June 30, 2008. Returns for the Index are only disclosed for those periods in which the Index was

in existence for the whole period.

(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 20.)

Performance Review

The Fund generated a NAV return of 13.10% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the Russell 3000® Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of 25.96%. Prologis, Inc. was the largest holding in the Fund during the period with an average weight of 11.33% and generated the largest contribution to the Fund’s return at 2.3%. The largest negative contribution to the Fund’s return came from the allocation to Residential REITs, which caused a -0.3% drag on the Fund’s return, although the most negative single contributor was Realty Income Corp., within the Retail REITs category. This security carried a 4.0% allocation and contributed -0.2% to the Fund’s return during the period.

S&P United States REIT Index (“Index”) is a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC or its affiliates (“SPDJI”) and has been licensed for use by First Trust. S&P® is a registered trademark of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (“S&P”); Dow Jones® is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC (“Dow Jones”); and these trademarks have been licensed for use by SPDJI and sublicensed for certain purposes by First Trust. The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by SPDJI, Dow Jones, S&P or their respective affiliates and none of such parties make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in such product(s) nor do they have any liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions of the Index.

Page 12

Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)

First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI) (Continued)

REIT Allocation	% of Total Long-Term Investments
Retail REITs	16.7%
Industrial REITs	16.6
Data Center REITs	10.9
Multi-Family Residential REITs	10.8
Health Care REITs	10.6
Self-Storage REITs	9.0
Other Specialized REITs	7.1
Office REITs	6.0
Single-Family Residential REITs	5.8
Hotel & Resort REITs	3.7
Diversified REITs	2.8
Total	100.0%

Top Ten Holdings	% of Total Long-Term Investments
Prologis, Inc.	11.5%
Equinix, Inc.	7.1
Welltower, Inc.	4.7
Public Storage	4.5
Simon Property Group, Inc.	4.4
Realty Income Corp.	3.9
Digital Realty Trust, Inc.	3.8
Extra Space Storage, Inc.	3.2
VICI Properties, Inc.	3.1
AvalonBay Communities, Inc.	2.5
Total	48.7%

Performance figures assume reinvestment of

all distributions and do not reflect the

deduction of taxes that a shareholder would

pay on Fund distributions or the redemption

or sale of Fund shares. An index is a statistical

composite that tracks a specified financial

market or sector. Unlike the Fund, the indices

do not actually hold a portfolio of securities

and therefore do not incur the expenses

incurred by the Fund. These expenses

negatively impact the performance of the

Fund. The Fund’s past performance does not

predict future performance.

Frequency Distribution of Discounts and Premiums

Page 13

Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)

First Trust Water ETF (FIW)

The First Trust Water ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the ISE Clean Edge WaterTM Index (the “Index”). The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the securities that comprise the Index. The Index is developed and owned by Nasdaq, Inc. (the “Index Provider”), and is calculated and maintained by Nasdaq. According to the Index Provider, the Index is designed to track the performance of small, mid and large capitalization companies that derive a substantial portion of their revenues from the potable water and wastewater industry. The Fund’s shares are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca. The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted semi-annually and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the changes are made public. The first day of secondary market trading in shares of the Fund was May 11, 2007.

Performance
		Average Annual Total Returns			Cumulative Total Returns
	1 Year Ended 12/31/23	5 Years Ended 12/31/23	10 Years Ended 12/31/23	Inception (5/8/07) to 12/31/23	5 Years Ended 12/31/23	10 Years Ended 12/31/23	Inception (5/8/07) to 12/31/23
Fund Performance
NAV	20.39%	17.35%	11.67%	10.63%	122.57%	201.51%	437.56%
Market Price	20.44%	17.37%	11.66%	10.63%	122.69%	201.27%	437.59%
Index Performance
ISE Clean Edge WaterTM Index	21.10%	18.20%	12.35%	11.34%	130.75%	220.50%	498.23%
Russell 3000® Index	25.96%	15.16%	11.48%	9.15%	102.54%	196.41%	329.45%

(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 20.)

Performance Review

The Fund generated a NAV return of 20.39% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the Russell 3000® Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of 25.96%. The largest sector allocation was to the Industrials sector, with an average portfolio weight of 51.9%. This sector also contributed the most to the Fund’s return, contributing 15.1% during the period. The most negatively contributing allocation was to the Utilities sector, which carried an average weight of 20.0% and caused a -0.8% contribution to the Fund’s overall return during the period.

Nasdaq®, Clean Edge®, and ISE Clean Edge WaterTM Index are registered trademarks and service marks of Nasdaq, Inc. and Clean Edge, Inc., respectively (together with its affiliates hereinafter referred to as the “Corporations”) and are licensed for use by First Trust. The Fund has not been passed on by the Corporations as to its legality or suitability. The Fund is not issued, endorsed, sold or promoted by the Corporations. THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO WARRANTIES AND BEAR NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE FUND.

Page 14

Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)

First Trust Water ETF (FIW) (Continued)

Sector Allocation	% of Total Long-Term Investments
Industrials	52.6%
Utilities	18.1
Health Care	16.1
Information Technology	7.9
Materials	4.1
Consumer Staples	1.2
Total	100.0%

Top Ten Holdings	% of Total Long-Term Investments
Ferguson PLC	4.5%
Waters Corp.	4.4
Agilent Technologies, Inc.	4.3
Xylem, Inc.	4.2
Roper Technologies, Inc.	4.1
IDEXX Laboratories, Inc.	4.1
Ecolab, Inc.	4.1
A.O. Smith Corp.	3.7
Cia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo, ADR	3.7
Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc.	3.6
Total	40.7%

Performance figures assume reinvestment of

all distributions and do not reflect the

deduction of taxes that a shareholder would

pay on Fund distributions or the redemption

or sale of Fund shares. An index is a statistical

composite that tracks a specified financial

market or sector. Unlike the Fund, the indices

do not actually hold a portfolio of securities

and therefore do not incur the expenses

incurred by the Fund. These expenses

negatively impact the performance of the

Fund. The Fund’s past performance does not

predict future performance.

Frequency Distribution of Discounts and Premiums

Page 15

Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)

First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)

The First Trust Natural Gas ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the ISE-Revere Natural GasTM Index (the “Index”). The Index is developed and owned by Nasdaq, Inc. (the “Index Provider”), and is calculated and maintained by Nasdaq. According to the Index Provider, the Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the common stocks, depositary receipts, master limited partnership (“MLP”) units and other securities that comprise the Index. The Index is designed to track the performance of mid and large capitalization companies that derive a substantial portion of their revenues from midstream activities and/or the exploration and production of natural gas. The Fund’s shares are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca. The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The first day of secondary market trading in shares of the Fund was May 11, 2007.

Performance
		Average Annual Total Returns			Cumulative Total Returns
	1 Year Ended 12/31/23	5 Years Ended 12/31/23	10 Years Ended 12/31/23	Inception (5/8/07) to 12/31/23	5 Years Ended 12/31/23	10 Years Ended 12/31/23	Inception (5/8/07) to 12/31/23
Fund Performance
NAV	2.55%	14.16%	-10.85%	-6.63%	93.85%	-68.30%	-68.07%
Market Price	2.47%	14.14%	-10.85%	-6.63%	93.71%	-68.30%	-68.09%
Index Performance
ISE-Revere Natural GasTM Index	3.23%	13.77%	-11.01%	-6.48%	90.64%	-68.86%	-67.21%
S&P Composite 1500® Energy Index	-0.63%	12.96%	2.74%	4.14%	83.94%	31.02%	96.59%
Russell 3000® Index	25.96%	15.16%	11.48%	9.15%	102.54%	196.41%	329.45%

(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 20.)

Performance Review

The Fund generated a NAV return of 2.55% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the S&P Composite 1500® Energy Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of -0.63%. The Oil & Gas Exploration and Production sub-industry was the largest allocation in the Fund at 84.0%. This sub-industry contributed 1.9% to the Fund’s overall return. The Oil & Gas Storage and Transportation sub-industry received the second highest allocation by sub-industry at an average weight of 10.4% and contributed 1.9% to the Fund’s return. The most negative contribution to return came from the Gas Utilities sub-industry which received a single allocation, National Fuel Gas Company. The 1.7% allocation to this security caused a -0.3% drag on the Fund’s return during the period.

Nasdaq® and ISE-Revere Natural GasTM Index are registered trademarks and service marks of Nasdaq, Inc. (together with its affiliates hereinafter referred to as the “Corporations”) and are licensed for use by First Trust. The Fund has not been passed on by the Corporations as to its legality or suitability. The Fund is not issued, endorsed, sold or promoted by the Corporations. THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO WARRANTIES AND BEAR NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE FUND.

Page 16

Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)

First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG) (Continued)

Sub-Industry Allocation	% of Total Long-Term Investments
Oil & Gas Exploration & Production	85.5%
Oil & Gas Storage & Transportation	8.9
Integrated Oil & Gas	3.7
Gas Utilities	1.9
Total	100.0%

Top Ten Holdings	% of Total Long-Term Investments
Western Midstream Partners, L.P.	4.5%
Hess Midstream, L.P., Class A	4.4
ConocoPhillips	3.8
Occidental Petroleum Corp.	3.6
Pioneer Natural Resources Co.	3.6
Hess Corp.	3.5
EOG Resources, Inc.	3.5
Devon Energy Corp.	3.4
Diamondback Energy, Inc.	3.3
EQT Corp.	3.1
Total	36.7%

Performance figures assume reinvestment of

all distributions and do not reflect the

deduction of taxes that a shareholder would

pay on Fund distributions or the redemption

or sale of Fund shares. An index is a statistical

composite that tracks a specified financial

market or sector. Unlike the Fund, the indices

do not actually hold a portfolio of securities

and therefore do not incur the expenses

incurred by the Fund. These expenses

negatively impact the performance of the

Fund. The Fund’s past performance does not

predict future performance.

Frequency Distribution of Discounts and Premiums

Page 17

Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)

First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)

The First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the Nasdaq OMX® ABA Community BankTM Index (the “Index”). The Index is jointly owned and was developed by Nasdaq, Inc. and the American Bankers Association (the “ABA”). The Index is calculated and maintained by Nasdaq, Inc. (the “Index Provider”). According to the Index Provider, the Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the securities that comprise the Index. The Index is designed to track the performance of small, mid and large capitalization companies that comprise the community banking industry. The Fund’s shares are listed for trading on the Nasdaq. The Index is rebalanced quarterly and reconstituted semi-annually and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The first day of secondary market trading in shares of the Fund was July 1, 2009.

Performance
		Average Annual Total Returns			Cumulative Total Returns
	1 Year Ended 12/31/23	5 Years Ended 12/31/23	10 Years Ended 12/31/23	Inception (6/29/09) to 12/31/23	5 Years Ended 12/31/23	10 Years Ended 12/31/23	Inception (6/29/09) to 12/31/23
Fund Performance
NAV	-2.44%	5.47%	5.31%	8.44%	30.53%	67.78%	223.77%
Market Price	-2.42%	5.49%	5.29%	8.44%	30.64%	67.39%	223.94%
Index Performance
Nasdaq OMX® ABA Community BankTM Index	-1.92%	6.14%	5.96%	9.12%	34.69%	78.48%	254.75%
S&P Composite 1500® Financials Index	11.66%	11.68%	9.98%	11.96%	73.76%	158.99%	414.84%
Russell 3000® Index	25.96%	15.16%	11.48%	13.96%	102.54%	196.41%	565.47%

(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 20.)

Performance Review

The Fund generated a NAV return of -2.44% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the S&P Composite 1500® Financials Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of 11.66%. An allocation of 95.9% of the Fund was allocated to the Regional banks sub-industry over the period, with the bulk of the remainder of the average allocations being in other financial-related sub-industries. Regional banks contributed -1.2% toward the Fund’s return and thrifts and mortgage finance companies contributed -1.0% toward the Fund’s return during the period. Of all the sub-industries, the Commercial & Residential Mortgage Finance sub-industry had the only significant positive contribution to the Fund’s return, generating 0.4% to the Fund’s return.

Nasdaq®, Nasdaq OMX®, OMX®, American Bankers Association®, ABA® and Nasdaq OMX® ABA Community BankTM Index are registered trademarks and service marks of Nasdaq, Inc. and American Bankers Associations, respectively (together with its affiliates hereinafter referred to as the “Corporations”) and are licensed for use by First Trust. The Fund has not been passed on by the Corporations as to its legality or suitability. The Fund is not issued, endorsed, sold or promoted by the Corporations. THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO WARRANTIES AND BEAR NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE FUND.

Page 18

Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)

First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA) (Continued)

Industry Allocation	% of Total Long-Term Investments
Banks	98.3%
Financial Services	1.7
Total	100.0%

Top Ten Holdings	% of Total Long-Term Investments
Commerce Bancshares, Inc.	3.9%
Wintrust Financial Corp.	3.2
Bank OZK	3.2
United Bankshares, Inc.	2.8
First Financial Bankshares, Inc.	2.4
Hancock Whitney Corp.	2.4
TFS Financial Corp.	2.3
UMB Financial Corp.	2.3
Ameris Bancorp	2.1
United Community Banks, Inc.	2.0
Total	26.6%

Performance figures assume reinvestment of

all distributions and do not reflect the

deduction of taxes that a shareholder would

pay on Fund distributions or the redemption

or sale of Fund shares. An index is a statistical

composite that tracks a specified financial

market or sector. Unlike the Fund, the indices

do not actually hold a portfolio of securities

and therefore do not incur the expenses

incurred by the Fund. These expenses

negatively impact the performance of the

Fund. The Fund’s past performance does not

predict future performance.

Frequency Distribution of Discounts and Premiums

Page 19

Notes to Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited)

Total returns for the periods since inception are calculated from the inception date of each Fund. “Average Annual Total Returns” represent the average annual change in value of an investment over the periods indicated. “Cumulative Total Returns” represent the total change in value of an investment over the periods indicated. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by the Advisor.

Each Fund’s per share net asset value (“NAV”) 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 all liabilities (including accrued expenses and dividends declared but unpaid), by the total number of outstanding shares. 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 NAV is calculated. Under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s 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 NAV 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 NAV was calculated. Since shares of each Fund did not trade in the secondary market until after the Fund’s inception, for the period from inception to the first day of secondary market trading in shares of the Fund, the NAV of each Fund is used as a proxy for the secondary market trading price to calculate market returns. NAV and market returns assume that all distributions have been reinvested in each Fund at NAV and Market Price, respectively.

An index is a statistical composite that tracks a specified financial market or sector. Unlike each Fund, the indices do not actually hold a portfolio of securities and therefore do not incur the expenses incurred by each Fund. These expenses negatively impact the performance of each 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 presented reflect the reinvestment of dividends on securities in the indices. 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. The investment return and principal value of shares of each Fund will vary with changes in market conditions. Shares of each Fund may be worth more or less than their original cost when they are redeemed or sold in the market. Each Fund’s past performance is no guarantee of future performance.

Page 20

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

Understanding Your Fund Expenses

December 31, 2023 (Unaudited)

As a shareholder of First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund, First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund, First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund, First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund, First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund, First Trust Water ETF, First Trust Natural Gas ETF or First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (each a “Fund” and collectively, the “Funds”), you incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs; and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution and/or service (12b-1) fees, if any, and other Fund expenses. This Example is intended to help you understand your ongoing costs of investing in the Funds and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other funds.

The Example is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held through the six-month period ended December 31, 2023.

Actual Expenses

The first line in the following table provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the first line under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During the Six-Month Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this six-month period.

Hypothetical Example for Comparison Purposes

The second line in the following table provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on each Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not each Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Funds and other funds. To do so, compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of the other funds.

Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs such as brokerage commissions. Therefore, the second line in the table is useful in comparing ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative total costs of owning different funds. In addition, if these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.

	Beginning Account Value July 1, 2023	Ending Account Value December 31, 2023	Annualized Expense Ratio Based on the Six-Month Period (a)	Expenses Paid During the Six-Month Period (b)
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)
Actual	$1,000.00	$1,104.00	0.57%	$3.02
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses)	$1,000.00	$1,022.33	0.57%	$2.91
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)
Actual	$1,000.00	$1,191.90	0.56%	$3.09
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses)	$1,000.00	$1,022.38	0.56%	$2.85
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)
Actual	$1,000.00	$1,053.00	0.60%	$3.10
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses)	$1,000.00	$1,022.18	0.60%	$3.06
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)
Actual	$1,000.00	$825.60	0.59%	$2.71
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses)	$1,000.00	$1,022.23	0.59%	$3.01
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)
Actual	$1,000.00	$1,076.40	0.50%	$2.62
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses)	$1,000.00	$1,022.68	0.50%	$2.55
First Trust Water ETF (FIW)
Actual	$1,000.00	$1,075.60	0.53%	$2.77
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses)	$1,000.00	$1,022.53	0.53%	$2.70

Page 21

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)

Portfolio of Investments

December 31, 2023

Shares	Description	Value
COMMON STOCKS — 99.9%
	Automobiles — 1.0%
87,914	Tesla, Inc. (a)	$21,844,871
	Beverages — 4.1%
344,509	Coca-Cola Europacific Partners PLC	22,992,531
697,100	Keurig Dr Pepper, Inc.	23,227,372
404,543	Monster Beverage Corp. (a)	23,305,722
133,451	PepsiCo, Inc.	22,665,318
		92,190,943
	Biotechnology — 6.2%
80,908	Amgen, Inc.	23,303,122
89,817	Biogen, Inc. (a)	23,241,945
277,434	Gilead Sciences, Inc.	22,474,928
259,113	Moderna, Inc. (a)	25,768,788
25,940	Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (a)	22,782,843
54,267	Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (a)	22,080,700
		139,652,326
	Broadline Retail — 2.9%
148,605	Amazon.com, Inc. (a)	22,579,044
13,875	MercadoLibre, Inc. (a)	21,805,117
150,228	PDD Holdings, Inc., ADR (a)	21,979,859
		66,364,020
	Commercial Services & Supplies — 2.1%
39,889	Cintas Corp.	24,039,505
455,659	Copart, Inc. (a)	22,327,291
		46,366,796
	Communications Equipment — 1.0%
446,888	Cisco Systems, Inc.	22,576,782
	Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail — 3.1%
34,597	Costco Wholesale Corp.	22,836,788
170,372	Dollar Tree, Inc. (a)	24,201,343
884,376	Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.	23,091,057
		70,129,188
	Electric Utilities — 3.9%
271,024	American Electric Power Co., Inc.	22,012,569
187,673	Constellation Energy Corp.	21,937,097
627,959	Exelon Corp.	22,543,728
361,908	Xcel Energy, Inc.	22,405,725
		88,899,119
	Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components — 1.0%
99,835	CDW Corp.	22,694,492

Shares	Description	Value

	Energy Equipment & Services — 1.0%
663,677	Baker Hughes Co.	$22,684,480
	Entertainment — 3.9%
160,529	Electronic Arts, Inc.	21,961,972
47,211	Netflix, Inc. (a)	22,986,092
139,115	Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (a)	22,390,559
1,817,804	Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (a)	20,686,610
		88,025,233
	Financial Services — 1.0%
363,798	PayPal Holdings, Inc. (a)	22,340,835
	Food Products — 2.0%
609,081	Kraft Heinz (The) Co.	22,523,815
315,223	Mondelez International, Inc., Class A	22,831,602
		45,355,417
	Ground Transportation — 2.0%
655,479	CSX Corp.	22,725,457
56,701	Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.	22,982,616
		45,708,073
	Health Care Equipment & Supplies — 4.0%
181,795	Dexcom, Inc. (a)	22,558,942
297,111	GE HealthCare Technologies, Inc.	22,972,622
41,189	IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (a)	22,861,954
68,710	Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (a)	23,180,006
		91,573,524
	Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure — 4.9%
152,021	Airbnb, Inc., Class A (a)	20,696,139
6,406	Booking Holdings, Inc. (a)	22,723,491
219,418	DoorDash, Inc., Class A (a)	21,698,246
100,779	Marriott International, Inc., Class A	22,726,672
230,349	Starbucks Corp.	22,115,808
		109,960,356
	Industrial Conglomerates — 1.0%
109,569	Honeywell International, Inc.	22,977,715
	Interactive Media & Services — 2.1%
84,035	Alphabet, Inc., Class A (a)	11,738,849
83,257	Alphabet, Inc., Class C (a)	11,733,409
66,542	Meta Platforms, Inc., Class A (a)	23,553,206
		47,025,464

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 23

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)

Portfolio of Investments (Continued)

December 31, 2023

Shares	Description	Value
COMMON STOCKS (Continued)
	IT Services — 1.9%
292,586	Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Class A	$22,099,020
53,041	MongoDB, Inc. (a)	21,685,813
		43,784,833
	Life Sciences Tools & Services — 1.1%
175,344	Illumina, Inc. (a)	24,414,898
	Machinery — 1.0%
231,545	PACCAR, Inc.	22,610,369
	Media — 3.9%
58,658	Charter Communications, Inc., Class A (a)	22,799,191
501,040	Comcast Corp., Class A	21,970,604
4,127,087	Sirius XM Holdings, Inc. (b)	22,575,166
297,587	Trade Desk (The), Inc., Class A (a)	21,414,361
		88,759,322
	Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels — 1.0%
145,557	Diamondback Energy, Inc.	22,572,979
	Pharmaceuticals — 1.0%
343,924	AstraZeneca PLC, ADR	23,163,281
	Professional Services — 2.9%
95,183	Automatic Data Processing, Inc.	22,174,784
175,703	Paychex, Inc.	20,927,984
94,835	Verisk Analytics, Inc.	22,652,288
		65,755,056
	Real Estate Management & Development — 1.0%
254,497	CoStar Group, Inc. (a)	22,240,493
	Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment — 16.9%
160,160	Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (a)	23,609,186
110,943	Analog Devices, Inc.	22,028,842
137,612	Applied Materials, Inc.	22,302,777
29,598	ASML Holding N.V.	22,403,318
19,727	Broadcom, Inc.	22,020,264
379,340	GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Inc. (a) (b)	22,988,004
482,805	Intel Corp.	24,260,951
38,088	KLA Corp.	22,140,554
28,812	Lam Research Corp.	22,567,287
373,993	Marvell Technology, Inc.	22,555,518
241,717	Microchip Technology, Inc.	21,798,039
273,753	Micron Technology, Inc.	23,362,081
45,584	NVIDIA Corp.	22,574,108
95,679	NXP Semiconductors N.V.	21,975,553

Shares	Description	Value

	Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (Continued)
260,202	ON Semiconductor Corp. (a)	$21,734,673
155,706	QUALCOMM, Inc.	22,519,759
132,153	Texas Instruments, Inc.	22,526,800
		383,367,714
	Software — 16.0%
38,117	Adobe, Inc. (a)	22,740,602
75,427	ANSYS, Inc. (a)	27,370,950
97,082	Atlassian Corp., Class A (a)	23,091,925
91,982	Autodesk, Inc. (a)	22,395,777
82,079	Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (a)	22,355,857
85,690	Crowdstrike Holdings, Inc., Class A (a)	21,878,371
181,780	Datadog, Inc., Class A (a)	22,064,456
385,375	Fortinet, Inc. (a)	22,555,999
36,624	Intuit, Inc.	22,891,099
60,114	Microsoft Corp.	22,605,269
72,522	Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (a)	21,385,287
41,153	Roper Technologies, Inc.	22,435,381
146,082	Splunk, Inc. (a)	22,255,593
40,064	Synopsys, Inc. (a)	20,629,354
81,724	Workday, Inc., Class A (a)	22,560,727
100,542	Zscaler, Inc. (a)	22,276,086
		361,492,733
	Specialty Retail — 2.0%
23,421	O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. (a)	22,251,824
166,390	Ross Stores, Inc.	23,026,712
		45,278,536
	Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals — 1.0%
112,802	Apple, Inc.	21,717,769
	Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods — 1.0%
45,347	Lululemon Athletica, Inc. (a)	23,185,468
	Trading Companies & Distributors — 1.0%
347,354	Fastenal Co.	22,498,119
	Wireless Telecommunication Services — 1.0%
142,724	T-Mobile US, Inc.	22,882,939
	Total Common Stocks	2,260,094,143
	(Cost $1,818,157,791)

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 24

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)

Portfolio of Investments (Continued)

December 31, 2023

Shares	Description	Value
MONEY MARKET FUNDS — 2.0%
44,551,064	Goldman Sachs Financial Square Treasury Obligations Fund - Institutional Class - 5.17% (c) (d)	$44,551,064
	(Cost $44,551,064)


	Total Investments — 101.9%	2,304,645,207
	(Cost $1,862,708,855)
	Net Other Assets and Liabilities — (1.9)%	(42,369,262 )
	Net Assets — 100.0%	$2,262,275,945

(a)	Non-income producing security.
(b)	All or a portion of this security is on loan (see Note 2D - Securities Lending in the Notes to Financial Statements). The remaining contractual maturity of all of the securities lending transactions is overnight and continuous. The aggregate value of such securities, including those sold and pending settlement, is $43,076,409 and the total value of the collateral held by the Fund is $44,551,064.
(c)	Rate shown reflects yield as of December 31, 2023.
(d)	This security serves as collateral for securities on loan.

Abbreviations throughout the Portfolio of Investments:
ADR	– American Depositary Receipt

Valuation Inputs

A summary of the inputs used to value the Fund’s investments as of December 31, 2023 is as follows (see Note 2A - Portfolio Valuation in the Notes to Financial Statements):

	Total Value at 12/31/2023	Level 1 Quoted Prices	Level 2 Significant Observable Inputs	Level 3 Significant Unobservable Inputs
Common Stocks*	$ 2,260,094,143	$ 2,260,094,143	$ —	$ —
Money Market Funds	44,551,064	44,551,064	—	—
Total Investments	$2,304,645,207	$2,304,645,207	$—	$—

*	See Portfolio of Investments for industry breakout.

Offsetting Assets and Liabilities

Offsetting assets and liabilities requires entities to disclose both gross and net information about instruments and transactions eligible for offset, and to disclose instruments and transactions subject to master netting or similar agreements (see Note 2C - Offsetting on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities in the Notes to Financial Statements).

The Fund’s loaned securities were all subject to an enforceable Securities Lending Agency Agreement. Securities lent in accordance with the Securities Lending Agency Agreement on a gross basis were as follows:

Securities Lending Agency Agreement
Total gross amount presented on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities(1)	$43,076,409
Non-cash Collateral(2)	(43,076,409 )
Net Amount	$—

(1)	The amount presented on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities, which is included in “Investments, at value,” is not offset and is shown on a gross basis.
(2)	At December 31, 2023, the value of the collateral received from each borrower exceeded the value of the related securities loaned. This amount is disclosed on the Portfolio of Investments.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 25

First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)

Portfolio of Investments

December 31, 2023

Shares	Description	Value
COMMON STOCKS — 100.0%
	Broadline Retail — 2.4%
568,101	PDD Holdings, Inc., ADR (a)	$83,118,857
	Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components — 2.5%
377,538	CDW Corp.	85,821,938
	Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure — 2.3%
829,751	DoorDash, Inc., Class A (a)	82,054,076
	Interactive Media & Services — 5.1%
317,790	Alphabet, Inc., Class A (a)	44,392,085
314,845	Alphabet, Inc., Class C (a)	44,371,106
251,636	Meta Platforms, Inc., Class A (a)	89,069,079
		177,832,270
	IT Services — 4.7%
1,106,443	Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Class A	83,569,640
200,580	MongoDB, Inc. (a)	82,007,133
		165,576,773
	Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment — 41.5%
605,662	Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (a)	89,280,635
419,543	Analog Devices, Inc.	83,304,458
520,395	Applied Materials, Inc.	84,340,418
111,928	ASML Holding N.V.	84,720,542
74,599	Broadcom, Inc.	83,271,134
1,434,515	GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Inc. (a) (b)	86,931,609
1,825,776	Intel Corp.	91,745,244
144,033	KLA Corp.	83,726,383
108,956	Lam Research Corp.	85,340,877
1,414,295	Marvell Technology, Inc.	85,296,131
914,076	Microchip Technology, Inc.	82,431,374
1,035,226	Micron Technology, Inc.	88,346,187
172,383	NVIDIA Corp.	85,367,509
361,816	NXP Semiconductors N.V.	83,101,899
983,978	ON Semiconductor Corp. (a)	82,191,682
588,821	QUALCOMM, Inc.	85,161,181
499,750	Texas Instruments, Inc.	85,187,385
		1,449,744,648
	Software — 39.1%
144,143	Adobe, Inc. (a)	85,995,714
285,233	ANSYS, Inc. (a)	103,505,351
367,127	Atlassian Corp., Class A (a)	87,324,828
347,839	Autodesk, Inc. (a)	84,691,840
310,393	Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (a)	84,541,741

Shares	Description	Value

	Software (Continued)
324,045	Crowdstrike Holdings, Inc., Class A (a)	$82,735,169
687,421	Datadog, Inc., Class A (a)	83,439,161
1,457,337	Fortinet, Inc. (a)	85,297,935
138,499	Intuit, Inc.	86,566,030
227,329	Microsoft Corp.	85,484,797
274,252	Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (a)	80,871,430
155,623	Roper Technologies, Inc.	84,840,991
552,424	Splunk, Inc. (a)	84,161,796
151,506	Synopsys, Inc. (a)	78,011,955
309,050	Workday, Inc., Class A (a)	85,316,343
380,211	Zscaler, Inc. (a)	84,239,549
		1,367,024,630
	Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals — 2.4%
426,572	Apple, Inc.	82,127,907
	Total Common Stocks	3,493,301,099
	(Cost $2,816,546,055)
MONEY MARKET FUNDS — 2.4%
84,859,021	Goldman Sachs Financial Square Treasury Obligations Fund - Institutional Class - 5.17% (c) (d)	84,859,021
	(Cost $84,859,021)


	Total Investments — 102.4%	3,578,160,120
	(Cost $2,901,405,076)
	Net Other Assets and Liabilities — (2.4)%	(84,918,949 )
	Net Assets — 100.0%	$3,493,241,171

(a)	Non-income producing security.
(b)	All or a portion of this security is on loan (see Note 2D - Securities Lending in the Notes to Financial Statements). The remaining contractual maturity of all of the securities lending transactions is overnight and continuous. The aggregate value of such securities, including those sold and pending settlement, is $81,951,500 and the total value of the collateral held by the Fund is $84,859,021.
(c)	Rate shown reflects yield as of December 31, 2023.
(d)	This security serves as collateral for securities on loan.

Abbreviations throughout the Portfolio of Investments:
ADR	– American Depositary Receipt

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 26

First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)

Portfolio of Investments (Continued)

December 31, 2023

Valuation Inputs

A summary of the inputs used to value the Fund’s investments as of December 31, 2023 is as follows (see Note 2A - Portfolio Valuation in the Notes to Financial Statements):

	Total Value at 12/31/2023	Level 1 Quoted Prices	Level 2 Significant Observable Inputs	Level 3 Significant Unobservable Inputs
Common Stocks*	$ 3,493,301,099	$ 3,493,301,099	$ —	$ —
Money Market Funds	84,859,021	84,859,021	—	—
Total Investments	$3,578,160,120	$3,578,160,120	$—	$—

*	See Portfolio of Investments for industry breakout.

Offsetting Assets and Liabilities

Securities Lending Agency Agreement
Total gross amount presented on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities(1)	$81,951,500
Non-cash Collateral(2)	(81,951,500 )
Net Amount	$—

(1)	The amount presented on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities, which is included in “Investments, at value,” is not offset and is shown on a gross basis.
(2)	At December 31, 2023, the value of the collateral received from each borrower exceeded the value of the related securities loaned. This amount is disclosed on the Portfolio of Investments.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 27

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)

Portfolio of Investments

December 31, 2023

Shares	Description	Value
COMMON STOCKS (a) — 99.9%
	Automobiles — 1.6%
11,591	Tesla, Inc. (b)	$2,880,132
	Beverages — 6.9%
45,423	Coca-Cola Europacific Partners PLC	3,031,531
91,580	Keurig Dr Pepper, Inc.	3,051,445
53,434	Monster Beverage Corp. (b)	3,078,333
17,602	PepsiCo, Inc.	2,989,524
		12,150,833
	Biotechnology — 10.5%
10,668	Amgen, Inc.	3,072,597
11,849	Biogen, Inc. (b)	3,066,166
36,580	Gilead Sciences, Inc.	2,963,346
34,094	Moderna, Inc. (b)	3,390,648
3,427	Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (b)	3,009,900
7,155	Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (b)	2,911,298
		18,413,955
	Broadline Retail — 3.3%
19,593	Amazon.com, Inc. (b)	2,976,960
1,829	MercadoLibre, Inc. (b)	2,874,347
		5,851,307
	Commercial Services & Supplies — 3.5%
5,266	Cintas Corp.	3,173,608
60,078	Copart, Inc. (b)	2,943,822
		6,117,430
	Communications Equipment — 1.7%
58,922	Cisco Systems, Inc.	2,976,739
	Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail — 5.2%
4,460	Costco Wholesale Corp.	2,943,957
22,526	Dollar Tree, Inc. (b)	3,199,818
116,605	Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.	3,044,557
		9,188,332
	Electric Utilities — 6.6%
35,794	American Electric Power Co., Inc.	2,907,189
24,745	Constellation Energy Corp.	2,892,443
82,332	Exelon Corp.	2,955,719
47,717	Xcel Energy, Inc.	2,954,159
		11,709,510
	Energy Equipment & Services — 1.7%
87,506	Baker Hughes Co.	2,990,955
	Entertainment — 6.6%
21,168	Electronic Arts, Inc.	2,895,994
6,225	Netflix, Inc. (b)	3,030,828

Shares	Description	Value

	Entertainment (Continued)
18,268	Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (b)	$2,940,234
238,865	Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (b)	2,718,284
		11,585,340
	Financial Services — 1.7%
47,967	PayPal Holdings, Inc. (b)	2,945,654
	Food Products — 3.4%
80,307	Kraft Heinz (The) Co.	2,969,753
41,557	Mondelez International, Inc., Class A	3,009,973
		5,979,726
	Ground Transportation — 3.4%
86,425	CSX Corp.	2,996,355
7,476	Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.	3,030,247
		6,026,602
	Health Care Equipment & Supplies — 6.9%
23,970	Dexcom, Inc. (b)	2,974,437
39,281	GE HealthCare Technologies, Inc.	3,037,207
5,431	IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (b)	3,014,477
9,059	Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (b)	3,056,144
		12,082,265
	Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure — 6.6%
20,093	Airbnb, Inc., Class A (b)	2,735,461
845	Booking Holdings, Inc. (b)	2,997,401
13,288	Marriott International, Inc., Class A	2,996,577
30,374	Starbucks Corp.	2,916,208
		11,645,647
	Industrial Conglomerates — 1.7%
14,447	Honeywell International, Inc.	3,029,680
	Life Sciences Tools & Services — 1.8%
23,119	Illumina, Inc. (b)	3,219,090
	Machinery — 1.7%
30,529	PACCAR, Inc.	2,981,157
	Media — 6.6%
7,734	Charter Communications, Inc., Class A (b)	3,006,051
66,062	Comcast Corp., Class A	2,896,819
545,000	Sirius XM Holdings, Inc. (c)	2,981,150
39,237	Trade Desk (The), Inc., Class A (b)	2,823,494
		11,707,514

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 28

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)

Portfolio of Investments (Continued)

December 31, 2023

Shares	Description	Value
COMMON STOCKS (a) (Continued)
	Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels — 1.7%
19,192	Diamondback Energy, Inc.	$2,976,295
	Pharmaceuticals — 1.7%
45,448	AstraZeneca PLC, ADR	3,060,923
	Professional Services — 4.9%
12,567	Automatic Data Processing, Inc.	2,927,734
23,166	Paychex, Inc.	2,759,302
12,504	Verisk Analytics, Inc.	2,986,706
		8,673,742
	Real Estate Management & Development — 1.7%
33,555	CoStar Group, Inc. (b)	2,932,371
	Specialty Retail — 3.4%
3,088	O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. (b)	2,933,847
21,983	Ross Stores, Inc.	3,042,227
		5,976,074
	Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods — 1.7%
5,979	Lululemon Athletica, Inc. (b)	3,057,003
	Trading Companies & Distributors — 1.7%
45,799	Fastenal Co.	2,966,401
	Wireless Telecommunication Services — 1.7%
18,818	T-Mobile US, Inc.	3,017,090
	Total Common Stocks	176,141,767
	(Cost $151,373,029)
MONEY MARKET FUNDS — 1.7%
3,044,764	Goldman Sachs Financial Square Treasury Obligations Fund - Institutional Class - 5.17% (d) (e)	3,044,764
53,353	Morgan Stanley Institutional Liquidity Funds - Treasury Portfolio - Institutional Class - 5.22% (d)	53,353
	Total Money Market Funds	3,098,117
	(Cost $3,098,117)


	Total Investments — 101.6%	179,239,884
	(Cost $154,471,146)
	Net Other Assets and Liabilities — (1.6)%	(2,849,731 )
	Net Assets — 100.0%	$176,390,153

(a)	The industry allocation is based on Standard & Poor’s Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS), and is different than the industry sector classification system used by the Index to select securities, which is the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) system, which is maintained by FTSE International Limited.
(b)	Non-income producing security.
(c)	All or a portion of this security is on loan (see Note 2D - Securities Lending in the Notes to Financial Statements). The remaining contractual maturity of all of the securities lending transactions is overnight and continuous. The aggregate value of such securities, including those sold and pending settlement, is $2,946,010 and the total value of the collateral held by the Fund is $3,044,764.
(d)	Rate shown reflects yield as of December 31, 2023.
(e)	This security serves as collateral for securities on loan.

Abbreviations throughout the Portfolio of Investments:
ADR	– American Depositary Receipt

Valuation Inputs

A summary of the inputs used to value the Fund’s investments as of December 31, 2023 is as follows (see Note 2A - Portfolio Valuation in the Notes to Financial Statements):

	Total Value at 12/31/2023	Level 1 Quoted Prices	Level 2 Significant Observable Inputs	Level 3 Significant Unobservable Inputs
Common Stocks*	$ 176,141,767	$ 176,141,767	$ —	$ —
Money Market Funds	3,098,117	3,098,117	—	—
Total Investments	$179,239,884	$179,239,884	$—	$—

*	See Portfolio of Investments for industry breakout.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 29

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)

Portfolio of Investments (Continued)

December 31, 2023

Offsetting Assets and Liabilities

Securities Lending Agency Agreement
Total gross amount presented on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities(1)	$2,946,010
Non-cash Collateral(2)	(2,946,010 )
Net Amount	$—

(1)	The amount presented on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities, which is included in “Investments, at value,” is not offset and is shown on a gross basis.
(2)	At December 31, 2023, the value of the collateral received from each borrower exceeded the value of the related securities loaned. This amount is disclosed on the Portfolio of Investments.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 30

First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)

Portfolio of Investments

December 31, 2023

Shares	Description	Value
COMMON STOCKS — 99.9%
	Automobiles — 20.1%
1,202,024	Gogoro, Inc. (a) (b)	$3,101,222
9,318,670	Lucid Group, Inc. (a) (b)	39,231,601
565,255	Polestar Automotive Holding UK PLC, Class A, ADR (a) (b)	1,277,476
4,407,887	Rivian Automotive, Inc., Class A (a)	103,409,029
327,597	Tesla, Inc. (a)	81,401,302
		228,420,630
	Chemicals — 8.3%
544,568	Albemarle Corp.	78,679,184
885,106	Livent Corp. (a)	15,914,206
		94,593,390
	Commercial Services & Supplies — 0.5%
965,062	LanzaTech Global, Inc. (a) (b)	4,854,262
877,415	Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. (a) (b)	513,112
		5,367,374
	Construction & Engineering — 0.5%
168,517	Ameresco, Inc., Class A (a)	5,336,933
	Electrical Equipment — 18.3%
151,981	Acuity Brands, Inc.	31,130,268
149,240	American Superconductor Corp. (a)	1,662,534
744,349	Array Technologies, Inc. (a)	12,505,063
1,470,417	Ballard Power Systems, Inc. (a) (b)	5,440,543
331,811	Blink Charging Co. (a) (b)	1,124,839
1,102,857	Bloom Energy Corp., Class A (a) (b)	16,322,284
1,772,328	ChargePoint Holdings, Inc. (a) (b)	4,147,247
198,861	EnerSys	20,077,007
778,054	Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc. (a) (b)	848,079
851,614	ESS Tech, Inc. (a) (b)	970,840
587,277	Fluence Energy, Inc. (a)	14,006,556
615,329	FTC Solar, Inc. (a)	426,300
2,218,158	FuelCell Energy, Inc. (a) (b)	3,549,053
142,361	LSI Industries, Inc.	2,004,443
305,663	NEXTracker, Inc., Class A (a)	14,320,312
2,980,523	Plug Power, Inc. (a) (b)	13,412,353
837,091	Shoals Technologies Group, Inc., Class A (a)	13,008,394
259,213	Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A., ADR (b)	15,609,807
767,379	Stem, Inc. (a) (b)	2,977,431
862,362	SunPower Corp. (a) (b)	4,165,208
1,072,487	Sunrun, Inc. (a)	21,052,920

Shares	Description	Value

	Electrical Equipment (Continued)
209,551	TPI Composites, Inc. (a) (b)	$867,541
80,433	Ultralife Corp. (a)	548,553
160,999	Vicor Corp. (a)	7,235,295
852,396	Wallbox N.V. (a) (b)	1,491,693
		208,904,563
	Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components — 3.2%
183,510	Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.	19,987,909
223,933	Itron, Inc. (a)	16,909,181
		36,897,090
	Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers — 11.2%
782,612	Altus Power, Inc. (a)	5,345,240
571,752	Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure PLC	12,292,668
1,419,992	Brookfield Renewable Partners, L.P. (c)	37,317,390
405,558	Clearway Energy, Inc., Class C	11,124,456
707,158	Montauk Renewables, Inc. (a)	6,300,778
459,910	NextEra Energy Partners, L.P. (c) (d)	13,985,863
297,087	Ormat Technologies, Inc.	22,516,224
1,253,608	ReNew Energy Global PLC, Class A (a)	9,602,637
602,582	Sunnova Energy International, Inc. (a) (b)	9,189,375
		127,674,631
	Machinery — 0.2%
1,113,371	Lion Electric (The) Co. (a) (b)	1,970,667
	Metals & Mining — 1.5%
875,275	MP Materials Corp. (a)	17,374,209
	Mortgage REITs — 1.3%
547,836	Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc.	15,109,317
	Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels — 0.5%
1,097,795	Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (a)	4,204,555
1,182,873	Gevo, Inc. (a) (b)	1,372,133
		5,576,688
	Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment — 34.0%
947,430	Allegro MicroSystems, Inc. (a)	28,678,706
389,276	Enphase Energy, Inc. (a)	51,438,931
495,802	First Solar, Inc. (a)	85,416,769
259,804	Maxeon Solar Technologies Ltd. (a) (b)	1,862,795

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 31

First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)

Portfolio of Investments (Continued)

December 31, 2023

Shares	Description	Value
COMMON STOCKS (Continued)
	Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (Continued)
878,589	Navitas Semiconductor Corp. (a)	$7,090,213
1,102,616	ON Semiconductor Corp. (a)	92,101,514
279,876	Power Integrations, Inc.	22,980,618
279,648	SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (a)	26,175,053
232,417	Universal Display Corp.	44,452,075
616,901	Wolfspeed, Inc. (a)	26,841,363
		387,038,037
	Specialty Retail — 0.3%
1,334,025	Allego N.V. (a) (b)	1,800,934
509,733	EVgo, Inc. (a) (b)	1,824,844
		3,625,778
	Total Common Stocks	1,137,889,307
	(Cost $1,708,805,445)
MONEY MARKET FUNDS — 9.5%
107,876,941	Goldman Sachs Financial Square Treasury Obligations Fund - Institutional Class - 5.17% (e) (f)	107,876,941
	(Cost $107,876,941)


	Total Investments — 109.4%	1,245,766,248
	(Cost $1,816,682,386)
	Net Other Assets and Liabilities — (9.4)%	(106,713,836 )
	Net Assets — 100.0%	$1,139,052,412

(a)	Non-income producing security.
(b)	All or a portion of this security is on loan (see Note 2D - Securities Lending in the Notes to Financial Statements). The remaining contractual maturity of all of the securities lending transactions is overnight and continuous. The aggregate value of such securities, including those sold and pending settlement, is $102,035,486 and the total value of the collateral held by the Fund is $107,876,941.
(c)	Security is a Master Limited Partnership (“MLP”).
(d)	This security is taxed as a “C” corporation for federal income tax purposes.
(e)	Rate shown reflects yield as of December 31, 2023.
(f)	This security serves as collateral for securities on loan.

Abbreviations throughout the Portfolio of Investments:
ADR	– American Depositary Receipt

Valuation Inputs

A summary of the inputs used to value the Fund’s investments as of December 31, 2023 is as follows (see Note 2A - Portfolio Valuation in the Notes to Financial Statements):

	Total Value at 12/31/2023	Level 1 Quoted Prices	Level 2 Significant Observable Inputs	Level 3 Significant Unobservable Inputs
Common Stocks*	$ 1,137,889,307	$ 1,137,889,307	$ —	$ —
Money Market Funds	107,876,941	107,876,941	—	—
Total Investments	$1,245,766,248	$1,245,766,248	$—	$—

*	See Portfolio of Investments for industry breakout.

Offsetting Assets and Liabilities

Securities Lending Agency Agreement
Total gross amount presented on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities(1)	$102,035,486
Non-cash Collateral(2)	(102,035,486 )
Net Amount	$—

(1)	The amount presented on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities, which is included in “Investments, at value,” is not offset and is shown on a gross basis.
(2)	At December 31, 2023, the value of the collateral received from each borrower exceeded the value of the related securities loaned. This amount is disclosed on the Portfolio of Investments.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 32

First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)

Portfolio of Investments

December 31, 2023

Shares	Description	Value
COMMON STOCKS — 99.4%
	Data Center REITs — 10.8%
34,715	Digital Realty Trust, Inc.	$4,671,945
10,761	Equinix, Inc.	8,666,802
		13,338,747
	Diversified REITs — 2.8%
8,314	Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.	158,132
1,429	Alpine Income Property Trust, Inc.	24,164
5,568	American Assets Trust, Inc.	125,336
7,726	Armada Hoffler Properties, Inc.	95,571
21,465	Broadstone Net Lease, Inc.	369,627
2,315	CTO Realty Growth, Inc.	40,119
14,995	Empire State Realty Trust, Inc., Class A	145,302
17,885	Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc.	457,141
4,580	Gladstone Commercial Corp.	60,639
22,443	Global Net Lease, Inc.	223,308
3,758	NexPoint Diversified Real Estate Trust	29,876
1,811	One Liberty Properties, Inc.	39,679
25,066	WP Carey, Inc.	1,624,527
		3,393,421
	Health Care REITs — 10.5%
13,653	CareTrust REIT, Inc.	305,554
2,907	Community Healthcare Trust, Inc.	77,442
24,738	Diversified Healthcare Trust	92,520
7,065	Global Medical REIT, Inc.	78,422
43,659	Healthcare Realty Trust, Inc.	752,245
62,710	Healthpeak Properties, Inc.	1,241,658
4,748	LTC Properties, Inc.	152,506
68,662	Medical Properties Trust, Inc.	337,130
4,976	National Health Investors, Inc.	277,910
28,084	Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc.	861,055
27,338	Physicians Realty Trust	363,869
26,505	Sabra Health Care REIT, Inc.	378,226
1,458	Universal Health Realty Income Trust	63,059
46,125	Ventas, Inc.	2,298,870
63,444	Welltower, Inc.	5,720,745
		13,001,211
	Hotel & Resort REITs — 3.7%
24,391	Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc.	405,134
3,719	Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (a)	7,215
6,279	Braemar Hotels & Resorts, Inc.	15,697
5,601	Chatham Lodging Trust	60,043
24,030	DiamondRock Hospitality Co.	225,642
80,863	Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc.	1,574,403
24,070	Park Hotels & Resorts, Inc.	368,271

Shares	Description	Value

	Hotel & Resort REITs (Continued)
13,813	Pebblebrook Hotel Trust	$220,732
17,864	RLJ Lodging Trust	209,366
6,844	Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc.	753,251
19,002	Service Properties Trust	162,277
12,331	Summit Hotel Properties, Inc.	82,864
23,550	Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc.	252,691
12,156	Xenia Hotels & Resorts, Inc.	165,565
		4,503,151
	Industrial REITs — 16.5%
30,550	Americold Realty Trust, Inc.	924,749
5,310	EastGroup Properties, Inc.	974,597
15,162	First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc.	798,583
6,793	Industrial Logistics Properties Trust	31,927
3,214	Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc.	324,036
33,545	LXP Industrial Trust	332,766
4,202	Plymouth Industrial REIT, Inc.	101,142
105,914	Prologis, Inc.	14,118,336
24,197	Rexford Industrial Realty, Inc.	1,357,452
20,813	STAG Industrial, Inc.	817,118
9,618	Terreno Realty Corp.	602,760
		20,383,466
	Multi-Family Residential REITs — 10.8%
16,849	Apartment Income REIT Corp.	585,166
15,372	Apartment Investment and Management Co., Class A (a)	120,363
16,279	AvalonBay Communities, Inc.	3,047,754
1,322	BRT Apartments Corp.	24,576
12,239	Camden Property Trust	1,215,210
1,725	Centerspace	100,395
1,473	Clipper Realty, Inc.	7,954
10,068	Elme Communities	146,993
39,610	Equity Residential	2,422,548
7,357	Essex Property Trust, Inc.	1,824,095
25,758	Independence Realty Trust, Inc.	394,097
13,376	Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc.	1,798,537
2,619	NexPoint Residential Trust, Inc.	90,172
34,688	UDR, Inc.	1,328,203
9,197	Veris Residential, Inc.	144,669
		13,250,732
	Office REITs — 6.0%
17,928	Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.	2,272,733
16,551	Boston Properties, Inc.	1,161,384
19,728	Brandywine Realty Trust	106,531
4,578	City Office REIT, Inc.	27,972

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 33

First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)

Portfolio of Investments (Continued)

December 31, 2023

Shares	Description	Value
COMMON STOCKS (Continued)
	Office REITs (Continued)
12,901	COPT Defense Properties	$330,653
17,398	Cousins Properties, Inc.	423,641
19,113	Douglas Emmett, Inc.	277,139
10,913	Easterly Government Properties, Inc.	146,671
12,232	Equity Commonwealth	234,854
10,552	Franklin Street Properties Corp.	27,013
12,116	Highwoods Properties, Inc.	278,183
14,540	Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc.	135,367
9,982	JBG SMITH Properties	169,794
12,229	Kilroy Realty Corp.	487,203
1,676	NET Lease Office Properties	30,972
5,588	Office Properties Income Trust	40,904
6,394	Orion Office REIT, Inc.	36,574
18,935	Paramount Group, Inc.	97,894
4,128	Peakstone Realty Trust	82,271
14,181	Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc., Class A	100,827
2,315	Postal Realty Trust, Inc., Class A	33,706
7,384	SL Green Realty Corp.	333,535
18,326	Vornado Realty Trust	517,710
		7,353,531
	Other Specialized REITs — 7.1%
8,635	EPR Properties	418,366
5,026	Farmland Partners, Inc.	62,725
10,381	Four Corners Property Trust, Inc.	262,639
30,608	Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc.	1,510,505
3,821	Gladstone Land Corp.	55,213
33,470	Iron Mountain, Inc.	2,342,231
5,133	Safehold, Inc.	120,112
27,359	Uniti Group, Inc.	158,135
118,588	VICI Properties, Inc.	3,780,585
		8,710,511
	Retail REITs — 16.6%
10,929	Acadia Realty Trust	185,684
11,523	Agree Realty Corp.	725,373
246	Alexander’s, Inc.	52,538
34,457	Brixmor Property Group, Inc.	801,814
2,824	CBL & Associates Properties, Inc.	68,962
8,421	Federal Realty Investment Trust	867,784
5,497	Getty Realty Corp.	160,622
7,741	InvenTrust Properties Corp.	196,157
71,056	Kimco Realty Corp.	1,514,203
25,149	Kite Realty Group Trust	574,906
24,697	Macerich (The) Co.	381,075
7,875	NETSTREIT Corp.	140,569
20,912	NNN REIT, Inc.	901,307

Shares	Description	Value

	Retail REITs (Continued)
13,710	Phillips Edison & Co., Inc.	$500,141
82,983	Realty Income Corp.	4,764,884
18,831	Regency Centers Corp.	1,261,677
14,444	Retail Opportunity Investments Corp.	202,649
9,039	RPT Realty	115,970
1,482	Saul Centers, Inc.	58,198
37,397	Simon Property Group, Inc.	5,334,308
20,635	SITE Centers Corp.	281,255
16,200	Spirit Realty Capital, Inc.	707,778
12,076	Tanger, Inc.	334,747
13,485	Urban Edge Properties	246,776
5,399	Whitestone REIT	66,354
		20,445,731
	Self-Storage REITs — 8.9%
25,775	CubeSmart	1,194,671
24,219	Extra Space Storage, Inc.	3,883,032
8,857	National Storage Affiliates Trust	367,300
18,140	Public Storage	5,532,700
		10,977,703
	Single-Family Residential REITs — 5.7%
36,458	American Homes 4 Rent, Class A	1,311,030
21,366	Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc.	1,507,158
65,939	Invitation Homes, Inc.	2,249,179
14,265	Sun Communities, Inc.	1,906,517
7,154	UMH Properties, Inc.	109,599
		7,083,483
	Total Common Stocks	122,441,687
	(Cost $149,304,513)
MONEY MARKET FUNDS — 0.2%
264,861	Morgan Stanley Institutional Liquidity Funds - Treasury Portfolio - Institutional Class - 5.22% (b)	264,861
	(Cost $264,861)


	Total Investments — 99.6%	122,706,548
	(Cost $149,569,374)
	Net Other Assets and Liabilities — 0.4%	506,705
	Net Assets — 100.0%	$123,213,253

(a)	Non-income producing security.
(b)	Rate shown reflects yield as of December 31, 2023.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 34

First Trust Water ETF (FIW)

Portfolio of Investments

December 31, 2023

Shares	Description	Value
COMMON STOCKS — 99.9%
	Beverages — 1.2%
1,167,998	Primo Water Corp.	$17,578,370
	Building Products — 9.2%
688,362	A.O. Smith Corp.	56,748,563
389,405	Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc.	54,765,919
962,790	Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corp.	28,315,654
		139,830,136
	Chemicals — 4.0%
310,297	Ecolab, Inc.	61,547,410
	Commercial Services & Supplies — 3.4%
271,857	Tetra Tech, Inc.	45,381,089
71,744	Veralto Corp.	5,901,661
		51,282,750
	Construction & Engineering — 9.4%
568,732	AECOM	52,567,899
640,083	Stantec, Inc.	51,328,256
168,745	Valmont Industries, Inc.	39,403,645
		143,299,800
	Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components — 3.8%
171,711	Badger Meter, Inc.	26,507,027
416,866	Itron, Inc. (a)	31,477,552
		57,984,579
	Health Care Equipment & Supplies — 4.1%
111,526	IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (a)	61,902,506
	Life Sciences Tools & Services — 12.0%
471,097	Agilent Technologies, Inc.	65,496,616
215,229	Danaher Corp.	49,791,077
203,118	Waters Corp. (a)	66,872,539
		182,160,232
	Machinery — 22.6%
655,763	Energy Recovery, Inc. (a)	12,354,575
720,693	Flowserve Corp.	29,706,965
294,880	Franklin Electric Co., Inc.	28,500,152
251,924	IDEX Corp.	54,695,220
143,623	Lindsay Corp.	18,550,347
739,187	Mueller Industries, Inc.	34,852,667
1,262,298	Mueller Water Products, Inc., Class A	18,177,091
710,308	Pentair PLC	51,646,495

Shares	Description	Value

	Machinery (Continued)
151,072	Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Class A	$31,474,340
550,856	Xylem, Inc.	62,995,892
		342,953,744
	Multi-Utilities — 1.6%
3,772,201	Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (b)	23,840,310
	Software — 4.1%
114,286	Roper Technologies, Inc.	62,305,299
	Trading Companies & Distributors — 8.0%
1,302,581	Core & Main, Inc., Class A (a)	52,637,298
353,031	Ferguson PLC	68,159,695
		120,796,993
	Water Utilities — 16.5%
338,651	American States Water Co.	27,234,314
411,098	American Water Works Co., Inc.	54,260,825
567,519	California Water Service Group	29,437,211
3,687,651	Cia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo, ADR	56,162,925
1,352,472	Essential Utilities, Inc.	50,514,829
236,828	Middlesex Water Co.	15,540,653
271,041	SJW Group	17,712,529
		250,863,286
	Total Common Stocks	1,516,345,415
	(Cost $1,257,383,896)
MONEY MARKET FUNDS — 1.6%
23,145,500	Goldman Sachs Financial Square Treasury Obligations Fund - Institutional Class - 5.17% (c) (d)	23,145,500
551,490	Morgan Stanley Institutional Liquidity Funds - Treasury Portfolio - Institutional Class - 5.22% (c)	551,490
	Total Money Market Funds	23,696,990
	(Cost $23,696,990)


	Total Investments — 101.5%	1,540,042,405
	(Cost $1,281,080,886)
	Net Other Assets and Liabilities — (1.5)%	(22,787,198 )
	Net Assets — 100.0%	$1,517,255,207

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 36

First Trust Water ETF (FIW)

Portfolio of Investments (Continued)

December 31, 2023

(a)	Non-income producing security.
(b)	All or a portion of this security is on loan (see Note 2D - Securities Lending in the Notes to Financial Statements). The remaining contractual maturity of all of the securities lending transactions is overnight and continuous. The aggregate value of such securities, including those sold and pending settlement, is $22,575,040 and the total value of the collateral held by the Fund is $23,145,500.
(c)	Rate shown reflects yield as of December 31, 2023.
(d)	This security serves as collateral for securities on loan.

Abbreviations throughout the Portfolio of Investments:
ADR	– American Depositary Receipt

Valuation Inputs

A summary of the inputs used to value the Fund’s investments as of December 31, 2023 is as follows (see Note 2A - Portfolio Valuation in the Notes to Financial Statements):

	Total Value at 12/31/2023	Level 1 Quoted Prices	Level 2 Significant Observable Inputs	Level 3 Significant Unobservable Inputs
Common Stocks*	$ 1,516,345,415	$ 1,516,345,415	$ —	$ —
Money Market Funds	23,696,990	23,696,990	—	—
Total Investments	$1,540,042,405	$1,540,042,405	$—	$—

*	See Portfolio of Investments for industry breakout.

Offsetting Assets and Liabilities

Securities Lending Agency Agreement
Total gross amount presented on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities(1)	$22,575,040
Non-cash Collateral(2)	(22,575,040 )
Net Amount	$—

(1)	The amount presented on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities, which is included in “Investments, at value,” is not offset and is shown on a gross basis.
(2)	At December 31, 2023, the value of the collateral received from each borrower exceeded the value of the related securities loaned. This amount is disclosed on the Portfolio of Investments.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 37

First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)

Portfolio of Investments

December 31, 2023

Shares	Description	Value
COMMON STOCKS — 99.9%
	Gas Utilities — 2.0%
183,309	National Fuel Gas Co.	$9,196,612
	Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels — 97.9%
121,309	Amplify Energy Corp. (a)	719,362
535,846	Antero Resources Corp. (a)	12,152,987
372,413	APA Corp.	13,362,178
1,837,881	Baytex Energy Corp.	6,101,765
238,191	Callon Petroleum Co. (a)	7,717,388
176,212	Chesapeake Energy Corp.	13,557,751
64,312	Chord Energy Corp.	10,690,584
168,070	Civitas Resources, Inc.	11,492,627
374,914	CNX Resources Corp. (a)	7,498,280
603,709	Comstock Resources, Inc.	5,342,825
154,674	ConocoPhillips	17,953,011
553,298	Coterra Energy, Inc.	14,120,165
326,679	Crescent Energy, Inc., Class A	4,315,430
1,163,791	Crescent Point Energy Corp.	8,065,072
356,100	Devon Energy Corp.	16,131,330
101,299	Diamondback Energy, Inc.	15,709,449
399,183	Enerplus Corp.	6,123,467
136,172	EOG Resources, Inc.	16,470,003
382,105	EQT Corp.	14,772,179
252,056	Granite Ridge Resources, Inc.	1,517,377
38,046	Gulfport Energy Corp. (a)	5,067,727
116,579	Hess Corp.	16,806,029
665,558	Hess Midstream, L.P., Class A (b) (c)	21,051,600
987,250	Kosmos Energy Ltd. (a)	6,624,448
415,716	Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp., Class A	8,850,594
585,787	Marathon Oil Corp.	14,152,614
212,329	Matador Resources Co.	12,073,027
252,514	Murphy Oil Corp.	10,772,247
228,902	Northern Oil and Gas, Inc.	8,485,397
245,978	Obsidian Energy Ltd. (a) (d)	1,667,731
289,619	Occidental Petroleum Corp.	17,293,150
310,764	Ovintiv, Inc.	13,648,755
850,258	Permian Resources Corp.	11,563,509
75,562	Pioneer Natural Resources Co.	16,992,383
366,685	Range Resources Corp.	11,161,891
15,079	Riley Exploration Permian, Inc.	410,752
677,116	Ring Energy, Inc. (a) (d)	988,589
188,767	SandRidge Energy, Inc.	2,580,445
128,780	SilverBow Resources, Inc. (a)	3,744,922
258,550	SM Energy Co.	10,011,056
1,977,914	Southwestern Energy Co. (a)	12,955,337
347,800	Talos Energy, Inc. (a)	4,949,194
5,503,639	Tellurian, Inc. (a)	4,158,550
353,836	Vermilion Energy, Inc.	4,267,262
124,580	Vital Energy, Inc. (a)	5,667,144

Shares	Description	Value

	Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (Continued)
126,080	Vitesse Energy, Inc.	$2,759,891
669,005	W&T Offshore, Inc.	2,180,956
726,265	Western Midstream Partners, L.P. (c)	21,250,514
494,596	Woodside Energy Group Ltd., ADR (d)	10,431,030
		466,379,974
	Total Common Stocks	475,576,586
	(Cost $504,244,692)
MONEY MARKET FUNDS — 1.3%
5,280,080	Goldman Sachs Financial Square Treasury Obligations Fund - Institutional Class - 5.17% (e) (f)	5,280,080
1,059,403	Morgan Stanley Institutional Liquidity Funds - Treasury Portfolio - Institutional Class - 5.22% (e)	1,059,403
	Total Money Market Funds	6,339,483
	(Cost $6,339,483)


	Total Investments — 101.2%	481,916,069
	(Cost $510,584,175)
	Net Other Assets and Liabilities — (1.2)%	(5,555,173 )
	Net Assets — 100.0%	$476,360,896

(a)	Non-income producing security.
(b)	This security is taxed as a “C” corporation for federal income tax purposes.
(c)	Security is a Master Limited Partnership (“MLP”).
(d)	All or a portion of this security is on loan (see Note 2D - Securities Lending in the Notes to Financial Statements). The remaining contractual maturity of all of the securities lending transactions is overnight and continuous. The aggregate value of such securities, including those sold and pending settlement, is $5,113,770 and the total value of the collateral held by the Fund is $5,280,080.
(e)	Rate shown reflects yield as of December 31, 2023.
(f)	This security serves as collateral for securities on loan.

Abbreviations throughout the Portfolio of Investments:
ADR	– American Depositary Receipt

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 38

First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)

Portfolio of Investments (Continued)

December 31, 2023

Valuation Inputs

A summary of the inputs used to value the Fund’s investments as of December 31, 2023 is as follows (see Note 2A - Portfolio Valuation in the Notes to Financial Statements):

	Total Value at 12/31/2023	Level 1 Quoted Prices	Level 2 Significant Observable Inputs	Level 3 Significant Unobservable Inputs
Common Stocks*	$ 475,576,586	$ 475,576,586	$ —	$ —
Money Market Funds	6,339,483	6,339,483	—	—
Total Investments	$481,916,069	$481,916,069	$—	$—

*	See Portfolio of Investments for industry breakout.

Offsetting Assets and Liabilities

Securities Lending Agency Agreement
Total gross amount presented on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities(1)	$5,113,770
Non-cash Collateral(2)	(5,113,770 )
Net Amount	$—

(1)	The amount presented on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities, which is included in “Investments, at value,” is not offset and is shown on a gross basis.
(2)	At December 31, 2023, the value of the collateral received from each borrower exceeded the value of the related securities loaned. This amount is disclosed on the Portfolio of Investments.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 39

First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)

Portfolio of Investments

December 31, 2023

Shares	Description	Value
COMMON STOCKS — 99.9%
	Banks — 98.2%
12,641	1st Source Corp.	$694,623
15,727	Amalgamated Financial Corp.	423,685
35,731	Ameris Bancorp	1,895,530
8,825	Arrow Financial Corp.	246,571
17,034	BancFirst Corp.	1,657,919
27,764	Bancorp (The), Inc. (a)	1,070,580
5,364	Bank First Corp. (b)	464,844
8,351	Bank of Marin Bancorp	183,889
58,541	Bank OZK	2,917,098
17,773	Banner Corp.	951,922
12,897	Blue Foundry Bancorp (a)	124,714
14,489	Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc. (a)	195,891
45,983	Brookline Bancorp, Inc.	501,675
3,844	Burke & Herbert Financial Services Corp. (b)	241,788
13,114	Business First Bancshares, Inc.	323,260
7,533	Camden National Corp.	283,467
8,792	Capital City Bank Group, Inc.	258,749
69,980	Capitol Federal Financial, Inc.	451,371
11,878	Carter Bankshares, Inc. (a)	177,814
37,592	Cathay General Bancorp	1,675,475
2,435	Citizens Financial Services, Inc. (b)	157,593
7,675	City Holding Co.	846,246
10,814	CNB Financial Corp.	244,288
6,884	Coastal Financial Corp. (a)	305,718
54,287	Columbia Financial, Inc. (a)	1,046,653
67,527	Commerce Bancshares, Inc.	3,606,617
9,314	Community Trust Bancorp, Inc.	408,512
19,977	ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc.	457,673
25,508	CrossFirst Bankshares, Inc. (a)	346,399
72,099	CVB Financial Corp.	1,455,679
20,088	Dime Community Bancshares, Inc.	540,970
15,485	Eagle Bancorp, Inc.	466,718
19,345	Enterprise Financial Services Corp.	863,754
4,245	Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc.	212,080
19,398	Farmers National Banc Corp.	280,301
7,970	Financial Institutions, Inc.	169,761
21,262	First Bancorp	786,907
16,087	First Bancshares (The), Inc.	471,832
28,593	First Busey Corp.	709,678
9,591	First Community Bankshares, Inc.	355,826
49,219	First Financial Bancorp	1,168,951
73,843	First Financial Bankshares, Inc.	2,237,443
6,082	First Financial Corp.	261,708
66,032	First Hawaiian, Inc.	1,509,492

Shares	Description	Value

	Banks (Continued)
54,330	First Interstate BancSystem, Inc., Class A	$1,670,647
30,967	First Merchants Corp.	1,148,256
12,336	First Mid Bancshares, Inc.	427,566
11,688	First of Long Island (The) Corp.	154,749
14,956	Flushing Financial Corp.	246,475
84,959	Fulton Financial Corp.	1,398,425
15,304	German American Bancorp, Inc.	496,003
6,104	Great Southern Bancorp, Inc.	362,272
44,578	Hancock Whitney Corp.	2,166,045
15,727	Hanmi Financial Corp.	305,104
23,682	HarborOne Bancorp, Inc.	283,710
16,408	HBT Financial, Inc.	346,373
22,075	Heartland Financial USA, Inc.	830,241
31,616	Heritage Commerce Corp.	313,631
18,059	Heritage Financial Corp.	386,282
1,113	Hingham Institution for Savings (b)	216,367
8,995	HomeTrust Bancshares, Inc.	242,145
62,149	Hope Bancorp, Inc.	750,760
22,827	Horizon Bancorp, Inc.	326,654
22,692	Independent Bank Corp.	1,493,361
10,784	Independent Bank Corp.	280,600
21,361	Independent Bank Group, Inc.	1,086,848
32,112	International Bancshares Corp.	1,744,324
33,395	Kearny Financial Corp.	299,553
13,160	Lakeland Financial Corp.	857,506
8,292	Mercantile Bank Corp.	334,831
8,625	Mid Penn Bancorp, Inc.	209,415
11,145	Midland States Bancorp, Inc.	307,156
8,120	MidWestOne Financial Group, Inc.	218,509
24,365	NBT Bancorp, Inc.	1,021,137
4,032	Northeast Bank	222,526
7,346	Northeast Community Bancorp, Inc.	130,318
23,262	Northfield Bancorp, Inc.	292,636
2,859	Northrim BanCorp, Inc.	163,563
65,769	Northwest Bancshares, Inc.	820,797
4,291	Oak Valley Bancorp (b)	128,515
30,748	OceanFirst Financial Corp.	533,785
23,129	Old Second Bancorp, Inc.	357,112
49,622	Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc.	1,444,496
13,448	Pathward Financial, Inc.	711,803
9,220	Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corp.	274,940
18,299	Peoples Bancorp, Inc.	617,774
3,643	Peoples Financial Services Corp.	177,414
7,216	Preferred Bank	527,129
18,490	Premier Financial Corp.	445,609
12,771	Primis Financial Corp.	161,681
8,658	QCR Holdings, Inc.	505,541

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 40

First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)

Portfolio of Investments (Continued)

December 31, 2023

Shares	Description	Value
COMMON STOCKS (Continued)
	Banks (Continued)
9,829	RBB Bancorp	$187,144
8,911	Republic Bancorp, Inc., Class A	491,531
19,785	S&T Bancorp, Inc.	661,215
23,230	Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc.	632,785
44,060	Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida	1,253,948
17,151	Shore Bancshares, Inc.	244,402
64,768	Simmons First National Corp., Class A	1,284,997
8,529	South Plains Financial, Inc.	247,000
5,866	Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc.	313,186
15,625	Southside Bancshares, Inc.	489,375
15,172	Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc.	781,206
24,848	Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. (a)	1,605,926
145,069	TFS Financial Corp.	2,131,064
38,746	TowneBank	1,153,081
17,214	TriCo Bancshares	739,686
12,052	Triumph Financial, Inc. (a)	966,329
9,844	TrustCo Bank Corp.	305,656
31,600	Trustmark Corp.	881,008
25,112	UMB Financial Corp.	2,098,108
69,820	United Bankshares, Inc.	2,621,741
61,565	United Community Banks, Inc.	1,801,392
15,269	Univest Financial Corp.	336,376
28,109	Veritex Holdings, Inc.	654,096
33,536	WaFd, Inc.	1,105,347
8,813	Washington Trust Bancorp, Inc.	285,365
30,719	WesBanco, Inc.	963,655
13,789	Westamerica BanCorp	777,837
31,687	Wintrust Financial Corp.	2,938,969
31,425	WSFS Financial Corp.	1,443,350
		90,488,023
	Financial Services — 1.7%
7,036	Cass Information Systems, Inc.	316,972
22,374	Merchants Bancorp	952,685
12,754	NewtekOne, Inc. (b)	176,005
10,647	Waterstone Financial, Inc.	151,187
		1,596,849
	Total Common Stocks	92,084,872
	(Cost $103,016,168)

Shares	Description	Value
MONEY MARKET FUNDS — 1.2%
1,121,489	Goldman Sachs Financial Square Treasury Obligations Fund - Institutional Class - 5.17% (c) (d)	$1,121,489
	(Cost $1,121,489)


	Total Investments — 101.1%	93,206,361
	(Cost $104,137,657)
	Net Other Assets and Liabilities — (1.1)%	(1,014,688 )
	Net Assets — 100.0%	$92,191,673

(a)	Non-income producing security.
(b)	All or a portion of this security is on loan (see Note 2D - Securities Lending in the Notes to Financial Statements). The remaining contractual maturity of all of the securities lending transactions is overnight and continuous. The aggregate value of such securities, including those sold and pending settlement, is $1,077,386 and the total value of the collateral held by the Fund is $1,121,489.
(c)	Rate shown reflects yield as of December 31, 2023.
(d)	This security serves as collateral for securities on loan.

Valuation Inputs

A summary of the inputs used to value the Fund’s investments as of December 31, 2023 is as follows (see Note 2A - Portfolio Valuation in the Notes to Financial Statements):

	Total Value at 12/31/2023	Level 1 Quoted Prices	Level 2 Significant Observable Inputs	Level 3 Significant Unobservable Inputs
Common Stocks*	$ 92,084,872	$ 92,084,872	$ —	$ —
Money Market Funds	1,121,489	1,121,489	—	—
Total Investments	$93,206,361	$93,206,361	$—	$—

*	See Portfolio of Investments for industry breakout.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 41

First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)

Portfolio of Investments (Continued)

December 31, 2023

Offsetting Assets and Liabilities

Securities Lending Agency Agreement
Total gross amount presented on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities(1)	$1,077,386
Non-cash Collateral(2)	(1,077,386 )
Net Amount	$—

(1)	The amount presented on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities, which is included in “Investments, at value,” is not offset and is shown on a gross basis.
(2)	At December 31, 2023, the value of the collateral received from each borrower exceeded the value of the related securities loaned. This amount is disclosed on the Portfolio of Investments.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 42

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

Statements of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2023

	First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)	First Trust NASDAQ-100- Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)	First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)
ASSETS:
Investments, at value	$2,304,645,207	$3,578,160,120	$179,239,884
Cash	527,492	1,459,277	—
Receivables:
Capital shares sold	5,875,953	8,834,297	—
Dividends	2,027,294	716,069	246,061
Investment securities sold	999,343	179,779	—
Securities lending income	770,650	34,832	109,699
Reclaims	—	—	—
Other receivables	—	—	—
Prepaid expenses	13,754	16,782	1,184
Total Assets	2,314,859,693	3,589,401,156	179,596,828

LIABILITIES:
Payables:
Collateral for securities on loan	44,551,064	84,859,021	3,044,764
Investment securities purchased	6,369,431	8,834,265	—
Investment advisory fees	735,382	1,129,538	48,781
Licensing fees	505,177	769,617	41,867
Shareholder reporting fees	75,059	91,797	11,977
Audit and tax fees	25,080	24,998	25,022
Capital shares redeemed	—	—	—
Trustees’ fees	—	—	53
Other liabilities	322,555	450,749	34,211
Total Liabilities	52,583,748	96,159,985	3,206,675
NET ASSETS	$2,262,275,945	$3,493,241,171	$176,390,153

NET ASSETS consist of:
Paid-in capital	$2,019,202,166	$3,310,644,637	$175,568,385
Par value	192,500	199,000	20,000
Accumulated distributable earnings (loss)	242,881,279	182,397,534	801,768
NET ASSETS	$2,262,275,945	$3,493,241,171	$176,390,153
NET ASSET VALUE, per share	$117.52	$175.54	$88.19
Number of shares outstanding (unlimited number of shares authorized, par value $0.01 per share)	19,250,002	19,900,002	2,000,002
Investments, at cost	$1,862,708,855	$2,901,405,076	$154,471,146
Securities on loan, at value	$43,076,409	$81,951,500	$2,946,010

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 44

First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)	First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)	First Trust Water ETF (FIW)	First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)	First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)

$1,245,766,248	$122,706,548	$1,540,042,405	$481,916,069	$93,206,361
691,126	175	—	—	8,613

—	—	—	—	—
516,607	622,384	1,274,149	359,279	138,204
2,107,034	—	120,632	1,213,289	—
468,548	—	6,468	1,070	1,022
526,856	—	169,819	905	—
—	—	—	—	53,925
10,763	999	11,096	6,025	474
1,250,087,182	123,330,106	1,541,624,569	483,496,637	93,408,599



107,876,941	—	23,145,500	5,280,080	1,121,489
—	—	—	—	—
372,759	30,888	501,118	166,644	11,757
266,729	10,469	350,624	267,154	13,892
158,487	19,543	100,913	73,283	22,440
25,197	27,702	24,998	25,987	24,940
2,109,543	—	—	1,215,289	—
72	53	2	48	54
225,042	28,198	246,207	107,256	22,354
111,034,770	116,853	24,369,362	7,135,741	1,216,926
$1,139,052,412	$123,213,253	$1,517,255,207	$476,360,896	$92,191,673


$2,188,936,208	$152,709,452	$1,341,456,148	$1,057,402,059	$124,288,516
270,000	47,000	160,000	195,984	18,500
(1,050,153,796 )	(29,543,199 )	175,639,059	(581,237,147 )	(32,115,343 )
$1,139,052,412	$123,213,253	$1,517,255,207	$476,360,896	$92,191,673
$42.19	$26.22	$94.83	$24.31	$49.83
27,000,002	4,700,002	16,000,002	19,598,365	1,850,002
$1,816,682,386	$149,569,374	$1,281,080,886	$510,584,175	$104,137,657
$102,035,486	$—	$22,575,040	$5,113,770	$1,077,386

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 45

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

Statements of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2023

	First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)	First Trust NASDAQ-100- Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)	First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)
INVESTMENT INCOME:
Dividends	$19,385,029	$14,349,084	$2,312,762
Securities lending income (net of fees)	4,553,373	804,496	663,765
Foreign withholding tax	(80,849 )	(272,930 )	—
Total investment income	23,857,553	14,880,650	2,976,527

EXPENSES:
Investment advisory fees	6,859,886	8,414,655	676,245
Licensing fees	1,714,972	2,107,660	169,061
Accounting and administration fees	789,752	930,637	88,207
Shareholder reporting fees	182,874	188,650	30,358
Transfer agent fees	67,874	77,692	8,453
Custodian fees	60,401	94,475	14,142
Legal fees	37,014	42,234	4,133
Audit and tax fees	29,390	27,723	29,938
Listing fees	11,329	11,329	11,329
Trustees’ fees and expenses	8,522	8,570	7,232
Other expenses	22,917	29,549	3,388
Total expenses	9,784,931	11,933,174	1,042,486
Less fees waived by the investment advisor	—	—	(28,119 )
Net expenses	9,784,931	11,933,174	1,014,367
NET INVESTMENT INCOME (LOSS)	14,072,622	2,947,476	1,962,160

NET REALIZED AND UNREALIZED GAIN (LOSS):
Net realized gain (loss) on:
Investments	(50,853,200 )	(73,823,591 )	(6,271,934 )
In-kind redemptions	49,318,428	130,557,234	15,336,801
Foreign currency transactions	—	—	—
Net realized gain (loss)	(1,534,772 )	56,733,643	9,064,867
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on:
Investments	467,638,627	1,001,338,311	14,041,513
Foreign currency translation	—	—	—
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation)	467,638,627	1,001,338,311	14,041,513
NET REALIZED AND UNREALIZED GAIN (LOSS)	466,103,855	1,058,071,954	23,106,380
NET INCREASE (DECREASE) IN NET ASSETS RESULTING FROM OPERATIONS	$480,176,477	$1,061,019,430	$25,068,540

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 46

First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)	First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)	First Trust Water ETF (FIW)	First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)	First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)

$7,204,444	$4,766,127	$17,394,990	$17,906,627	$2,909,731
8,203,309	—	166,968	138,247	19,018
(191,105 )	—	(346,961 )	(223,176 )	—
15,216,648	4,766,127	17,214,997	17,821,698	2,928,749


5,733,465	366,635	5,403,393	2,291,765	364,503
1,433,366	97,769	675,424	572,941	82,013
677,227	66,113	644,099	290,348	50,695
295,113	36,179	212,163	138,058	45,995
60,765	6,111	58,771	28,647	4,557
68,705	14,312	90,577	46,612	12,595
40,174	3,019	33,019	14,380	3,234
28,747	34,831	29,145	31,719	29,816
11,329	9,812	12,413	14,351	11,321
8,318	7,173	8,198	7,532	7,163
32,341	3,074	21,545	13,901	2,575
8,389,550	645,028	7,188,747	3,450,254	614,467
—	(33,968 )	—	(11,004 )	(67,713 )
8,389,550	611,060	7,188,747	3,439,250	546,754
6,827,098	4,155,067	10,026,250	14,382,448	2,381,995



(99,746,341 )	(3,180,124 )	(56,543,542 )	(14,171,706 )	(7,394,748 )
18,001,506	(3,200,841 )	89,643,202	63,361,399	(11,773,716 )
—	—	—	584	—
(81,744,835 )	(6,380,965 )	33,099,660	49,190,277	(19,168,464 )

(66,605,179 )	16,785,202	209,288,484	(65,693,504 )	1,927,761
—	—	—	913	—
(66,605,179 )	16,785,202	209,288,484	(65,692,591 )	1,927,761
(148,350,014 )	10,404,237	242,388,144	(16,502,314 )	(17,240,703 )
$(141,522,916 )	$14,559,304	$252,414,394	$(2,119,866 )	$(14,858,708 )

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 47

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

	First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)		First Trust NASDAQ-100- Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)
	Year Ended 12/31/2023	Year Ended 12/31/2022	Year Ended 12/31/2023	Year Ended 12/31/2022
OPERATIONS:
Net investment income (loss)	$14,072,622	$6,934,732	$2,947,476	$2,528,502
Net realized gain (loss)	(1,534,772 )	(31,834,305 )	56,733,643	30,459,402
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation)	467,638,627	(315,062,565 )	1,001,338,311	(1,355,869,794 )
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations	480,176,477	(339,962,138 )	1,061,019,430	(1,322,881,890 )

DISTRIBUTIONS TO SHAREHOLDERS FROM:
Investment operations	(14,296,112 )	(6,866,581 )	(3,468,140 )	(2,234,346 )

SHAREHOLDER TRANSACTIONS:
Proceeds from shares sold	868,400,353	303,095,848	1,512,418,124	358,662,021
Cost of shares redeemed	(158,497,835 )	(261,188,326 )	(435,865,726 )	(1,724,215,364 )
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from shareholder transactions	709,902,518	41,907,522	1,076,552,398	(1,365,553,343 )
Total increase (decrease) in net assets	1,175,782,883	(304,921,197 )	2,134,103,688	(2,690,669,579 )

NET ASSETS:
Beginning of period	1,086,493,062	1,391,414,259	1,359,137,483	4,049,807,062
End of period	$2,262,275,945	$1,086,493,062	$3,493,241,171	$1,359,137,483

CHANGES IN SHARES OUTSTANDING:
Shares outstanding, beginning of period	12,250,002	11,750,002	12,900,002	23,100,002
Shares sold	8,550,000	3,250,000	10,100,000	2,600,000
Shares redeemed	(1,550,000 )	(2,750,000 )	(3,100,000 )	(12,800,000 )
Shares outstanding, end of period	19,250,002	12,250,002	19,900,002	12,900,002

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 48

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex- Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)		First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)		First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)		First Trust Water ETF (FIW)
Year Ended 12/31/2023	Year Ended 12/31/2022	Year Ended 12/31/2023	Year Ended 12/31/2022	Year Ended 12/31/2023	Year Ended 12/31/2022	Year Ended 12/31/2023	Year Ended 12/31/2022

$1,962,160	$1,073,743	$6,827,098	$2,172,391	$4,155,067	$3,638,070	$10,026,250	$8,414,234
9,064,867	57,843	(81,744,835 )	(111,416,162 )	(6,380,965 )	(1,238,871 )	33,099,660	65,651,825
14,041,513	(20,127,544 )	(66,605,179 )	(703,458,148 )	16,785,202	(67,166,910 )	209,288,484	(333,862,573 )
25,068,540	(18,995,958 )	(141,522,916 )	(812,701,919 )	14,559,304	(64,767,711 )	252,414,394	(259,796,514 )


(1,980,762 )	(1,136,087 )	(9,544,615 )	(5,415,781 )	(4,123,107 )	(4,101,541 )	(10,284,831 )	(8,373,346 )


72,827,772	31,623,232	120,119,917	285,231,186	12,513,585	79,391,146	279,923,403	125,554,676
(53,207,747 )	(14,943,882 )	(403,503,870 )	(717,271,062 )	(32,834,885 )	(113,732,649 )	(254,578,833 )	(213,394,672 )
19,620,025	16,679,350	(283,383,953 )	(432,039,876 )	(20,321,300 )	(34,341,503 )	25,344,570	(87,839,996 )
42,707,803	(3,452,695 )	(434,451,484 )	(1,250,157,576 )	(9,885,103 )	(103,210,755 )	267,474,133	(356,009,856 )


133,682,350	137,135,045	1,573,503,896	2,823,661,472	133,098,356	236,309,111	1,249,781,074	1,605,790,930
$176,390,153	$133,682,350	$1,139,052,412	$1,573,503,896	$123,213,253	$133,098,356	$1,517,255,207	$1,249,781,074


1,750,002	1,550,002	33,350,002	41,550,002	5,550,002	7,250,002	15,750,002	16,950,002
900,000	400,000	2,600,000	4,650,000	500,000	2,700,000	3,300,000	1,550,000
(650,000 )	(200,000 )	(8,950,000 )	(12,850,000 )	(1,350,000 )	(4,400,000 )	(3,050,000 )	(2,750,000 )
2,000,002	1,750,002	27,000,002	33,350,002	4,700,002	5,550,002	16,000,002	15,750,002

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 49

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

Statements of Changes in Net Assets (Continued)

	First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)		First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)
	Year Ended 12/31/2023	Year Ended 12/31/2022	Year Ended 12/31/2023	Year Ended 12/31/2022
OPERATIONS:
Net investment income (loss)	$14,382,448	$22,056,076	$2,381,995	$2,504,493
Net realized gain (loss)	49,190,277	141,222,022	(19,168,464 )	(402,926 )
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation)	(65,692,591 )	(5,986,689 )	1,927,761	(18,078,803 )
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations	(2,119,866 )	157,291,409	(14,858,708 )	(15,977,236 )

DISTRIBUTIONS TO SHAREHOLDERS FROM:
Investment operations	(17,277,389 )	(25,396,449 )	(2,475,883 )	(2,513,482 )

SHAREHOLDER TRANSACTIONS:
Proceeds from shares sold	61,796,633	843,634,059	31,219,646	136,483,565
Cost of shares redeemed	(454,182,180 )	(510,610,575 )	(108,833,123 )	(48,799,730 )
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from shareholder transactions	(392,385,547 )	333,023,484	(77,613,477 )	87,683,835
Total increase (decrease) in net assets	(411,782,802 )	464,918,444	(94,948,068 )	69,193,117

NET ASSETS:
Beginning of period	888,143,698	423,225,254	187,139,741	117,946,624
End of period	$476,360,896	$888,143,698	$92,191,673	$187,139,741

CHANGES IN SHARES OUTSTANDING:
Shares outstanding, beginning of period	36,248,365	24,648,365	3,550,002	2,000,002
Shares sold	2,500,000	33,450,000	650,000	2,450,000
Shares redeemed	(19,150,000 )	(21,850,000 )	(2,350,000 )	(900,000 )
Shares outstanding, end of period	19,598,365	36,248,365	1,850,002	3,550,002

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 50

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

Financial Highlights

For a share outstanding throughout each period

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)

	Year Ended December 31,
	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Net asset value, beginning of period	$88.69	$118.42	$100.88	$73.78	$54.61
Income from investment operations:
Net investment income (loss)	0.85 (a)	0.60	0.28	0.34	0.36
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)	28.80	(29.74 )	17.54	27.11	19.16
Total from investment operations	29.65	(29.14 )	17.82	27.45	19.52
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
Net investment income	(0.82 )	(0.59 )	(0.28 )	(0.35 )	(0.35 )
Net asset value, end of period	$117.52	$88.69	$118.42	$100.88	$73.78
Total return (b)	33.51 %	(24.62 )%	17.67 %	37.35 %	35.78 %

Ratios to average net assets/supplemental data:
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)	$2,262,276	$1,086,493	$1,391,414	$1,175,270	$907,438
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets	0.57 %	0.58 %	0.57 %	0.58 %	0.59 %
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets	0.82 %	0.61 %	0.25 %	0.41 %	0.56 %
Portfolio turnover rate (c)	34 %	33 %	23 %	28 %	29 %

(a)	Based on average shares outstanding.
(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)	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.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 51

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

Financial Highlights (Continued)

For a share outstanding throughout each period

First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)

	Year Ended December 31,
	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Net asset value, beginning of period	$105.36	$175.32	$138.14	$100.08	$67.97
Income from investment operations:
Net investment income (loss)	0.20 (a)	0.18	0.02	0.58	0.70
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)	70.22	(69.98 )	37.19	38.09	32.09
Total from investment operations	70.42	(69.80 )	37.21	38.67	32.79
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
Net investment income	(0.24 )	(0.16 )	(0.03 )	(0.61 )	(0.68 )
Net asset value, end of period	$175.54	$105.36	$175.32	$138.14	$100.08
Total return (b)	66.89 %	(39.81 )%	26.94 %	38.82 %	48.36 %

Ratios to average net assets/supplemental data:
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)	$3,493,241	$1,359,137	$4,049,807	$3,349,911	$2,912,388
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets	0.57 %	0.57 %	0.56 %	0.57 %	0.57 %
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets	0.14 %	0.12 %	0.01 %	0.50 %	0.82 %
Portfolio turnover rate (c)	36 %	28 %	25 %	31 %	23 %

(a)	Based on average shares outstanding.
(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)	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.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 52

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

Financial Highlights (Continued)

For a share outstanding throughout each period

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)

	Year Ended December 31,
	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Net asset value, beginning of period	$76.39	$88.47	$79.43	$58.39	$45.66
Income from investment operations:
Net investment income (loss)	0.96 (a)	0.66	0.35	0.22	0.20
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)	11.81	(12.04 )	9.00	21.04	12.73
Total from investment operations	12.77	(11.38 )	9.35	21.26	12.93
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
Net investment income	(0.97 )	(0.70 )	(0.31 )	(0.22 )	(0.20 )
Net asset value, end of period	$88.19	$76.39	$88.47	$79.43	$58.39
Total return (b)	16.77 %	(12.85 )%	11.80 %	36.48 %	28.35 %

Ratios to average net assets/supplemental data:
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)	$176,390	$133,682	$137,135	$146,938	$102,183
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets	0.62 %	0.63 %	0.62 %	0.62 %	0.64 %
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets	0.60 %	0.60 %	0.60 %	0.60 %	0.60 %
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets	1.16 %	0.86 %	0.40 %	0.34 %	0.38 %
Portfolio turnover rate (c)	32 %	35 %	25 %	35 %	31 %

(a)	Based on average shares outstanding.
(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. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by the investment advisor.
(c)	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.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 53

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

Financial Highlights (Continued)

For a share outstanding throughout each period

First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)

	Year Ended December 31,
	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Net asset value, beginning of period	$47.18	$67.96	$70.17	$24.91	$17.63
Income from investment operations:
Net investment income (loss)	0.22 (a)	0.07	(0.13 )	0.11	0.13
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)	(4.89 )	(20.70 )	(2.07 )	45.36	7.36
Total from investment operations	(4.67 )	(20.63 )	(2.20 )	45.47	7.49
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
Net investment income	(0.32 )	(0.15 )	(0.01 )	(0.21 )	(0.21 )
Net asset value, end of period	$42.19	$47.18	$67.96	$70.17	$24.91
Total return (b)	(9.98 )%	(30.37 )%	(3.14 )%	183.52 %	42.69 %

Ratios to average net assets/supplemental data:
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)	$1,139,052	$1,573,504	$2,823,661	$1,999,803	$144,467
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets	0.59 %	0.58 %	0.58 %	0.60 %	0.63 %
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets	0.59 %	0.58 %	0.58 %	0.60 %	0.60 %
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets	0.48 %	0.10 %	(0.24 )%	0.04 %	0.58 %
Portfolio turnover rate (c)	17 %	36 %	28 %	43 %	26 %

(a)	Based on average shares outstanding.
(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. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by the investment advisor.
(c)	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.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 54

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

Financial Highlights (Continued)

For a share outstanding throughout each period

First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)

	Year Ended December 31,
	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Net asset value, beginning of period	$23.98	$32.59	$23.23	$26.14	$21.63
Income from investment operations:
Net investment income (loss)	0.83 (a)	0.53	0.50	0.52	0.56
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)	2.26	(8.54 )	9.33	(2.72 )	4.55
Total from investment operations	3.09	(8.01 )	9.83	(2.20 )	5.11
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
Net investment income	(0.85 )	(0.60 )	(0.47 )	(0.71 )	(0.60 )
Net asset value, end of period	$26.22	$23.98	$32.59	$23.23	$26.14
Total return (b)	13.10 %	(24.63 )%	42.52 %	(8.10 )%	23.67 %

Ratios to average net assets/supplemental data:
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)	$123,213	$133,098	$236,309	$74,344	$198,642
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets	0.53 %	0.50 %	0.51 %	0.52 %	0.51 %
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets	0.50 %	0.50 %	0.50 %	0.50 %	0.50 %
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets	3.40 %	1.84 %	2.04 %	2.04 %	2.40 %
Portfolio turnover rate (c)	6 %	8 %	6 %	6 %	10 %

(a)	Based on average shares outstanding.
(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. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by the investment advisor.
(c)	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.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 55

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

Financial Highlights (Continued)

For a share outstanding throughout each period

First Trust Water ETF (FIW)

	Year Ended December 31,
	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Net asset value, beginning of period	$79.35	$94.74	$72.13	$59.91	$43.96
Income from investment operations:
Net investment income (loss)	0.63 (a)	0.53	0.36	0.38	0.32
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)	15.50	(15.39 )	22.60	12.24	15.96
Total from investment operations	16.13	(14.86 )	22.96	12.62	16.28
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
Net investment income	(0.65 )	(0.53 )	(0.35 )	(0.40 )	(0.33 )
Net asset value, end of period	$94.83	$79.35	$94.74	$72.13	$59.91
Total return (b)	20.39 %	(15.65 )%	31.89 %	21.20 %	37.11 %

Ratios to average net assets/supplemental data:
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)	$1,517,255	$1,249,781	$1,605,791	$688,794	$536,168
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets	0.53 %	0.53 %	0.53 %	0.54 %	0.55 %
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets	0.74 %	0.66 %	0.47 %	0.66 %	0.61 %
Portfolio turnover rate (c)	17 %	13 %	15 %	15 %	12 %

(a)	Based on average shares outstanding.
(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)	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.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 56

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

Financial Highlights (Continued)

For a share outstanding throughout each period

First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)

	Year Ended December 31,
	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Net asset value, beginning of period	$24.50	$17.17	$8.80	$12.05	$14.69
Income from investment operations:
Net investment income (loss)	0.61 (a)	0.69	0.20	0.10	0.10
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)	(0.01 )	7.38	8.47	(3.01 )	(2.39 )
Total from investment operations	0.60	8.07	8.67	(2.91 )	(2.29 )
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
Net investment income	(0.79 )	(0.74 )	(0.30 )	—	(0.11 )
Return of capital	—	—	—	(0.34 )	(0.24 )
Total distributions	(0.79 )	(0.74 )	(0.30 )	(0.34 )	(0.35 )
Net asset value, end of period	$24.31	$24.50	$17.17	$8.80	$12.05
Total return (b)	2.55 %	47.27 %	98.69 %	(23.22 )%	(15.87 )%

Ratios to average net assets/supplemental data:
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)	$476,361	$888,144	$423,225	$103,429	$95,209
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets	0.60 %	0.60 %	0.62 % (c)	0.67 %	0.65 %
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets	0.60 %	0.60 %	0.61 % (c)	0.60 %	0.60 %
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets	2.51 %	2.82 %	1.41 %	1.48 %	0.65 %
Portfolio turnover rate (d)	27 %	39 %	42 %	103 %	61 %

(a)	Based on average shares outstanding.
(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. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by the investment advisor.
(c)	For the year ended December 31, 2021, ratio reflects excise tax of 0.01%, which is not included in the expense cap.
(d)	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.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 57

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

Financial Highlights (Continued)

For a share outstanding throughout each period

First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)

	Year Ended December 31,
	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Net asset value, beginning of period	$52.72	$58.97	$44.75	$51.91	$43.16
Income from investment operations:
Net investment income (loss)	1.19 (a)	1.10	1.01	1.11	1.04
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)	(2.73 )	(6.24 )	14.20	(7.13 )	8.72
Total from investment operations	(1.54 )	(5.14 )	15.21	(6.02 )	9.76
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
Net investment income	(1.35 )	(1.11 )	(0.99 )	(1.14 )	(1.01 )
Net asset value, end of period	$49.83	$52.72	$58.97	$44.75	$51.91
Total return (b)	(2.44 )%	(8.70 )%	34.08 %	(11.00 )%	22.80 %

Ratios to average net assets/supplemental data:
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)	$92,192	$187,140	$117,947	$85,020	$142,752
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets	0.67 %	0.62 %	0.63 %	0.64 %	0.60 %
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets	0.60 %	0.60 %	0.60 %	0.60 %	0.60 %
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets	2.61 %	2.11 %	1.82 %	2.75 %	1.98 %
Portfolio turnover rate (c)	24 %	18 %	23 %	14 %	15 %

(a)	Based on average shares outstanding.
(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. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by the investment advisor.
(c)	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.

See Notes to Financial Statements

Page 58

Notes to Financial Statements

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

December 31, 2023

1. Organization

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund (the “Trust”) is an open-end management investment company organized as a Massachusetts business trust on August 8, 2003, and is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”).

The Trust currently consists of twenty-four exchange-traded funds. This report covers the eight funds (each a “Fund” and collectively, the “Funds”) listed below:

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund – (Nasdaq, Inc. (“Nasdaq”) ticker “QQEW”)

First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund – (Nasdaq ticker “QTEC”)

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund – (Nasdaq ticker “QQXT”)

First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund – (Nasdaq ticker “QCLN”)

First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund – (NYSE Arca, Inc. (“NYSE Arca”) ticker “FRI”)

First Trust Water ETF – (NYSE Arca ticker “FIW”)

First Trust Natural Gas ETF – (NYSE Arca ticker “FCG”)

First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund – (Nasdaq ticker “QABA”)

Each Fund represents a separate series of shares of beneficial interest in the Trust. Unlike conventional mutual funds, each Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis at net asset value (“NAV”), only in large blocks of shares known as “Creation Units.” The investment objective of each Fund is to seek investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of the following indices:

Fund	Index
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund	Nasdaq-100 Equal WeightedTM Index
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund	Nasdaq-100 Technology SectorTM Index
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund	Nasdaq-100 Ex-Tech SectorTM Index
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund	Nasdaq® Clean Edge® Green EnergyTM Index
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund	S&P United States REIT Index
First Trust Water ETF	ISE Clean Edge WaterTM Index
First Trust Natural Gas ETF	ISE-Revere Natural GasTM Index
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund	Nasdaq OMX® ABA Community BankTM Index

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The Funds are each considered an investment company and follow accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 946, “Financial Services-Investment Companies.” The following is a summary of significant accounting policies consistently followed by the Funds in the preparation of the financial statements. The preparation of the financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

A. Portfolio Valuation

Each Fund’s NAV is determined daily as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”), normally 4:00 p.m. Eastern time, on each day the NYSE is open for trading. If the NYSE closes early on a valuation day, the NAV is determined as of that time. Each Fund’s NAV is calculated by dividing the value of all assets of each Fund (including accrued interest and dividends), less all liabilities (including accrued expenses and dividends declared but unpaid), by the total number of shares outstanding.

Each 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. Market value prices represent readily available market quotations such as last sale or official closing prices from a national or foreign exchange (i.e., a regulated market) and are primarily obtained from third-party pricing services. Fair value prices represent any prices not considered market value prices and are either obtained from a third-party pricing service or are determined by the Pricing Committee of the Funds’ investment advisor, First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”), in accordance with valuation procedures approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees, and in accordance with provisions of the 1940 Act and rules

Page 59

Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

December 31, 2023

thereunder. Investments valued by the Advisor’s Pricing Committee, if any, are footnoted as such in the footnotes to the Portfolio of Investments. Each Fund’s investments are valued as follows:

Common stocks, real estate investment trusts (“REITs”), master limited partnerships (“MLPs”) and other equity securities listed on any national or foreign exchange (excluding Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange Alternative Investment Market (“AIM”)) are valued at the last sale price on the exchange on which they are principally traded or, for Nasdaq and AIM securities, the official closing price. Securities traded on more than one securities exchange are valued at the last sale price or official closing price, as applicable, at the close of the securities exchange representing the primary exchange for such securities.

Shares of open-end funds are valued based on NAV per share.

Equity securities traded in an over-the-counter market are valued at the close price or the last trade price.

Overnight repurchase agreements are valued at amortized cost when it represents the most appropriate reflection of fair market value.

Certain securities may not be able to be priced by pre-established pricing methods. Such securities may be valued by the Advisor’s Pricing Committee at fair value. These securities generally include, but are not limited to, restricted securities (securities which may not be publicly sold without registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended) for which a third-party 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 a Fund’s NAV or make it difficult or impossible to obtain a reliable market quotation; and a security whose price, as provided by the third-party 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 market quotations or official closing prices on the applicable exchanges. A variety of factors may be considered in determining the fair value of such securities, including, but not limited to, the following:

the last sale price on the exchange on which they are principally traded or, for Nasdaq and AIM securities, the official closing price;

the type of security;

the size of the holding;

the initial cost of the security;

transactions in comparable securities;

price quotes from dealers and/or third-party pricing services;

relationships among various securities;

information obtained by contacting the issuer, analysts, or the appropriate stock exchange;

an analysis of the issuer’s financial statements;

10)

the existence of merger proposals or tender offers that might affect the value of the security; and

11)

other relevant factors.

In addition, differences between the prices used to calculate a Fund’s NAV and the prices used by such Fund’s corresponding index could result in a difference between a Fund’s performance and the performance of its underlying index.

The Funds are subject to fair value accounting standards that define fair value, establish the framework for measuring fair value and provide a three-level hierarchy for fair valuation based upon the inputs to the valuation as of the measurement date. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are as follows:

• Level 1 – Level 1 inputs are quoted prices in active markets for identical investments. An active market is a market in which transactions for the investment occur with sufficient frequency and volume to provide pricing information on an ongoing basis.

• Level 2 – Level 2 inputs are observable inputs, either directly or indirectly, and include the following:

o Quoted prices for similar investments in active markets.

o Quoted prices for identical or similar investments in markets that are non-active. A non-active market is a market where there are few transactions for the investment, the prices are not current, or price quotations vary substantially either over time or among market makers, or in which little information is released publicly.

Page 60

Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

December 31, 2023

o Inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the investment (for example, interest rates and yield curves observable at commonly quoted intervals, volatilities, prepayment speeds, loss severities, credit risks, and default rates).

o Inputs that are derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data by correlation or other means.

• Level 3 – Level 3 inputs are unobservable inputs. Unobservable inputs may reflect the reporting entity’s own assumptions about the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the investment.

The inputs or methodologies used for valuing investments are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments. A summary of the inputs used to value each Fund’s investments as of December 31, 2023, is included with each Fund’s Portfolio of Investments.

B. Securities Transactions and Investment Income

Securities transactions are recorded as of the trade date. Realized gains and losses from securities transactions are recorded on the identified cost basis. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date. Interest income, if any, is recorded on the accrual basis.

Withholding taxes and tax reclaims on foreign dividends have been provided for in accordance with each Fund’s understanding of the applicable country’s tax rules and rates.

Distributions received from a Fund’s investments in MLPs generally are comprised of return of capital and investment income. A Fund records estimated return of capital and investment income based on historical information available from each MLP. These estimates may subsequently be revised based on information received from the MLPs after their tax reporting periods are concluded.

Distributions received from a Fund’s investments in REITs may be comprised of return of capital, capital gains and income. The actual character of the amounts received during the year is not known until after the REITs’ fiscal year end. A Fund records the character of distributions received from the REITs during the year based on estimates available. The characterization of distributions received by a Fund may be subsequently revised based on information received from the REITs after their tax reporting periods conclude.

C. Offsetting on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities

Offsetting assets and liabilities requires entities to disclose both gross and net information about instruments and transactions eligible for offset on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities and disclose instruments and transactions subject to master netting or similar agreements. These disclosure requirements are intended to help investors and other financial statement users better assess the effect or potential effect of offsetting arrangements on a Fund’s financial position. The transactions subject to offsetting disclosures are derivative instruments, repurchase agreements and reverse repurchase agreements, and securities borrowing and securities lending transactions.

This disclosure, if applicable, is included within each Fund’s Portfolio of Investments under the heading “Offsetting Assets and Liabilities.” For financial reporting purposes, the Funds do not offset financial assets and financial liabilities that are subject to master netting arrangements (“MNAs”) or similar agreements on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities. MNAs provide the right, in the event of default (including bankruptcy and insolvency), for the non-defaulting counterparty to liquidate the collateral and calculate the net exposure to the defaulting party or request additional collateral.

D. Securities Lending

The Funds may lend securities representing up to 33 1/3% of the value of their total assets to broker-dealers, banks and other institutions to generate additional income. When a Fund loans its portfolio securities, it will receive, at the inception of each loan, collateral equal to at least 102% (for domestic securities) or 105% (for international securities) of the market value of the loaned securities. The collateral amount is valued at the beginning of each business day and is compared to the market value of the loaned securities from the prior business day to determine if additional collateral is required. If additional collateral is required, a request is sent to the borrower. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund may lose money because the borrower of the Fund’s loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund could also lose money in the event of (i) a decline in the value of the collateral provided for the loaned securities, (ii) a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral or (iii) an increase in the value of the loaned securities if the borrower does not increase the collateral accordingly and the borrower fails to return the securities. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Funds.

Under the Funds’ Securities Lending Agency Agreement, the securities lending agent will generally bear the risk that a borrower may default on its obligation to return loaned securities. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (“BBH”) acts as the Funds’ securities lending

Page 61

Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

December 31, 2023

agent and is responsible for executing the lending of the portfolio securities to creditworthy borrowers. The Funds, however, will be responsible for the risks associated with the investment of cash collateral. A Fund may lose money on its investment of cash collateral, which may affect its ability to repay the collateral to the borrower without the use of other Fund assets. Each Fund that engages in securities lending receives compensation (net of any rebate and securities lending agent fees) for lending its securities. Compensation can be in the form of fees received from the securities lending agent or dividends or interest earned from the investment of cash collateral. The fees received from the securities lending agent are accrued daily. The dividend and interest earned on the securities loaned is accounted for in the same manner as other dividend and interest income. At December 31, 2023, QQEW, QTEC, QQXT, QCLN, FIW, FCG, and QABA had securities in the securities lending program. During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, QQEW, QTEC, QQXT, QCLN, FIW, FCG, and QABA participated in the securities lending program.

In the event of a default by a borrower with respect to any loan, BBH will exercise any and all remedies provided under the applicable borrower agreement to make the Funds whole. These remedies include purchasing replacement securities by applying the collateral held from the defaulting broker against the purchase cost of the replacement securities. If, despite such efforts by BBH to exercise these remedies, a Fund sustains losses as a result of a borrower’s default, BBH will indemnify the Fund by purchasing replacement securities at its own expense, or paying the Fund an amount equal to the market value of the replacement securities, subject to certain limitations which are set forth in detail in the Securities Lending Agency Agreement between the Trust on behalf of the Funds and BBH.

E. Repurchase Agreements

Repurchase agreements involve the purchase of securities subject to the seller’s agreement to repurchase the securities at a mutually agreed upon date and price, under the terms of a Master Repurchase Agreement (“MRA”). During the term of a repurchase agreement, the value of the underlying securities held as collateral on behalf of a Fund, including accrued interest, is required to exceed the value of the repurchase agreement, including accrued interest. The underlying securities for all repurchase agreements are held at the Funds’ custodian or designated sub-custodians under tri-party repurchase agreements.

MRAs govern transactions between a Fund and select counterparties. The MRAs contain provisions for, among other things, initiation, income payments, events of default, and maintenance of collateral for repurchase agreements.

Repurchase agreements received for lending securities are collateralized by U.S. Treasury securities. The U.S. Treasury securities are held in a joint custody account at BBH on behalf of the Funds participating in the securities lending program. In the event the counterparty defaults on the repurchase agreement, the U.S. Treasury securities can either be maintained as part of a Fund’s portfolio or sold for cash. A Fund could suffer a loss to the extent that the proceeds from the sale of the underlying collateral held by the Fund are less than the repurchase price and the Fund’s costs associated with the delay and enforcement of the MRA.

While the Funds may invest in repurchase agreements, any repurchase agreements held by the Funds during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, were received as collateral for lending securities. There were no repurchase agreements held by the Funds as of December 31, 2023.

F. Dividends and Distributions to Shareholders

Dividends from net investment income of each Fund, if any, are declared and paid quarterly, or as the Board of Trustees may determine from time to time. Distributions of net realized capital gains earned by each Fund, if any, are distributed at least annually. Each Fund may also designate a portion of the amount paid to redeeming shareholders as a distribution for tax purposes.

Distributions from net investment income and realized capital gains are determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. Certain capital accounts in the financial statements are periodically adjusted for permanent differences in order to reflect their tax character. These permanent differences are primarily due to the varying treatment of income and gain/loss on portfolio securities held by the Funds and have no impact on net assets or NAV per share. Temporary differences, which arise from recognizing certain items of income, expense and gain/loss in different periods for financial statement and tax purposes, will reverse at some time in the future.

Page 62

Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

December 31, 2023

The tax character of distributions paid by each Fund during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 was as follows:

	Distributions paid from Ordinary Income	Distributions paid from Capital Gains	Distributions paid from Return of Capital
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund	$14,296,112	$—	$—
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund	3,468,140	—	—
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund	1,980,762	—	—
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund	9,544,615	—	—
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund	4,123,107	—	—
First Trust Water ETF	10,284,831	—	—
First Trust Natural Gas ETF	17,277,389	—	—
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund	2,475,883	—	—

The tax character of distributions paid by each Fund during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 was as follows:

	Distributions paid from Ordinary Income	Distributions paid from Capital Gains	Distributions paid from Return of Capital
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund	$6,866,581	$—	$—
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund	2,234,346	—	—
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund	1,136,087	—	—
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund	5,415,781	—	—
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund	4,101,541	—	—
First Trust Water ETF	8,373,346	—	—
First Trust Natural Gas ETF	25,396,449	—	—
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund	2,513,482	—	—

As of December 31, 2023, the components of distributable earnings on a tax basis for each Fund were as follows:

	Undistributed Ordinary Income	Accumulated Capital and Other Gain (Loss)	Net Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation)
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund	$—	$(163,540,102 )	$406,421,381
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund	—	(453,846,896 )	636,244,430
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund	—	(21,074,113 )	21,875,881
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund	—	(425,003,827 )	(625,149,969 )
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund	55,122	(691,561 )	(28,906,760 )
First Trust Water ETF	—	(54,205,045 )	229,844,104
First Trust Natural Gas ETF	—	(530,260,707 )	(50,976,440 )
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund	—	(20,605,691 )	(11,509,652 )

G. Income Taxes

Each Fund intends to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the requirements under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, which includes distributing substantially all of its net investment income and net realized gains to shareholders. Accordingly, no provision has been made for federal and state income taxes. However, due to the timing and amount of distributions, each Fund may be subject to an excise tax of 4% of the amount by which approximately 98% of each Fund’s taxable income exceeds the distributions from such taxable income for the calendar year.

The Funds are subject to accounting standards that establish a minimum threshold for recognizing, and a system for measuring, the benefits of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. The taxable years ended 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 remain open to federal and state audit. As of December 31, 2023, management has evaluated the application of these standards to the Funds and has determined that no provision for income tax is required in the Funds’ financial statements for uncertain tax positions.

Page 63

Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

December 31, 2023

Each Fund intends to utilize provisions of the federal income tax laws, which allow it to carry a realized capital loss forward indefinitely following the year of the loss and offset such loss against any future realized capital gains. Each Fund is subject to certain limitations under U.S. tax rules on the use of capital loss carryforwards and net unrealized built-in losses. These limitations apply when there has been a 50% change in ownership. At December 31, 2023, for federal income tax purposes, each applicable Fund had a capital loss carryforward available that is shown in the following table, to the extent provided by regulations, to offset future capital gains. To the extent that these loss carryforwards are used to offset future capital gains, it is probable that the capital gains so offset will not be distributed to each applicable Fund’s shareholders.

	Non-Expiring Capital Loss Carryforwards
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund	$163,540,102
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund	453,846,896
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund	21,074,113
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund	425,003,827
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund	691,561
First Trust Water ETF	54,205,045
First Trust Natural Gas ETF	530,260,707
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund	20,605,691

Certain losses realized during the current fiscal year may be deferred and treated as occurring on the first day of the following fiscal year for federal income tax purposes. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, the Funds had no net late year ordinary or capital losses.

In order to present paid-in capital and accumulated distributable earnings (loss) (which consists of accumulated net investment income (loss), accumulated net realized gain (loss) on investments and net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on investments) on the Statements of Assets and Liabilities that more closely represent their tax character, certain adjustments have been made to paid-in capital, accumulated net investment income (loss) and accumulated net realized gain (loss) on investments. These adjustments are primarily due to the difference between book and tax treatments of income and gains on various investment securities held by the Funds and in-kind transactions. The results of operations and net assets were not affected by these adjustments. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, the adjustments for each Fund were as follows:

	Accumulated Net Investment Income (Loss)	Accumulated Net Realized Gain (Loss) on Investments	Paid-In Capital
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund	$155,339	$(47,041,561 )	$46,886,222
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund	226,508	(122,050,171 )	121,823,663
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund	8,735	(14,712,961 )	14,704,226
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund	3,509,736	1,326,964	(4,836,700 )
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund	—	5,740,155	(5,740,155 )
First Trust Water ETF	63,771	(86,884,855 )	86,821,084
First Trust Natural Gas ETF	(2,327,263 )	(51,109,184 )	53,436,447
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund	64,458	13,137,521	(13,201,979 )

As of December 31, 2023, the aggregate cost, gross unrealized appreciation, gross unrealized depreciation, and net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on investments (including short positions and derivatives, if any) for federal income tax purposes were as follows:

	Tax Cost	Gross Unrealized Appreciation	Gross Unrealized (Depreciation)	Net Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation)
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund	$1,898,223,826	$483,377,313	$(76,955,932 )	$406,421,381
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund	2,941,915,690	693,684,622	(57,440,192 )	636,244,430
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund	157,364,003	31,032,930	(9,157,049 )	21,875,881

Page 64

Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

December 31, 2023

	Tax Cost	Gross Unrealized Appreciation	Gross Unrealized (Depreciation)	Net Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation)
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund	$1,870,916,217	$115,556,121	$(740,706,090 )	$(625,149,969 )
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund	151,613,308	1,842,624	(30,749,384 )	(28,906,760 )
First Trust Water ETF	1,310,198,301	297,064,285	(67,220,181 )	229,844,104
First Trust Natural Gas ETF	532,893,553	14,716,810	(65,694,294 )	(50,977,484 )
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund	104,716,013	1,482,472	(12,992,124 )	(11,509,652 )

H. Expenses

Expenses that are directly related to one of the Funds are charged directly to the respective Fund. General expenses of the Trust are allocated to all the Funds based upon the net assets of each Fund.

First Trust has entered into licensing agreements with each of the following “Licensors” for the respective Funds:

Fund	Licensor
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund	Nasdaq, Inc.
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund	Nasdaq, Inc.
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund	Nasdaq, Inc.
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund	Nasdaq, Inc. and Clean Edge®
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund	S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC
First Trust Water ETF	International Securities Exchange, LLC
First Trust Natural Gas ETF	International Securities Exchange, LLC
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund	Nasdaq, Inc. and American Bankers Association

The respective license agreements allow for the use by First Trust of certain trademarks and trade names of the respective Licensors. The Funds are sub-licensees to the applicable license agreement. The respective Funds are required to pay licensing fees, which are shown on the Statements of Operations.

3. Investment Advisory Fee, Affiliated Transactions and Other Fee Arrangements

First Trust, the investment advisor to the Funds, is a limited partnership with one limited partner, Grace Partners of DuPage L.P., and one general partner, The Charger Corporation. The Charger Corporation is an Illinois corporation controlled by James A. Bowen, Chief Executive Officer of First Trust. First Trust is responsible for the selection and ongoing monitoring of the securities in each Fund’s portfolio, managing the Funds’ business affairs and providing certain administrative services necessary for the management of the Funds.

The management fee payable by each Fund to First Trust for these services will be reduced at certain levels of each Fund’s net assets (“breakpoints”) and calculated pursuant to the following schedule:

Breakpoints	QQEW	QTEC	QQXT	QCLN	FRI	FIW	FCG	QABA
Fund net assets up to and including $2.5 billion	0.40 %	0.40 %	0.40 %	0.40 %	0.3000 %	0.40 %	0.40 %	0.40 %
Fund net assets greater than $2.5 billion up to and including $5 billion	0.39 %	0.39 %	0.39 %	0.39 %	0.2925 %	0.39 %	0.39 %	0.39 %
Fund net assets greater than $5 billion up to and including $7.5 billion	0.38 %	0.38 %	0.38 %	0.38 %	0.2850 %	0.38 %	0.38 %	0.38 %
Fund net assets greater than $7.5 billion up to and including $10 billion	0.37 %	0.37 %	0.37 %	0.37 %	0.2775 %	0.37 %	0.37 %	0.37 %
Fund net assets greater than $10 billion up to and including $15 billion	0.36 %	0.36 %	0.36 %	0.36 %	0.2700 %	0.36 %	0.36 %	0.36 %
Fund net assets greater than $15 billion	0.34 %	0.34 %	0.34 %	0.34 %	0.2550 %	0.34 %	0.34 %	0.34 %

The Trust and the Advisor have entered into an Expense Reimbursement and Fee Waiver Agreement (“Agreement”) in which First Trust has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of each Fund (excluding

Page 65

Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

December 31, 2023

interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed the below amount as a percentage of average daily net assets per year (the “Expense Cap”). The Expense Cap will be in effect until at least April 30, 2025.

	Expense Cap
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund	0.60 %
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund	0.60 %
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund	0.60 %
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund	0.60 %
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund	0.50 %
First Trust Water ETF	0.60 %
First Trust Natural Gas ETF	0.60 %
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund	0.60 %

The Trust has multiple service agreements with The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNYM”). Under the service agreements, BNYM performs custodial, fund accounting, certain administrative services, and transfer agency services for each Fund. As custodian, BNYM is responsible for custody of each Fund’s assets. As fund accountant and administrator, BNYM is responsible for maintaining the books and records of each Fund’s securities and cash. As transfer agent, BNYM is responsible for maintaining shareholder records for each Fund. BNYM is a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, a financial holding company.

Each Trustee who is not an officer or employee of First Trust, any sub-advisor or any of their affiliates (“Independent Trustees”) is paid a fixed annual retainer that is allocated equally among each fund in the First Trust Fund Complex. Each Independent Trustee is also paid an annual per fund fee that varies based on whether the fund is a closed-end or other actively managed fund, a target outcome fund or an index fund.

Additionally, the Lead Independent Trustee and the Chairs of the Audit Committee, Nominating and Governance Committee and Valuation Committee are paid annual fees to serve in such capacities, with such compensation allocated pro rata among each fund in the First Trust Fund Complex based on net assets. Independent Trustees are reimbursed for travel and out-of-pocket expenses in connection with all meetings. The Lead Independent Trustee and Committee Chairs rotate every three years. The officers and “Interested” Trustee receive no compensation from the Trust for acting in such capacities.

4. Purchases and Sales of Securities

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, the cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of investments for each Fund, excluding short-term investments and in-kind transactions, were as follows:

	Purchases	Sales
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund	$582,040,079	$583,379,549
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund	772,023,401	770,882,981
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund	53,525,840	53,736,812
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund	248,536,754	249,524,253
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund	7,880,509	7,302,530
First Trust Water ETF	225,827,609	226,015,305
First Trust Natural Gas ETF	157,624,767	160,381,300
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund	23,171,565	23,009,453

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, the cost of in-kind purchases and proceeds from in-kind sales for each Fund were as follows:

	Purchases	Sales
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund	$867,701,445	$158,368,178
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund	1,511,957,179	435,738,685
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund	72,737,201	53,133,322
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund	120,026,197	403,219,676
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund	12,462,510	32,768,027
First Trust Water ETF	279,564,270	254,401,158

Page 66

Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

December 31, 2023

	Purchases	Sales
First Trust Natural Gas ETF	$61,687,888	$453,148,019
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund	30,814,637	108,562,777

5. Creations, Redemptions and Transaction Fees

Each Fund generally issues and redeems its shares in primary market transactions through a creation and redemption mechanism and does not sell or redeem individual shares. Instead, financial entities known as “Authorized Participants” have contractual arrangements with a Fund or one of the Fund’s service providers to purchase and redeem Fund shares directly with the Fund in Creation Units. Prior to the start of trading on every business day, a Fund publishes through the National Securities Clearing Corporation the “basket” of securities, cash or other assets that it will accept in exchange for a Creation Unit of the Fund’s shares. An Authorized Participant that wishes to effectuate a creation of a Fund’s shares deposits with the Fund the “basket” of securities, cash or other assets identified by the Fund that day, and then receives the Creation Unit of the Fund’s shares in return for those assets. After purchasing a Creation Unit, the Authorized Participant may continue to hold the Fund’s shares or sell them in the secondary market. The redemption process is the reverse of the purchase process: the Authorized Participant redeems a Creation Unit of a Fund’s shares for a basket of securities, cash or other assets. The combination of the creation and redemption process with secondary market trading in a Fund’s shares and underlying securities provides arbitrage opportunities that are designed to help keep the market price of a Fund’s shares at or close to the NAV per share of the Fund.

Each Fund imposes fees in connection with the purchase of Creation Units. These fees may vary based upon various fact-based circumstances, including, but not limited to, the composition of the securities included in the Creation Unit or the countries in which the transactions are settled. The price for each Creation Unit will equal the daily NAV per share of a Fund times the number of shares in a Creation Unit, plus the fees described above and, if applicable, any operational processing and brokerage costs, transfer fees, stamp taxes and part or all of the spread between the expected bid and offer side of the market related to the securities comprising the creation basket.

Each Fund also imposes fees in connection with the redemption of Creation Units. These fees may vary based upon various fact-based circumstances, including, but not limited to, the composition of the securities included in the Creation Unit or the countries in which the transactions are settled. The price received for each Creation Unit will equal the daily NAV per share of a Fund times the number of shares in a Creation Unit, minus the fees described above and, if applicable, any operational processing and brokerage costs, transfer fees, stamp taxes and part or all of the spread between the expected bid and offer side of the market related to the securities comprising the redemption basket. Investors who use the services of a broker or other such intermediary in addition to an Authorized Participant to effect a redemption of a Creation Unit may also be assessed an amount to cover the cost of such services. The redemption fee charged by a Fund will comply with Rule 22c-2 of the 1940 Act which limits redemption fees to no more than 2% of the value of the shares redeemed.

6. Distribution Plan

The Board of Trustees adopted a Distribution and Service Plan pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. In accordance with the Rule 12b-1 plan, the Funds are authorized to pay an amount up to 0.25% of their average daily net assets each year to reimburse First Trust Portfolios L.P. (“FTP”), the distributor of the Funds, 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 Authorized Participants for providing distribution assistance, including broker-dealer and shareholder support and educational and promotional services.

No 12b-1 fees are currently paid by the Funds, and pursuant to a contractual arrangement, no 12b-1 fees will be paid any time before April 30, 2025.

7. Indemnification

The Trust, on behalf of the Funds, has a variety of indemnification obligations under contracts with its service providers. The Trust’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown. However, the Trust has not had prior claims or losses pursuant to these contracts and expects the risk of loss to be remote.

Page 67

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Shareholders and the Board of Trustees of First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund:

Opinion on the Financial Statements and Financial Highlights

We have audited the accompanying statements of assets and liabilities of First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund, First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund, First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund, First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund, First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund, First Trust Water ETF, First Trust Natural Gas ETF, and First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (the “Funds”), each a series of First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund, including the portfolios of investments, as of December 31, 2023, the related statements of operations for the year then ended, the statements of changes in net assets for each of the two years in the period then ended, the financial highlights for each of the five years in the period then ended, and the related notes. In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of each of the Funds as of December 31, 2023, and the results of their operations for the year then ended, the changes in their net assets for each of the two years in the period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the five years in the period then ended in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Funds’ management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Funds’ financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Funds in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Funds are not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of their internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Funds’ internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements and financial highlights, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements and financial highlights. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements and financial highlights. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2023, by correspondence with the custodian and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ Deloitte & Touche, LLP

Chicago, Illinois
February 22, 2024

We have served as the auditor of one or more First Trust investment companies since 2001.

Page 69

Additional Information

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

December 31, 2023 (Unaudited)

Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures

A description of the policies and procedures that the Trust uses to determine how to vote proxies and information on how each Fund voted proxies relating to its portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 is available (1) without charge, upon request, by calling (800) 988-5891; (2) on each Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com; and (3) on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) website at www.sec.gov.

Portfolio Holdings

Each Fund files portfolio holdings information for each month in a fiscal quarter within 60 days after the end of the relevant fiscal quarter on Form N-PORT. Portfolio holdings information for the third month of each fiscal quarter will be publicly available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Each Fund’s complete schedule of portfolio holdings for the second and fourth quarters of each fiscal year is included in the semi-annual and annual reports to shareholders, respectively, and is filed with the SEC on Form N-CSR. The semi-annual and annual report for each Fund is available to investors within 60 days after the period to which it relates. Each Fund’s Forms N-PORT and Forms N-CSR are available on the SEC’s website listed above.

Federal Tax Information

For the taxable year ended December 31, 2023, the following percentages of income dividends paid by the Funds qualify for the dividends received deduction available to corporations:

	Dividends Received Deduction
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund	100.00 %
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund	100.00 %
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund	100.00 %
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund	28.31 %
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund	0.00 %
First Trust Water ETF	100.00 %
First Trust Natural Gas ETF	91.47 %
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund	100.00 %

For the taxable year ended December 31, 2023, the following percentages of income dividends paid by the Funds are hereby designated as qualified dividend income:

	Qualified Dividend Income
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund	100.00 %
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund	100.00 %
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund	100.00 %
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund	45.83 %
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund	0.00 %
First Trust Water ETF	100.00 %
First Trust Natural Gas ETF	100.00 %
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund	100.00 %

A portion of each of the Funds’ 2023 ordinary dividends (including short-term capital gains) paid to its shareholders during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, may be eligible for the Qualified Business Income Deduction (QBI) under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, Section 199A for the aggregate dividends each Fund received from the underlying Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) these Funds invest in.

Risk Considerations

Risks are inherent in all investing. Certain general risks that may be applicable to a Fund are identified below, but not all of the material risks relevant to each Fund are included in this report and not all of the risks below apply to each Fund. The

Page 70

Additional Information (Continued)

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

December 31, 2023 (Unaudited)

material risks of investing in each Fund are spelled out in its prospectus, statement of additional information and other regulatory filings. Before investing, you should consider each Fund’s investment objective, risks, charges and expenses, and read each Fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information carefully. You can download each Fund’s prospectus at www.ftportfolios.com or contact First Trust Portfolios L.P. at (800) 621-1675 to request a prospectus, which contains this and other information about each Fund.

Concentration Risk. To the extent that a fund is able to invest 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 fund that tracks an index will be concentrated to the extent the fund’s corresponding index is concentrated. A concentration makes a fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified.

Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that an issuer of a security will be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due and the related risk that the value of a security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability to make such payments.

Cyber Security Risk. The funds are susceptible to potential operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause a fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause a fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. In addition, cyber security breaches of a fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, or issuers in which the fund invests, can also subject a fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches.

Defined Outcome Funds Risk. To the extent a fund’s investment strategy is designed to deliver returns tied to the price performance of an underlying ETF, an investor may not realize the returns the fund seeks to achieve if that investor does not hold shares for the entire target outcome period. In the event an investor purchases shares after the first day of the target outcome period or sells shares prior to the end of the target outcome period, the buffer that the fund seeks to provide against a decline in the value of the underlying ETF may not be available, the enhanced returns that the fund seeks to provide (if any) may not be available and the investor may not participate in a gain in the value of the underlying ETF up to the cap for the investor’s investment period. Additionally, the fund will not participate in gains of the underlying ETF above the cap and a shareholder may lose their entire investment. If the fund seeks enhanced returns, there are certain time periods when the value of the fund may fall faster than the value of the underlying ETF, and it is very unlikely that, on any given day during which the underlying ETF share price increases in value, the fund’s share price will increase at the same rate as the enhanced returns sought by the fund, which is designed for an entire target outcome period. Trading flexible exchange options involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities, such as less liquidity and correlation and valuation risks. A fund may experience substantial downside from specific flexible exchange option positions and certain positions may expire worthless.

Derivatives Risk. To the extent a fund uses derivative instruments such as futures contracts, options contracts and swaps, the fund may experience losses because of adverse movements in the price or value of the underlying asset, index or rate, which may be magnified by certain features of the derivative. These risks are heightened when a fund’s portfolio managers use derivatives to enhance the fund’s return or as a substitute for a position or security, rather than solely to hedge (or offset) the risk of a position or security held by the fund.

Equity Securities Risk. To the extent a fund invests in equity securities, the value of the fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities. 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 stock market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting the issuers occur. In addition, 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 shares of an ETF trade like common stock and represent an interest in a portfolio of securities. The risks of owning an ETF generally reflect the risks of owning the underlying securities, although lack of liquidity in an ETF could result in it being more volatile and ETFs have management fees that increase their costs. Shares of an ETF trade on an exchange at market prices rather than net asset value, which may cause the shares to trade at a price greater than net asset value (premium) or less than net asset value (discount). In times of market stress, decisions by market makers to reduce or step away from their role of providing a market for an

Page 71

Additional Information (Continued)

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

December 31, 2023 (Unaudited)

ETF’s shares, or decisions by an ETF’s authorized participants that they are unable or unwilling to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders of an ETF’s shares, could result in shares of the ETF trading at a discount to net asset value and in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads.

Fixed Income Securities Risk. To the extent a fund invests in fixed income securities, the fund will be subject to credit risk, income risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk and prepayment risk. Income risk is the risk that income from a fund’s fixed income investments could decline during periods of falling interest rates. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of a fund’s fixed income securities will decline because of rising interest rates. Liquidity risk is the risk that a security cannot be purchased or sold at the time desired, or cannot be purchased or sold without adversely affecting the price. Prepayment risk is the risk that the securities will be redeemed or prepaid by the issuer, resulting in lower interest payments received by the fund. In addition to these risks, high yield securities, or “junk” bonds, are subject to greater market fluctuations and risk of loss than securities with higher ratings, and the market for high yield securities is generally smaller and less liquid than that for investment grade securities.

Index or Model Constituent Risk. Certain funds may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, such a fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving a fund, the size of the fund and the market volatility of the fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, a fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the fund’s market price may be significantly below its net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in a fund’s shares.

Index Provider Risk. To the extent a fund seeks to track an index, it is subject to Index Provider Risk. There is no assurance that the Index Provider will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. To correct any such error, the Index Provider may carry out an unscheduled rebalance or other modification of the Index constituents or weightings, which may increase the fund’s costs. The Index Provider does not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and it does not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. Losses or costs associated with any Index Provider errors generally will be borne by the fund and its shareholders.

Investment Companies Risk. To the extent a fund invests in the securities of other investment vehicles, the fund will incur additional fees and expenses that would not be present in a direct investment in those investment vehicles. Furthermore, the fund’s investment performance and risks are directly related to the investment performance and risks of the investment vehicles in which the fund invests.

LIBOR Risk. To the extent a fund invests in floating or variable rate obligations that use the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) as a reference interest rate, it is subject to LIBOR Risk. The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates LIBOR, has ceased making LIBOR available as a reference rate over a phase-out period that began December 31, 2021. There is no assurance that any alternative reference rate, including the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) 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. The unavailability or replacement of LIBOR may affect the value, liquidity or return on certain 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, and they could result in losses to the fund.

Management Risk. To the extent that a fund is actively managed, it is subject to management risk. In managing an actively-managed fund’s investment portfolio, the fund’s portfolio managers will apply investment techniques and risk analyses that may not have the desired result. There can be no guarantee that a fund will meet its investment objective.

Market Risk. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of a fund in general, may fall in value. Securities held by a fund, as well as shares of a fund itself, are subject to market fluctuations caused by factors such as general economic conditions, political events, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of a fund could decline in value or underperform other investments as a result of the risk of loss associated with these market fluctuations. 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 a fund and its investments. Such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine which has caused and could continue to cause significant market disruptions and volatility within the markets in Russia, Europe, and the

Page 72

Additional Information (Continued)

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

December 31, 2023 (Unaudited)

United States. The hostilities and sanctions resulting from those hostilities could have a significant impact on certain fund investments as well as fund performance. The COVID-19 global pandemic and the ensuing policies enacted by governments and central banks have caused and may continue to cause significant volatility and uncertainty in global financial markets. While the U.S. has resumed “reasonably” normal business activity, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of a 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 a fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, a fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on a fund’s shares may widen.

Non-U.S. Securities Risk. To the extent a fund invests in non-U.S. securities, it is subject to additional risks not associated with securities of domestic issuers. 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 exchanges in foreign countries. Investments in non-U.S. securities may involve higher costs than investments in U.S. securities, including higher transaction and custody costs, as well as additional taxes imposed by non-U.S. governments. These risks may be heightened for securities of companies located, or with significant operations, in emerging market countries.

Operational Risk. Each fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of a fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. Each 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 a fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the funds and the funds’ investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.

Passive Investment Risk. To the extent a fund seeks to track an index, the fund will invest in the securities included in, or representative of, the index regardless of their investment merit. A fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets.

Preferred Securities Risk. 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. 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.

Valuation Risk. The valuation of certain securities may carry more risk than that of common stock. Uncertainties in the conditions of the financial markets, unreliable reference data, lack of transparency and inconsistency of valuation models and processes may lead to inaccurate asset pricing. A fund may hold investments in sizes smaller than institutionally sized round lot positions (sometimes referred to as odd lots). However, third-party pricing services generally provide evaluations on the basis of institutionally-sized round lots. If a fund sells certain of its investments in an odd lot transaction, the sale price may be less than the value at which such securities have been held by the fund. Odd lots often trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. 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.

NOT FDIC INSURED NOT BANK GUARANTEED MAY LOSE VALUE

Remuneration

First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust”) is authorised and regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and is entitled to market shares of certain First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund funds it manages (the “Funds”) in certain member states in the European Economic Area in accordance with the cooperation arrangements in Article 42 of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (the “Directive”). First Trust is required under the Directive to make disclosures in respect of remuneration. The following disclosures are made in line with First Trust’s interpretation of currently available regulatory guidance on remuneration disclosures.

Page 73

Additional Information (Continued)

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

December 31, 2023 (Unaudited)

During the year ended December 31, 2023, the amount of remuneration paid (or to be paid) by First Trust Advisors L.P. in respect of the Funds is $3,586,584. This figure is comprised of $157,778 paid (or to be paid) in fixed compensation and $3,428,806 paid (or to be paid) in variable compensation. There were a total of 26 beneficiaries of the remuneration described above. Those amounts include $1,791,667 paid (or to be paid) to senior management of First Trust Advisors L.P. and $1,794,917 paid (or to be paid) to other employees whose professional activities have a material impact on the risk profiles of First Trust Advisors L.P. or the Funds (collectively, “Code Staff”).

Code Staff included in the aggregated figures disclosed above are rewarded in line with First Trust’s remuneration policy (the “Remuneration Policy”) which is determined and implemented by First Trust’s senior management. The Remuneration Policy reflects First Trust’s ethos of good governance and encapsulates the following principal objectives:

to provide a clear link between remuneration and performance of First Trust and to avoid rewarding for failure;

ii.

to promote sound and effective risk management consistent with the risk profiles of the funds managed by First Trust; and

iii.

to remunerate staff in line with the business strategy, objectives, values and interests of First Trust and the funds managed by First Trust in a manner that avoids conflicts of interest.

First Trust assesses various risk factors which it is exposed to when considering and implementing remuneration for Code Staff and considers whether any potential award to such person(s) would give rise to a conflict of interest. First Trust does not reward failure, or consider the taking of risk or failure to take risk in its remuneration of Code Staff.

First Trust assesses performance for the purposes of determining payments in respect of performance-related remuneration of Code Staff by reference to a broad range of measures including (i) individual performance (using financial and non-financial criteria), and (ii) the overall performance of First Trust. Remuneration is not based upon the performance of the Funds.

The elements of remuneration are balanced between fixed and variable and the senior management sets fixed salaries at a level sufficient to ensure that variable remuneration incentivises and rewards strong individual performance but does not encourage excessive risk taking.

No individual is involved in setting his or her own remuneration.

Page 74

Board of Trustees and Officers

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

December 31, 2023 (Unaudited)

The following tables identify the Trustees and Officers of the Trust. Unless otherwise indicated, the address of all persons is 120 East Liberty Drive, Suite 400, Wheaton, IL 60187.

The Trust’s statement of additional information includes additional information about the Trustees and is available, without charge, upon request, by calling (800) 988-5891.

Name, Year of Birth and Position with the Trust	Term of Office and Year First Elected or Appointed	Principal Occupations During Past 5 Years	Number of Portfolios in the First Trust Fund Complex Overseen by Trustee	Other Trusteeships or Directorships Held by Trustee During Past 5 Years
INDEPENDENT TRUSTEES
Richard E. Erickson, Trustee (1951)	• Indefinite Term • Since Inception	Retired; Physician, Edward-Elmhurst Medical Group (2021 to September 2023); Physician and Officer, Wheaton Orthopedics (1990 to 2021)	257	None
Thomas R. Kadlec, Trustee (1957)	• Indefinite Term • Since Inception	Retired; President, ADM Investors Services, Inc. (Futures Commission Merchant) (2010 to July 2022)	257	Director, National Futures Association and ADMIS Singapore Ltd.; Formerly, Director of ADM Investor Services, Inc., ADM Investor Services International, ADMIS Hong Kong Ltd., and Futures Industry Association
Denise M. Keefe, Trustee (1964)	• Indefinite Term • Since 2021	Executive Vice President, Advocate Aurora Health and President, Advocate Aurora Continuing Health Division (Integrated Healthcare System)	257	Director and Board Chair of Advocate Home Health Services, Advocate Home Care Products and Advocate Hospice; Director and Board Chair of Aurora At Home (since 2018); Director of Advocate Physician Partners Accountable Care Organization; Director of RML Long Term Acute Care Hospitals; Director of Senior Helpers (since 2021); and Director of MobileHelp (since 2022)
Robert F. Keith, Trustee (1956)	• Indefinite Term • Since Inception	President, Hibs Enterprises (Financial and Management Consulting)	257	Formerly, Director of Trust Company of Illinois
Niel B. Nielson, Trustee (1954)	• Indefinite Term • Since Inception	Senior Advisor (2018 to Present), Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer (2015 to 2018), Pelita Harapan Educational Foundation (Educational Products and Services)	257	None

INTERESTED TRUSTEE
James A. Bowen(1), Trustee, Chairman of the Board (1955)	• Indefinite Term • Since Inception	Chief Executive Officer, First Trust Advisors L.P. and First Trust Portfolios L.P., Chairman of the Board of Directors, BondWave LLC (Software Development Company) and Stonebridge Advisors LLC (Investment Advisor)	257	None

(1)

Mr. Bowen is deemed an “interested person” of the Trust due to his position as Chief Executive Officer of First Trust Advisors L.P., investment advisor of the Trust.

Page 75

Board of Trustees and Officers (Continued)

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

December 31, 2023 (Unaudited)

Name and Year of Birth	Position and Offices with Trust	Term of Year First Elected or Appointed	Principal Occupations During Past 5 Years
ADVISORY BOARD OF THE TRUST
Bronwyn Wright (1971)	Advisory Board Member	• Indefinite term • Since 2023	Independent Director to a number of Irish collective investment funds (2009 to Present); Various roles at international affiliates of Citibank (1994 to 2009), including Managing Director, Citibank Europe plc and Head of Securities and Fund Services, Citi Ireland (2007 to 2009)

Name and Year of Birth	Position and Offices with Trust	Term of Office and Length of Service	Principal Occupations During Past 5 Years
OFFICERS(2)
James M. Dykas (1966)	President and Chief Executive Officer	• Indefinite Term • Since 2016	Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer, First Trust Advisors L.P. and First Trust Portfolios L.P.; Chief Financial Officer, BondWave LLC (Software Development Company) and Stonebridge Advisors LLC (Investment Advisor)
Derek D. Maltbie (1972)	Treasurer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer	• Indefinite Term • Since 2023	Senior Vice President, First Trust Advisors L.P. and First Trust Portfolios L.P., July 2021 to Present. Previously, Vice President, First Trust Advisors L.P. and First Trust Portfolios L.P., 2014 - 2021.
W. Scott Jardine (1960)	Secretary and Chief Legal Officer	• Indefinite Term • Since Inception	General Counsel, First Trust Advisors L.P. and First Trust Portfolios L.P.; Secretary and General Counsel, BondWave LLC; Secretary, Stonebridge Advisors LLC
Daniel J. Lindquist (1970)	Vice President	• Indefinite Term • Since Inception	Managing Director, First Trust Advisors L.P. and First Trust Portfolios L.P.
Kristi A. Maher (1966)	Chief Compliance Officer and Assistant Secretary	• Indefinite Term • Chief Compliance Officer Since January 2011 • Assistant Secretary Since Inception	Deputy General Counsel, First Trust Advisors L.P. and First Trust Portfolios L.P.
Roger F. Testin (1966)	Vice President	• Indefinite Term • Since Inception	Senior Vice President, First Trust Advisors L.P. and First Trust Portfolios L.P.
Stan Ueland (1970)	Vice President	• Indefinite Term • Since Inception	Senior Vice President, First Trust Advisors L.P. and First Trust Portfolios L.P.

(2)

The term “officer” means the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, controller or any other officer who performs a policy making function.

Page 76

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund

December 31, 2023 (Unaudited)

First Trust values our relationship with you and considers your privacy an important priority in maintaining that relationship. We are committed to protecting the security and confidentiality of your personal information.

Sources of Information

We collect nonpublic personal information about you from the following sources:

• Information we receive from you and your broker-dealer, investment professional or financial representative through interviews, applications, agreements or other forms;

• Information about your transactions with us, our affiliates or others;

• Information we receive from your inquiries by mail, e-mail or telephone; and

• Information we collect on our website through the use of “cookies.” For example, we may identify the pages on our website that your browser requests or visits.

Information Collected

The type of data we collect may include your name, address, social security number, age, financial status, assets, income, tax information, retirement and estate plan information, transaction history, account balance, payment history, investment objectives, marital status, family relationships and other personal information.

Disclosure of Information

We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about our customers or former customers to anyone, except as permitted by law. In addition to using this information to verify your identity (as required under law), the permitted uses may also include the disclosure of such information to unaffiliated companies for the following reasons:

• In order to provide you with products and services and to effect transactions that you request or authorize, we may disclose your personal information as described above to unaffiliated financial service providers and other companies that perform administrative or other services on our behalf, such as transfer agents, custodians and trustees, or that assist us in the distribution of investor materials such as trustees, banks, financial representatives, proxy services, solicitors and printers.

• We may release information we have about you if you direct us to do so, if we are compelled by law to do so, or in other legally limited circumstances (for example to protect your account from fraud).

In addition, in order to alert you to our other financial products and services, we may share your personal information within First Trust.

Use of Website Analytics

We currently use third party analytics tools, Google Analytics and AddThis, to gather information for purposes of improving First Trust’s website and marketing our products and services to you. These tools employ cookies, which are small pieces of text stored in a file by your web browser and sent to websites that you visit, to collect information, track website usage and viewing trends such as the number of hits, pages visited, videos and PDFs viewed and the length of user sessions in order to evaluate website performance and enhance navigation of the website. We may also collect other anonymous information, which is generally limited to technical and web navigation information such as the IP address of your device, internet browser type and operating system for purposes of analyzing the data to make First Trust’s website better and more useful to our users. The information collected does not include any personal identifiable information such as your name, address, phone number or email address unless you provide that information through the website for us to contact you in order to answer your questions or respond to your requests. To find out how to opt-out of these services click on: Google Analytics and AddThis.

Confidentiality and Security

With regard to our internal security procedures, First Trust restricts access to your nonpublic personal information to those First Trust employees who need to know that information to provide products or services to you. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your nonpublic personal information.

Policy Updates and Inquiries

As required by federal law, we will notify you of our privacy policy annually. We reserve the right to modify this policy at any time, however, if we do change it, we will tell you promptly. For questions about our policy, or for additional copies of this notice, please go to www.ftportfolios.com, or contact us at 1-800-621-1675 (First Trust Portfolios) or 1-800-222-6822 (First Trust Advisors).

March 2023

Page 77

Shareholder Letter	2
Market Overview	3
Fund Performance Overview
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)	4
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)	6
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)	8
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)	10
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)	12
First Trust Water ETF (FIW)	14
First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)	16
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)	18
Notes to Fund Performance Overview	20
Understanding Your Fund Expenses	21
Portfolio of Investments
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)	23
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)	26
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)	28
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)	31
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)	33
First Trust Water ETF (FIW)	36
First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)	38
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)	40
Statements of Assets and Liabilities	44
Statements of Operations	46
Statements of Changes in Net Assets	48
Financial Highlights	51
Notes to Financial Statements	59
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm	69
Additional Information	70
Board of Trustees and Officers	75
Privacy Policy	77

(a)	These expense ratios reflect expense caps for certain Funds. See Note 3 in the Notes to Financial Statements.
(b)	Expenses are equal to the annualized expense ratio as indicated in the table multiplied by the average account value over the period (July 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023), multiplied by 184/365 (to reflect the six-month period).