First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI

Book 1

 

First Trust NASDAQ Technology Dividend Index Fund (TDIV)

Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund (MDIV)

First Trust S&P International Dividend Aristocrats ETF (FID)

First Trust BuyWrite Income ETF (FTHI)

First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF (FTQI)
(formerlyFirst Trust Hedged BuyWrite Income ETF (FTLB))

First Trust Rising Dividend Achievers ETF (RDVY)

First Trust Dorsey Wright Focus 5 ETF (FV)

First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance® ETF (AIRR)

First Trust Dorsey Wright Momentum & Dividend ETF (DDIV)

First Trust Dorsey Wright International Focus 5 ETF (IFV)

First Trust Dorsey Wright Dynamic Focus 5 ETF (FVC)

First Trust Indxx Innovative Transaction & Process ETF (LEGR)

First Trust Nasdaq Artificial Intelligence and Robotics ETF (ROBT)

First Trust International Developed Capital Strength ETF (FICS)

Annual Report
For the Year Ended
September 30, 2022
Table of Contents
First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI
Annual Report
September 30, 2022
 2
3
Fund Performance Overview
4
6
8
11
14
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
32
34
36
37
Portfolio of Investments
39
41
47
50
56
60
62
63
64
66
67
68
72
76
78
82
86
92
106
124
127
138
140
Table of Contents
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 VI (the “Trust”) described in this report (each such series is referred to as a “Fund” and collectively, 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 objectives. 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 web page 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 the prospectus, the statement of additional information, and other Fund regulatory filings.
Page 1
Table of Contents
Shareholder Letter
First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI
Annual Letter from the Chairman and CEO
September 30, 2022
Dear Shareholders,
First Trust is pleased to provide you with the annual report for certain series of the First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI (the “Funds”), which contains detailed information about the Funds for the twelve months ended September 30, 2022.
It is times like these that really test the mettle of investors. Are you someone that is implementing an investment plan with a long time horizon, a trader by nature, or do you fall somewhere in between? Frankly, the current climate is challenging for just about any strategy. While most investors are accustomed to dealing with high levels of volatility in the stock market, some of the daily swings we have witnessed lately have not only been uncharacteristically sharp but have occasionally seemed nearly inexplicable, in my opinion.
In case you have not noticed, volatility is also elevated in the fixed-income market. Bond valuations are down big in 2022. Year-to-date through October 31, 2022, the ICE BofA 15+ Year U.S. Treasury Index experienced a price decline of 33.51%, according to Bloomberg. It was down 31.87% on a total return basis, which includes reinvested interest. To put this into perspective, over the past 40 years, the worst annual showing by the U.S. Long-Term Government Bond Index (20-Year) tracked by Morningstar was the -14.90% total return posted in 2009 (think 2008-2009 global financial crisis). For those who may be unaware, investors benefitted from a trend of declining bond yields from September 1981 through August 2020. While that is an incredible run, nothing lasts forever. Suffice it to say, a lot of pain has been endured by investors in the markets this year and we believe there could be more to come in the near-term. The aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve (the “Fed”) are a signal to the markets that it is behind the inflation curve. Moving forward, the Fed will be looking to lower inflation while simultaneously engineering a soft landing in the economy. That will be easier said than done, in my opinion.
There are far more headwinds challenging the securities markets than tailwinds. Here are just a few of those headwinds: stubbornly high inflation; additional rate hikes expected from the Fed from their November and December 2022 meetings, which could potentially push bond yields higher; the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, which is impacting the supply and prices of crude oil and natural gas; China enforcing a zero-tolerance policy to combat the spread of the coronavirus by locking down entire cities to its own economic detriment; and the potential for food and energy shortages this coming winter. With the housing market looking like it is finally cooling off, due largely to a huge spike in mortgage rates this year, which were up more than double the rate at the start of the year, the last big tailwind standing may just be the strong U.S. labor market. If the job market can hang in there, the Fed’s goal of a soft landing for the economy may be attainable. I think we will have a clearer picture of things at the start of 2023.
Year-to-date through October 31, 2022, the S&P 500® Index (the “Index”) posted a total return of -17.70%, according to Bloomberg, which puts the Index in bear market territory. A bear market is defined as a 20% or greater decline in the price of a security or index from its most recent peak. While the 17.70% decline in the Index would technically qualify as a stock market correction, investors should continue to view the current downturn as a bear market, in my opinion. Keep in mind, since World War II, there have been 12 bear markets in the Index, excluding the current bear market, according to Yardeni Research. The average price decline of those 12 bear markets was 33.6%. The average price gain over the 12-months following the trough reached during those bear markets was 40.8%, according to Bloomberg. Bear markets come and go. You can’t catch the turn if you are not in the market when the turn comes.
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
Table of Contents
Market Overview
First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI
Annual Report
September 30, 2022
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 Global Economy
The International Monetary Fund (“IMF”) reported in its October 2022 release that global gross domestic product (“GDP”) growth is expected to come in at 3.2% in 2022 and 2.7% in 2023, down from 6.0% in 2021. The IMF sees the U.S. economy growing 1.6% in 2022 and 1.0% in 2023, down from 5.7% in 2021. With respect to all Advanced Economies, the IMF is projecting GDP growth of 2.4% in 2022 and 1.1% in 2023, down from 5.2% in 2021. Lastly, it sees Emerging Markets and Developing Economies growing 3.7% in 2022 and 3.7% again in 2023, down from 6.6% in 2021. From 1970 to 2021, the average global GDP growth rate was 3.6%, according to the IMF. Looking ahead, the IMF notes that the global economy must navigate three key pressures: the war in Ukraine, world-wide inflation and continued economic headwinds in the U.S., Europe and China.
Russia’s war with Ukraine continues to destabilize the global economy, increasing the cost of living and impeding economic growth. European natural gas prices have spiked four-fold since 2021, according to the IMF. Russia has decreased natural gas deliveries to Europe by over 80% of their 2021 total, greatly increasing the likelihood of an energy shortage. Worldwide inflationary pressures continue to fester, with global inflation forecast to surge to 8.8% in 2022, up from 4.7% in 2021. Central banks have rapidly tightened monetary policy in response, and will likely have to continue to do so, in our opinion. These tighter financial conditions have produced significant headwinds to growth among most major economies and are likely to have at least some impact in 2023.
Performance of Global Stocks and Bonds
U.S. equities have turned negative over the past year. The S&P 500® (the “Index”), S&P MidCap 400® and S&P SmallCap 600® Indices posted total returns of -15.47%, -15.25% and -18.83%, respectively, for the 12-month period ended September 30, 2022, according to Bloomberg. Value stocks outperformed growth stocks over the period. The S&P 500® Value Index posted a total return of -9.63% versus -21.11% for the S&P 500® Growth Index; an indication that investors may be anticipating slower growth over the near-term and are opting for companies that are trading at more attractive valuations. Nine of the eleven sectors that comprise the Index were down on a total return basis, with Energy and Utilities posting the only positive returns. The top-performer was Energy, up 45.70%, while the worst showing came from Communication Services, down 39.05%.
A Bloomberg survey of 23 equity strategists found that the average 2022 year-end price target for the Index was 4,346 as of September 15, 2022, down from 4,376 on August 16, 2022, according to its own release. Heading into 2022 (December 16, 2021), strategists had an average target of 4,950. The highest and lowest estimates on September 15, 2022, were 5,100 and 3,400, respectively. On September 15, 2022, the Index closed at 3,901.35, which was 18.66% below its all-time closing high of 4,796.56 on January 3, 2022. As of September 30, 2022, Bloomberg’s 2022, 2023 and 2024 consensus earnings growth rate estimates for the Index stood at 9.61%, 6.14% and 8.44%, respectively.
The performance of foreign equities continues to lag that of major U.S. stock indices. Over the past 12 months, the MSCI World ex USA and MSCI Emerging Markets equity indices posted total returns of -23.91% (USD) and -28.11% (USD), respectively, according to Bloomberg. Major foreign bond indices were also in negative territory. The Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index of higher quality debt posted a total return of -20.43% (USD), while the EM Hard Currency Aggregate Index of emerging markets debt fell by 23.01% (USD), according to Bloomberg. Over that same period, the U.S. dollar surged by 18.98% against a basket of major currencies, as measured by the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), pressuring the returns on unhedged foreign securities held by U.S. investors.
U.S. bond indices have not been immune to the aggressive tightening of monetary policy by central banks, particularly the U.S. Federal Reserve. The best performing index we track was the U.S. Treasury: Intermediate Index, which posted a total return of -9.23% for the 12-month period ended September 30, 2022. The worst performer was the U.S. Corporate Investment Grade Index which posted a total return of -18.53% for the same period. The yield on the benchmark 10-Year Treasury Note (“T-Note”) rose by 234 basis points (a 157.47% increase over the period) to close at 3.83% on September 30, 2022, according to Bloomberg. For comparative purposes, the average yield on the 10-Year T-Note was 2.10% for the 10-year period ended September 30, 2022.
Page 3
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited)
First Trust NASDAQ Technology Dividend Index Fund (TDIV)
The First Trust NASDAQ Technology Dividend 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 Technology Dividend IndexTM (the “Index”). The shares of the Fund are listed and trade on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the ticker symbol “TDIV.” The Fund normally invests at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the common stocks and depositary receipts that comprise the Index.
The Index includes up to 100 technology and telecommunications companies that pay a regular or common dividend. To be selected for the Index, a company must be classified as a technology or telecommunications company under the Industry Classification Benchmark and have a minimum market capitalization of $500 million. The Index may include U.S.-listed securities of non-U.S. companies, including companies located in emerging market countries.
Performance
    Average Annual Total Returns   Cumulative Total Returns
  1 Year
Ended
9/30/22 		5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		10 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(8/13/12)
to 9/30/22 		  5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		10 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(8/13/12)
to 9/30/22
Fund Performance                
NAV -20.93% 8.61% 10.97% 10.74%   51.16% 183.23% 181.19%
Market Price -20.90% 8.63% 10.97% 10.74%   51.23% 183.12% 181.22%
Index Performance                
Nasdaq Technology Dividend IndexTM -20.54% 9.30% 11.68% 11.45%   55.98% 201.83% 199.88%
S&P 500® Index -15.47% 9.24% 11.70% 11.86%   55.55% 202.44% 211.22%
S&P 500® Information Technology Index -20.00% 16.74% 17.09% 17.13%   116.78% 384.27% 396.21%
(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 36.)
The Fund generated a net asset value (“NAV”) return of -20.93% 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 -20.00%. Two industries comprised 99% of the Fund’s investments during the period: 83.3% was allocated to the Information Technology sector, which contributed -16.4% to the Fund’s return, and 15.7% was allocated to the Communication Services sector, which contributed -3.7% to the Fund’s return.
Nasdaq® and Nasdaq Technology Dividend IndexTM 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 their 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
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust NASDAQ Technology Dividend Index Fund (TDIV) (Continued)
Sector Allocation % of Total
Investments
Information Technology 85.4%
Communication Services 14.1
Industrials 0.5
Total 100.0%
Top Ten Holdings % of Total
Investments
International Business Machines Corp. 8.5%
Microsoft Corp. 8.1
Broadcom, Inc. 8.1
Apple, Inc. 8.0
Intel Corp. 7.4
Texas Instruments, Inc. 4.3
QUALCOMM, Inc. 3.9
Oracle Corp. 3.8
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., ADR 2.9
Analog Devices, Inc. 2.4
Total 57.4%
  
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
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund (MDIV)
The Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an index called the Nasdaq US Multi-Asset Diversified Income IndexSM (the “Index”). The shares of the Fund are listed and trade on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the ticker symbol “MDIV.” The Fund normally invests at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the common stocks and/or depositary receipts, real estate investment trusts (“REITs”), preferred securities, master limited partnerships (“MLPs”) and exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that comprise the Index. The Index allocates 20% of its weight to the equity securities segment, 20% of its weight to the REIT segment, 20% of its weight to the preferred securities segment, 20% of its weight to the MLP segment and 20% of its weight to an ETF that invests in high yield corporate debt securities. The ETF in which the Fund invests may be advised by First Trust Advisors L.P.
The Index is designed to provide exposure to five asset segments, each selected to result in a consistent and high yield for the Index. The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced quarterly and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public.
Performance
    Average Annual Total Returns   Cumulative Total Returns
  1 Year
Ended
9/30/22 		5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		10 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(8/13/12)
to 9/30/22 		  5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		10 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(8/13/12)
to 9/30/22
Fund Performance                
NAV -6.25% 0.30% 2.71% 2.79%   1.52% 30.59% 32.14%
Market Price -6.25% 0.35% 2.71% 2.80%   1.75% 30.62% 32.23%
Index Performance                
Nasdaq US Multi-Asset Diversified Income IndexSM -5.80% 0.84% 3.34% 3.43%   4.29% 38.87% 40.71%
S&P 500® Index -15.47% 9.24% 11.70% 11.86%   55.55% 202.44% 211.22%
Dow Jones U.S. Select DividendTM Index* -3.10% 6.89% 10.53% 10.53%   39.56% 172.03% 175.69%
(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 36.)
The Fund generated a NAV return of -6.25% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the S&P 500® Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of -15.47%. The Fund seeks to invest approximately 20% of its assets in each of five categories: Equities, Real Estate Investment Trusts (“REITs”), Preferred Securities, Master Limited Partnerships (“MLPs”), and a high-yield corporate debt exchange-traded fund. During the period covered by this report, the most significant positive contribution came from the allocation to MLPs, which contributed 2.7% to the Fund’s overall return. During that same period, the most significant negative contribution to the Fund’s return came from the allocation to REITs, which caused a -5.2% return for the Fund.
* The Dow Jones U.S. Select DividendTM Index represents 100 of the United States’ leading stocks by dividend yield.
Nasdaq® and Nasdaq US Multi-Asset Diversified Income IndexSM 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 their 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
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund (MDIV) (Continued)
Sector Allocation % of Total
Investments
Financials 31.3%
Other* 20.7
Energy 19.8
Real Estate 11.8
Communication Services 3.4
Industrials 3.3
Consumer Staples 2.9
Utilities 2.4
Materials 1.6
Information Technology 1.1
Consumer Discretionary 1.0
Health Care 0.7
Total 100.0%
    
* Exchange-traded fund with holdings representing multiple sectors.
Top Ten Holdings % of Total
Investments
First Trust Tactical High Yield ETF 20.7%
Icahn Enterprises, L.P. 1.5
SL Green Realty Corp. 1.4
Old Republic International Corp. 1.2
USA Compression Partners, L.P. 1.2
WESCO International, Inc., Series A 1.2
Ready Capital Corp. 1.1
KNOT Offshore Partners, L.P. 1.1
Broadmark Realty Capital, Inc. 1.1
Two Harbors Investment Corp. 1.0
Total 31.5%
  
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
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 7
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust S&P International Dividend Aristocrats ETF (FID)
The First Trust S&P International Dividend Aristocrats ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an index called the S&P International Dividend Aristocrats Index (the “Index”). The shares of the Fund are listed and trade on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the ticker symbol “FID.” The Fund normally invests at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the equity securities that comprise the Index. The Index measures the performance of high dividend yielding companies that have followed a managed-dividends policy of increasing or maintaining dividends for at least ten consecutive years.
Performance
    Average Annual Total Returns   Cumulative Total Returns
  1 Year
Ended
9/30/22 		5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(8/22/13)
to 9/30/22 		  5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(8/22/13)
to 9/30/22
Fund Performance            
NAV -18.39% -1.73% 0.53%   -8.34% 4.93%
Market Price -18.15% -1.80% 0.54%   -8.69% 4.99%
Index Performance            
S&P International Dividend Aristocrats Index(1) -17.19% N/A N/A   N/A N/A
Dow Jones EPAC Select DividendTM Index(2) -20.66% -1.91% 0.95%   -9.21% 8.95%
MSCI World ex USA Index -23.91% -0.39% 2.33%   -1.96% 23.34%
(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 36.)
The Fund generated a NAV return of -18.39% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the MSCI World ex USA Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of -23.91%. Japan received the greatest allocation of any country in the Fund during the period. With an allocation of 20.1%, investments in Japan contributed -2.6% to the Fund’s return, which was the most negative contribution to the Fund’s return of any country in the Fund. The only positive contribution came from investments in Mexico with a contribution to the Fund’s return of 0.3%.  The Fund’s currency exposure caused -10.4% of underperformance during the period covered by this report.
(1) On August 30, 2018, the Fund’s underlying index changed from the Nasdaq International Multi-Asset Diversified Income IndexSM to the S&P International Dividend Aristocrats Index (the “Index”). Therefore, the Fund’s performance and historical returns shown for the periods prior to August 30, 2018, are not necessarily indicative of the performance that the Fund, based on its current index, would have generated. Since the Index had an inception date of April 30, 2018, it was not in existence for all of the periods disclosed. The old index was terminated on November 23, 2018, so performance data does not exist for these time periods.
(2) The Dow Jones EPAC Select DividendTM Index measures the performance of a selected group of companies, from non-U.S. developed markets (Europe, Pacific Asia, and Canada), that have provided relatively high dividend yields on a consistent basis over time.
S&P International Dividend Aristocrats 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. Standard & Poor’s® and S&P® are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (“S&P”); 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 nor do they have any liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions of the Index.
Page 8
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust S&P International Dividend Aristocrats ETF (FID) (Continued)
Sector Allocation % of Total
Investments
Financials 24.9%
Utilities 24.0
Real Estate 16.4
Industrials 7.9
Energy 7.8
Communication Services 6.9
Materials 4.6
Consumer Staples 4.2
Health Care 3.3
Total 100.0%
    
Country Allocation % of Total
Investments
Canada 25.3%
Japan 17.4
Hong Kong 14.8
Switzerland 10.5
United Kingdom 6.1
France 3.3
Germany 2.8
Spain 2.2
South Korea 2.2
Mexico 2.0
Finland 2.0
Australia 1.8
Bermuda 1.6
Norway 1.4
Singapore 1.4
Portugal 1.3
Belgium 1.2
Cayman Islands 1.0
Sweden 0.9
Netherlands 0.8
Total 100.0%
Top Ten Holdings % of Total
Investments
Sino Land Co., Ltd. 2.3%
Capital Power Corp. 2.3
Enagas S.A. 2.2
Keyera Corp. 2.2
KT&G Corp. 2.2
Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. 2.1
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. 2.0
Arca Continental S.A.B. de C.V. 2.0
New World Development Co., Ltd. 1.9
Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. 1.9
Total 21.1%
Page 9
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust S&P International Dividend Aristocrats ETF (FID) (Continued)
  
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 10
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust BuyWrite Income ETF (FTHI)
The First Trust BuyWrite Income ETF (the “Fund”) is an actively managed exchange-traded fund. The Fund’s primary investment objective is to provide current income. The Fund’s secondary investment objective is to provide capital appreciation. Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests primarily in equity securities listed on U.S. exchanges. The Fund also employs an “option strategy” in which it will write (sell) U.S. exchange-traded covered call options on the S&P 500® Index (the “Index”) to seek additional cash flow in the form of premiums on the options that may be distributed to shareholders on a monthly basis. The equity securities held by the Fund are selected using a mathematical optimization process which attempts to favor higher dividend paying common stocks for the Fund’s portfolio. The shares of the Fund are listed and trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the ticker symbol “FTHI.”
Portfolio management decisions are made under the direction of the following Portfolio Managers:
John Gambla, CFA, FRM, PRM, Senior Portfolio Manager of First Trust
Rob A. Guttschow, CFA, Senior Portfolio Manager of First Trust
Overall Market Recap
U.S. economic growth was mixed during the fiscal period from October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022. The first quarter of the fiscal period was strong, with quarter-over-quarter annualized gross domestic product (“GDP”) growth of 7.0%. However, as 2022 began, growth turned negative for the first half of 2022 with GDP declining by 1.9% on an annualized basis for the semi-annual period. Third quarter annualized growth is expected to be positive at 2.3%. Despite two quarters of negative growth, the economy does not appear to be in a recession as the unemployment rate is very low at 3.5%, down from 4.7% one year ago. Job growth has been positive each and every month of the fiscal period with 5.69 million new jobs (BLS Non-Farm Payrolls) created during the same period.
Good news on the jobs front is being partially offset by bad news on the inflation and earnings front. After years of declining and/or low inflation, numbers as measured by the Consumer Price Index (“CPI”) show that inflation continued its surge from the pandemic lows of 0.1% year-over-year (“YOY”) in May of 2020. After jumping to 5.4% YOY at this time last year, it continued to surge higher, reaching a cycle high of 9.1% YOY in June of 2022. Subsequently, with a decline in energy prices, the CPI has fallen back to “only” 8.2% as of the September 2022 reading. Inflation is pernicious as it gradually eats away at the purchase power of the dollar and earnings, with a resultant decline in real living standards. As a measure of its impact, on the surface, earnings growth looks attractive for 2022, with average hourly earnings up 5.0% for the fiscal period. However, after accounting for inflation, U.S. real average weekly earnings declined by 3.8% during the fiscal period, meaning that on average, U.S. workers took a big pay cut in 2022.
The Federal Reserve (the “Fed”), reacting to the high inflation rates, has begun to aggressively hike interest rates. The Fed raised its benchmark short term interest rate by 0.25% in March 2022, 0.50% in May 2022, and then by 0.75% in June, July, and September 2022. Current expectations are for another 0.75% increase in November 2022. With the increasing Fed benchmark rate, interest rates for U.S. consumers have also risen. One common and very impactful rate, the 30-year mortgage rate as measured by Freddie Mac, increased from 3.01% one year ago to 6.70% as of September 30, 2022. Higher short term interest rates have increased the attractiveness of the U.S. Dollar, with the U.S. Dollar Index rising by 18.98% during the fiscal period.
The U.S. equity market, as represented by the Index, sold off during the fiscal period, down 15.47%, as higher inflation, higher interest rates, and a strong U.S. Dollar are all potential drags on future earnings. Riskier, smaller capitalization stocks, as represented by the Russell 2000® Index, performed poorly during the fiscal period, declining by 23.50%. With rising interest rates, bond investments also were hard hit during the fiscal period with the broad-based Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index down 14.60% for the fiscal period.
Page 11
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust BuyWrite Income ETF (FTHI) (Continued)
Performance
    Average Annual Total Returns   Cumulative Total Returns
  1 Year
Ended
9/30/22 		5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(1/6/14)
to 9/30/22 		  5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(1/6/14)
to 9/30/22
Fund Performance            
NAV -7.60% 1.07% 3.97%   5.49% 40.53%
Market Price -7.40% 1.11% 4.01%   5.67% 40.90%
Index Performance            
CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Monthly Index(1) -11.21% 1.94% 4.28%   10.11% 44.16%
S&P 500® Index -15.47% 9.24% 10.12%   55.55% 131.98%
(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 36.)
Performance Review
The Fund returned -7.40% on a market price basis and -7.60% on a net asset value (“NAV”) basis for the 12-month period ended September 30, 2022. The Fund’s benchmark, the CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Monthly Index (the “Benchmark”) returned -11.21% during the same period. During the fiscal period, the Fund paid a distribution in each month, with a total distribution for the fiscal period of $1.580 per share. The distribution per share as of September 30, 2022 was $0.150 per share.
The Fund tilts its equity holdings toward higher paying dividend stocks and attempts to limit the amount of overlap between the equity holdings and the Index. By limiting the overlap between the equity holdings and the Index, the Fund seeks to maintain the favorable tax treatment for any gains/losses from the Index options held in the portfolio. Additionally, during this performance period where possible, the portfolio managers favored companies that were generating enough free cash flow to pay dividends, execute stock buybacks, and/or pay-down debt. The portfolio managers believe that a portfolio tilted toward higher dividend paying companies with solid cash flow fundamentals will, over time, offer investors attractive risk-adjusted total returns relative to the Index.
The Fund’s equity holdings during the 12-month period ended September 30, 2022 outperformed the Benchmark equity holdings. Overall, the Fund’s tilt toward higher dividend paying, cash flow generating companies was rewarded with solid relative returns during the period, however; a declining market dragged absolute returns into the negative territory. Relative returns for the same period were positively affected by the Fund’s conservative positioning within the Information Technology sector, the largest sector by weight within the Benchmark. The Fund, on average, held 16.95% of its portfolio in Information Technology stocks versus the Benchmark’s weight of 27.83%. Additionally, the Fund was helped by its overweight to the Materials and Energy sectors, which were both outperforming sectors during the same period. Offsetting some of the positive relative performance from the Information Technology, Materials, and Energy sector allocations was the Fund’s stock selections within the Health Care and Financial sectors, where the portfolio managers’ selections over the period underperformed the Benchmark’s holdings. Finally, poor selection in companies in the Industrials and Communication Services sectors detracted from relative returns throughout the period.
For the fiscal period, the Fund’s “option strategy” of selling Index call options underperformed the Benchmark’s option strategy. Both option strategies added value during the fiscal period, but the Fund’s smaller structural over-write, capped at 75% of the Fund’s NAV, reduced the overall positive benefit relative to the overwrite of the Benchmark.
Market and Fund Outlook
Today, we believe the Fund is well positioned to achieve its primary and secondary investment objectives of providing current income and seeking capital appreciation. The Fund is invested in a broad array of U.S. equity securities with a market cap-weighted dividend yield of 2.83% versus the Index’s dividend yield of 2.30%. As of the end of the fiscal period, the Fund’s option strategy was overwriting 69.7% of the Fund’s assets with an average time to expiration of 27 days. The combination of our dividend tilted equity holdings plus our options strategy provide a strong base that we believe will allow the Fund to generate attractive risk-adjusted total returns going forward and will be supportive of the Fund’s primary objective of providing current income.
(1) The CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Monthly Index is a benchmark index designed to track the performance of a hypothetical buy-write strategy on the S&P 500® Index.
Page 12
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust BuyWrite Income ETF (FTHI) (Continued)
Sector Allocation % of Total
Investments
Information Technology 25.2%
Health Care 14.1
Energy 10.2
Consumer Discretionary 10.1
Consumer Staples 9.3
Communication Services 8.1
Financials 8.0
Industrials 4.7
Utilities 3.9
Real Estate 3.2
Materials 3.2
Total 100.0%
    
Fund Allocation % of Net Assets
Common Stocks 94.9%
Real Estate Investment Trusts 3.2
Master Limited Partnerships 0.5
Call Options Written (0.1)
Net Other Assets and Liabilities 1.5
Total 100.0%
Top Ten Holdings % of Total
Investments
Apple, Inc. 7.2%
Microsoft Corp. 6.0
Amazon.com, Inc. 3.4
Tesla, Inc. 2.2
Alphabet, Inc., Class A 2.1
Alphabet, Inc., Class C 1.9
Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., Class B 1.7
Johnson & Johnson 1.7
Lantheus Holdings, Inc. 1.5
UnitedHealth Group, Inc. 1.5
Total 29.2%
  
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 13
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF (FTQI)
The First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF (the “Fund”), formerly the First Trust Hedged BuyWrite Income ETF, is an actively managed exchange-traded fund. The Fund’s investment objective is to provide current income. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will pursue its investment objective by investing primarily in equity securities listed on U.S. exchanges and by utilizing an “option strategy” consisting of writing (selling) U.S. exchange-traded call options on the Nasdaq-100 Index®. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in the components of the Nasdaq Composite Index. The Fund will employ an option strategy in which it will write U.S. exchange-traded call options on the Nasdaq-100 Index® in order to seek additional cash flow in the form of premiums on the options. A premium is the income received by an investor who sells an option contract to another party. In exchange for the premiums received in connection with its written U.S. exchange-traded call options on the Nasdaq-100 Index®, the Fund forfeits any upside potential of the Nasdaq-100 Index® above the strike price of the written call options. It is expected that the Fund will distribute premiums to shareholders on a monthly basis. The premiums received from the sale of call options are expected to be the Fund’s primary source of income. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will seek to distribute the majority of the option premiums collected. The Fund does not target a specific income level, but seeks to provide investors with current income primarily from options premiums through writing calls with a notional value of 50-100% of the Fund’s assets. The shares of the Fund are listed and trade on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the ticker symbol “FTQI.”
Portfolio Management Team
Portfolio management decisions are made under the direction of the following Portfolio Managers:
John Gambla, CFA, FRM, PRM, Senior Portfolio Manager of First Trust
Rob A. Guttschow, CFA, Senior Portfolio Manager of First Trust
Overall Market Recap
U.S. economic growth was mixed during the fiscal period from October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022. The first quarter of the fiscal period was strong, with quarter-over-quarter annualized gross domestic product (“GDP”) growth of 7.0%. However, as 2022 began, growth turned negative for the first half of 2022 with GDP declining by 1.9% on an annualized basis for the semi-annual period. Third quarter annualized growth is expected to be positive at 2.3%. Despite two quarters of negative growth, the economy does not appear to be in a recession as the unemployment rate is very low at 3.5%, down from 4.7% one year ago. Job growth has been positive each and every month of the fiscal period with 5.69 million new jobs (BLS Non-Farm Payrolls) created during the same period.
Good news on the jobs front is being partially offset by bad news on the inflation and earnings front. After years of declining and/or low inflation, numbers as measured by the Consumer Price Index (“CPI”) show that inflation continued its surge from the pandemic lows of 0.1% year-over-year (“YOY”) in May of 2020. After jumping to 5.4% YOY at this time last year, it continued to surge higher, reaching a cycle high of 9.1% YOY in June of 2022. Subsequently, with a decline in energy prices, the CPI has fallen back to “only” 8.2% as of the September 2022 reading. Inflation is pernicious as it gradually eats away at the purchase power of dollar and earnings, with a resultant decline in real living standards. As a measure of its impact, on the surface, earnings growth looks attractive for 2022, with average hourly earnings up 5.0% for the fiscal period. However, after accounting for inflation, U.S. real average weekly earnings declined by 3.8% during the fiscal period, meaning that on average, U.S. workers took a big pay cut in 2022.
The Federal Reserve (the “Fed”), reacting to the high inflation rates, has begun to aggressively hike interest rates. The Fed raised its benchmark short term interest rate by 0.25% in March 2022, 0.50% in May 2022, and then by 0.75% in June, July, and September 2022. Current expectations are for another 0.75% increase in November 2022. With the increasing Fed benchmark rate, interest rates for U.S. consumers have also risen. One common and very impactful rate, the 30-year mortgage rate as measured by Freddie Mac, increased from 3.01% one year ago to 6.70% as of September 30, 2022. Higher short term interest rates have increased the attractiveness of the U.S. Dollar, with the U.S. Dollar Index rising by 18.98% during the fiscal period.
The U.S. equity market, as represented by the S&P 500® Index, sold off during the fiscal period, down 15.47%, as higher inflation, higher interest rates, and a strong U.S. Dollar are all potential drags on future earnings. Riskier, smaller capitalization stocks, as represented by the Russell 2000® Index, performed poorly during the fiscal period, declining by 23.50%. With rising interest rates, bond investments also were hard hit during the fiscal period with the broad-based Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index down 14.60% for the fiscal period.
Page 14
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF (FTQI) (Continued)
Performance
    Average Annual Total Returns   Cumulative Total Returns
  1 Year
Ended
9/30/22 		5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(1/6/14)
to 9/30/22 		  5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(1/6/14)
to 9/30/22
Fund Performance            
NAV -9.00% -0.44% 2.45%   -2.16% 23.53%
Market Price -8.89% -0.47% 2.47%   -2.31% 23.76%
Index Performance            
CBOE S&P 500 95-110 Collar IndexSM(1) -10.92% 9.69% 7.82%   58.82% 93.06%
S&P 500® Index -15.47% 9.24% 10.12%   55.55% 131.98%
CBOE Nasdaq-100 Buywrite IndexSM(2) -18.19% 2.40% 4.91%   12.61% 52.02%
Nasdaq-100 Index®(3) -24.72% 13.95% 15.09%   92.16% 241.03%
(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 36.)
Performance Review
On May 11, 2022, the Fund changed its investment strategy. The Fund adopted an amended investment strategy that involves investing primarily in equity securities listed on U.S. exchanges and utilizing an “option strategy” consisting of writing (selling) U.S. exchange-traded call options on the Nasdaq-100 Index®. The Fund also changed its primary index to the Nasdaq-100 Index® and its secondary benchmark to the Cboe Nasdaq-100 BuyWrite IndexSM (the “BXN Index”). Performance comparisons for this report will compare the performance for the 12-month period ended September 30, 2022 versus the Nasdaq-100 Index® and BXN Index.
The Fund returned -8.89% on a market price basis and -9.00% on a net asset value (“NAV”) basis for the 12-month period ended September 30, 2022. The Fund’s benchmark, the Nasdaq-100 Index®, returned -24.72% during the same period. During the period, the Fund paid a distribution in each month, with a total distribution for the period of $1.41 per share. The distribution per share as of September 30, 2022 was $0.20 per share.
The Fund seeks to earn a return that is reasonably correlated to the underlying indices over a full market cycle by purchasing equity securities based upon a several factors such as liquidity, market capitalization, price level, sector classification, and contribution to risk and return. At the same time, the Fund seeks to limit the direct overlap with the underlying equity indices. By limiting the overlap between the equity holdings and the Index, the Fund seeks to maintain the favorable tax treatment for any gains/losses from the Index options held in the portfolio. For the period from September 30, 2021 to May 10, 2022, the underlying equity index was the S&P 500® Index. From May 11, 2022 to September 30, 2022, the underlying equity index was the Nasdaq-100 Index®.
The Fund’s equity holdings outperformed the benchmark equity holdings from October 1, 2021 through May 10, 2022. The Fund benefitted from a relative overweight to the Energy and Materials sectors prior to the investment strategy change during the same period. During that period, stocks in the Energy and Materials sectors, as measured by S&P 500® sector returns, were positive at 50.71% and 3.85%, respectively. The Nasdaq-100 Index® was down -15.59% during the time period prior to the investment strategy change while the broader S&P 500® Index was down -6.36% for the same period. Hurting relative performance during the same period was the Fund’s underweight to the Consumer Staples and Utilities sectors, which returned positive 12.74% and 12.51%, respectively, prior to the investment strategy change. Stock selection helped relative performance in the Information Technology sector while it hurt relative performance in the Health Care, Financials, and Consumer Staples sectors. After the investment strategy change on May 11, 2022, the Fund’s equity holdings outperformed the new underlying equity index with the Fund’s underweight in the Information Technology and Communication Services sectors contributing to relative outperformance for the period from May 11, 2022 through September 30, 2022. Stock selection was a positive contributor to relative performance in the Health Care sector after the investment strategy change, while stock selection in the Information Technology and Communication Services sectors hurt relative performance for the same period.
(1) The CBOE S&P 500 95-110 Collar IndexSM is designed to protect an investment in S&P 500® stocks against market declines. The passive collar strategy reflected by the index entails: holding the stocks in the S&P 500® Index; buying three-month S&P 500® put options to protect this S&P 500® portfolio from market decreases; and selling one-month S&P 500® call options to help finance the cost of the put options.
(2) The Cboe Nasdaq-100 BuyWrite IndexSM is a benchmark index designed to track the performance of a hypothetical buy-write strategy on the Nasdaq-100 Index®. The index is a passive total return index based on (1) buying the Nasdaq-100 Index® stock index portfolio, and (2) “writing” (or selling) the near-term Nasdaq-100 Index® “covered” call option.
(3) On May 11, 2022, the Fund’s primary benchmark changed from the S&P 500® Index to the Nasdaq-100 Index®, because the Advisor believes that the Nasdaq-100 Index® better reflects the investment strategies of the Fund.
Page 15
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF (FTQI) (Continued)
For the 12-month period ended September 30, 2022, the Fund’s option strategy of selling Index call options outperformed the benchmark’s option strategy. Prior to the investment strategy change, the Fund’s option strategy added to the absolute and relative returns of the Fund as the premiums received from the written call options helped offset some of the losses of the underlying equity portfolio in the down market. The Collar Index strategy sells call options 10% out-of-the-money and thus received less call option premium to protect the indices downside. After the investment strategy change, the Fund’s written call options also added to relative and absolute returns for the Fund while the BXN Index option strategy detracted from absolute returns. The Fund’s strategy of writing one, two, and three month call options slightly out-of-the-money was better able to navigate the extreme market rally and subsequent sell-off from June 16, 2022 to August 15, 2022 (the Nasdaq-100 Index® was up 22.97% during that period) and then from August 15, 2022 to September 30, 2022 (the Nadaq-100 Index® was down 19.63% during that period).
Market and Fund Outlook
Today, we believe the Fund is well positioned to achieve its investment objective of providing current income to its shareholders. The Fund is invested in a broad array of U.S. equity securities with a market cap-weighted dividend yield of 1.71% versus the Nasdaq-100 Index® dividend yield of 1.58%. As of the end of the fiscal period, the Fund’s option strategy was overwriting 75.51% of the Fund’s assets with an average time to expiration of 27 days. The combination of the dividend yield of the underlying equities plus our options strategy provide a strong base that we believe will allow the Fund to generate attractive risk-adjusted total returns going forward and will be supportive of the Fund’s objective of providing current income.
Page 16
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF (FTQI) (Continued)
Sector Allocation % of Total
Investments
Information Technology 42.1%
Communication Services 15.1
Financials 11.6
Consumer Discretionary 9.8
Health Care 7.2
Consumer Staples 6.1
Utilities 4.8
Industrials 3.0
Real Estate 0.3
Total 100.0%
    
Fund Allocation % of Net Assets
Common Stocks 97.6%
Call Options Written (0.4)
Net Other Assets and Liabilities 2.8
Total 100.0%
Top Ten Holdings % of Total
Investments
Apple, Inc. 12.4%
Microsoft Corp. 9.8
Tesla, Inc. 4.6
Amazon.com, Inc. 4.3
NVIDIA Corp. 2.5
Meta Platforms, Inc., Class A 2.4
Costco Wholesale Corp. 2.3
Alphabet, Inc., Class C 2.2
Alphabet, Inc., Class A 2.2
PepsiCo, Inc. 2.2
Total 44.9%
  
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 17
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Rising Dividend Achievers ETF (RDVY)
The First Trust Rising Dividend Achievers ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an index called Nasdaq US Rising Dividend AchieversTM Index (the “Index”). The Fund normally invests at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the common stocks and depositary receipts that comprise the Index. The Index includes 50 U.S. exchange-traded equity securities, including securities issued by non-U.S. companies that trade on U.S. securities exchanges in the form of depositary receipts. The Index is designed to provide access to a diversified portfolio of small, mid and large capitalization companies with a history of raising their dividends while exhibiting the characteristics to continue to do so in the future by including companies with strong cash balances, low debt and increasing earnings. The shares of the Fund are listed and trade on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the ticker symbol “RDVY.”
Performance
    Average Annual Total Returns   Cumulative Total Returns
  1 Year
Ended
9/30/22 		5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(1/6/14)
to 9/30/22 		  5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(1/6/14)
to 9/30/22
Fund Performance            
NAV -16.76% 8.61% 9.86%   51.12% 127.27%
Market Price -16.72% 8.59% 9.86%   51.00% 127.32%
Index Performance            
Nasdaq US Rising Dividend AchieversTM Index -16.41% 9.18% 10.44%   55.16% 137.99%
Dow Jones U.S. Select DividendTM Index* -3.10% 6.89% 9.07%   39.56% 113.38%
(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 36.)
The Fund generated a NAV return of -16.76% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend™ Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of -3.10%. During the period covered by this report, the Fund allocated 34.2% to the Financials sector, which was the largest allocation during the period. This sector was also the largest detracting sector with a -7.3% contribution to the Fund’s return. The 2.1% allocation to the Consumer Staples sector contributed 0.6% to the Fund’s return, the greatest contribution of any sector during the period covered by this report.
* The Dow Jones U.S. Select DividendTM Index represents 100 of the United States’ leading stocks by dividend yield.
Nasdaq® and Nasdaq US Rising Dividend AchieversTM 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 their 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
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Rising Dividend Achievers ETF (RDVY) (Continued)
Sector Allocation % of Total
Investments
Financials 35.4%
Information Technology 25.8
Health Care 10.4
Materials 8.2
Consumer Discretionary 5.9
Industrials 4.1
Communication Services 4.1
Energy 4.0
Consumer Staples 2.1
Total 100.0%
Top Ten Holdings % of Total
Investments
Johnson & Johnson 2.1%
Louisiana-Pacific Corp. 2.1
Humana, Inc. 2.1
UnitedHealth Group, Inc. 2.1
Cummins, Inc. 2.1
Allstate (The) Corp. 2.1
Huntsman Corp. 2.1
PulteGroup, Inc. 2.1
Microsoft Corp. 2.1
Pfizer, Inc. 2.1
Total 21.0%
  
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 19
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Dorsey Wright Focus 5 ETF (FV)
The First Trust Dorsey Wright Focus 5 ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an index called the Dorsey Wright Focus FiveTM Index (the “Index”). The Fund normally invests at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) that comprise the Index. The ETFs comprising the Index selection universe are advised by First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust”), the Fund’s investment advisor. The Index is constructed pursuant to Dorsey, Wright & Associates, LLC’s (the “Index Provider”) proprietary methodology, which takes into account the performance of each of the First Trust sector-based ETFs relative to one another. The Index is designed to provide targeted exposure to the five First Trust sector-based ETFs that the Index Provider believes offer the greatest potential to outperform the other ETFs in the selection universe and that satisfy certain trading volume and liquidity requirements. The shares of the Fund are listed and trade on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the ticker symbol “FV.”
Performance
    Average Annual Total Returns   Cumulative Total Returns
  1 Year
Ended
9/30/22 		5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(3/5/14)
to 9/30/22 		  5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(3/5/14)
to 9/30/22
Fund Performance            
NAV -9.32% 9.95% 9.23%   60.71% 113.19%
Market Price -9.32% 9.94% 9.22%   60.59% 113.03%
Index Performance            
Dorsey Wright Focus FiveTM Index -8.95% 10.27% 9.61%   63.01% 119.57%
S&P 500® Index -15.47% 9.24% 9.94%   55.55% 125.34%
(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 36.)
The Fund generated a NAV return of -9.32% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the S&P 500® Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of -15.47%. The Energy sector received the greatest allocation of any sector during the period covered by this report. With an average weight in the Fund of 27.7% and a contribution to the Fund’s return of 5.0%, representing the greatest positive contribution to the Fund’s return. The Materials sector received an allocation of 12.7% and contributed -4.1% to the Fund’s return, representing the worst performance of any sector during the period covered by this report.
Nasdaq® and Dorsey Wright Focus FiveTM 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 their 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 20
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Dorsey Wright Focus 5 ETF (FV) (Continued)
  
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 21
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance® ETF (AIRR)
The First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance® ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an index called the Richard Bernstein Advisors American Industrial Renaissance® Index (the “Index”). The Fund normally invests at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the equity securities that comprise the Index. The Index is designed to measure the performance of small- and mid-cap U.S. companies in the industrial and community banking sectors. The shares of the Fund are listed and trade on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the ticker symbol “AIRR.”
Performance
    Average Annual Total Returns   Cumulative Total Returns
  1 Year
Ended
9/30/22 		5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(3/10/14)
to 9/30/22 		  5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(3/10/14)
to 9/30/22
Fund Performance            
NAV -6.41% 8.16% 8.12%   48.01% 95.10%
Market Price -6.38% 8.18% 8.14%   48.15% 95.36%
Index Performance            
Richard Bernstein Advisors American Industrial Renaissance® Index -5.74% 8.93% 8.94%   53.34% 108.12%
S&P 500® Index -15.47% 9.24% 9.93%   55.55% 124.86%
S&P 500® Industrials Index -13.87% 4.87% 7.32%   26.87% 83.13%
Russell 2500® Index -21.11% 5.45% 6.46%   30.40% 70.93%
(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 36.)
The Fund generated a NAV return of -6.41% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the S&P 500® Industrials Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of -13.87%. Investments in the Construction & Engineering industry received an allocation of 40.7%, more than any other industry during the period covered by this report. Investments in this industry contributed -2.0% to the Fund’s overall return. Investments in the Machinery industry received an allocation of 30.8% and caused a -6.2% contribution to the Fund’s return, the most negative contribution of any industry. The most positive source of return came from investments in the Commercial Services & Supplies industry. Investments in this industry caused a 2.2% contribution to the Fund’s return for the period covered by this report.
Richard Bernstein Advisors and Richard Bernstein Advisors American Industrial Renaissance® Index (“Index”) are trademarks and trade names of Richard Bernstein Advisors (“RBA”). The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by RBA and RBA makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of trading in the Fund. RBA’s only relationship to First Trust is the licensing of certain trademarks and trade names of RBA and of the Index, which is determined, composed and calculated by RBA without regard to First Trust or the Fund. RBA has no obligation to take the needs of First Trust or the owners of the Fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Index. RBA is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices at, or quantities of the Fund to be listed or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the Fund is to be converted into cash. RBA has no obligation or liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Fund.
Page 22
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance® ETF (AIRR) (Continued)
Sector Allocation % of Total
Investments
Industrials 89.7%
Financials 10.3
Total 100.0%
Top Ten Holdings % of Total
Investments
Clean Harbors, Inc. 3.9%
Arcosa, Inc. 3.8
Hubbell, Inc. 3.6
Comfort Systems USA, Inc. 3.4
EMCOR Group, Inc. 3.4
Wabash National Corp. 3.3
NV5 Global, Inc. 3.2
Federal Signal Corp. 3.2
SPX Technologies, Inc. 3.2
RBC Bearings, Inc. 3.1
Total 34.1%
  
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 23
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Dorsey Wright Momentum & Dividend ETF (DDIV)
The First Trust Dorsey Wright Momentum & Dividend ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an index called the Dorsey Wright Momentum Plus Dividend YieldTM Index (the “Index”). Under normal conditions, the Fund invests at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the equity securities that comprise the Index. The Index is a rules-based equity index designed to track the overall performance of the 50 stocks with the highest dividend yield comprising the Nasdaq US Large Mid Index™ that still maintain high levels of “relative strength.” A relative strength analysis is a momentum-based investment strategy that emphasizes a security’s forward price momentum in the security selection process. The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The shares of the Fund are listed and trade on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the ticker symbol “DDIV.”
Performance
    Average Annual Total Returns   Cumulative Total Returns
  1 Year
Ended
9/30/22 		5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(3/10/14)
to 9/30/22 		  5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(3/10/14)
to 9/30/22
Fund Performance            
NAV -11.08% 4.76% 6.34%   26.17% 69.30%
Market Price -11.02% 4.73% 6.35%   26.02% 69.38%
Index Performance            
Dorsey Wright Momentum Plus Dividend YieldTM Index(1) -10.57% N/A N/A   N/A N/A
Dow Jones U.S. Select DividendTM Index(2) -3.10% 6.89% 8.91%   39.56% 107.69%
S&P 500® Index -15.47% 9.24% 9.93%   55.55% 124.86%
(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 36.)
The Fund generated a NAV return of -11.08% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the S&P 500® Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of -15.47%. An allocation of 32.8% was given to the Financials sector, the most of any sector in the Fund during the period covered by this report. The second largest allocation was the 32.4% allocation to the Real Estate sector. The investments in the Financials sector contributed -5.8% to the Fund’s overall return, the worst contribution of any sector, while the Real Estate sector contributed a -3.2% return. The most positive contribution to the Fund’s return during the period covered by this report came from the 17.3% allocation in the Energy sector, which contributed 1.3% to the Fund’s return.
(1) On September 6, 2018, the Fund’s underlying index changed from the Richard Bernstein Advisors Quality Income Index to the Dorsey Wright Momentum Plus Dividend YieldTM Index (the “Index”). Therefore, the Fund’s performance and historical returns shown for the periods prior to September 6, 2018, are not necessarily indicative of the performance that the Fund, based on its current index, would have generated. Since the Index had an inception date of July 2, 2018, it was not in existence for all of the periods disclosed.
(2) The Dow Jones U.S. Select DividendTM Index represents 100 of the United States’ leading stocks by dividend yield.
Nasdaq® and Dorsey Wright Momentum Plus Dividend YieldTM 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 24
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Dorsey Wright Momentum & Dividend ETF (DDIV) (Continued)
Sector Allocation % of Total
Investments
Financials 30.6%
Real Estate 30.3
Energy 15.7
Utilities 5.4
Materials 4.8
Consumer Discretionary 4.1
Information Technology 4.0
Health Care 3.4
Industrials 1.7
Total 100.0%
Top Ten Holdings % of Total
Investments
Rithm Capital Corp. 4.4%
Starwood Property Trust, Inc. 4.2
Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc., Class A 4.1
Kinder Morgan, Inc. 3.7
ONEOK, Inc. 3.4
Spirit Realty Capital, Inc. 3.3
DT Midstream, Inc. 3.1
Williams (The) Cos., Inc. 2.9
Lamar Advertising Co., Class A 2.8
VICI Properties, Inc. 2.7
Total 34.6%
  
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
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 25
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Dorsey Wright International Focus 5 ETF (IFV)
The First Trust Dorsey Wright International Focus 5 ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an index called the Dorsey Wright International Focus FiveTM Index (the “Index”). The Fund normally invests at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) that comprise the Index. The ETFs comprising the Index selection universe are advised by First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust”), the Fund’s investment advisor. The Index is constructed pursuant to Dorsey, Wright & Associates, LLC’s (the “Index Provider”) proprietary methodology, which takes into account the performance of certain First Trust international ETFs relative to one another. The Index is designed to provide targeted exposure to the five First Trust country/region-based ETFs that the Index Provider believes offer the greatest potential to outperform the other ETFs in the selection universe. The shares of the Fund are listed and trade on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the ticker symbol “IFV.”
Performance
    Average Annual Total Returns   Cumulative Total Returns
  1 Year
Ended
9/30/22 		5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(7/22/14)
to 9/30/22 		  5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(7/22/14)
to 9/30/22
Fund Performance            
NAV -26.89% -3.39% -0.93%   -15.85% -7.38%
Market Price -26.81% -3.38% -0.92%   -15.79% -7.31%
Index Performance            
Dorsey Wright International Focus FiveTM Index -26.69% -2.91% -0.52%   -13.72% -4.16%
MSCI ACWI ex USA Index -25.17% -0.81% 0.49%   -4.00% 4.10%
(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 36.)
The Fund generated a NAV return of -26.89% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of -25.17%. The Fund’s exposure to India was greater than that of any other country during the period covered by this report. Indian investments received an allocation of 22.3% but contributed only -0.6% to the Fund’s overall return. The most negative contribution to the Fund’s return came from investments in the United Kingdom. This country received an allocation of 17.4% and caused a -5.0% contribution to the Fund’s overall return. The total currency impact to the Fund over the period covered by this report was -9.7%.
Nasdaq® and Dorsey Wright International Focus FiveTM 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 their 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 26
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Dorsey Wright International Focus 5 ETF (IFV) (Continued)
  
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 27
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Dorsey Wright Dynamic Focus 5 ETF (FVC)
The First Trust Dorsey Wright Dynamic Focus 5 ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an index called the Dorsey Wright Dynamic Focus FiveTM Index (the “Index”). The Fund normally invests at least 80% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) that comprise the Index, including the First Trust Enhanced Short Maturity ETF (“FTSM”), an ultra-short duration ETF. The ETFs comprising the Index selection universe are advised by First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust”), the Fund’s investment advisor. The Index is constructed pursuant to Dorsey, Wright & Associates, LLC’s (the “Index Provider”) proprietary methodology, which takes into account the performance of each of the First Trust sector and industry-based ETFs relative to one another. The Index is designed to provide targeted exposure to the five First Trust sector and industry-based ETFs that the Index Provider determines offer the greatest potential to outperform the other First Trust sector and industry-based ETFs and that satisfy certain trading volume and liquidity requirements. In addition to the First Trust sector and industry-based ETFs, the Index may select FTSM. FTSM is also evaluated and its inclusion and weight in the Index is adjusted based upon its rank relative to the selection universe of sector and industry-based ETFs chosen by the Index. The shares of the Fund are listed and trade on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the ticker symbol “FVC.”
Performance
    Average Annual Total Returns   Cumulative Total Returns
  1 Year
Ended
9/30/22 		5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(3/17/16)
to 9/30/22 		  5 Years
Ended
9/30/22 		Inception
(3/17/16)
to 9/30/22
Fund Performance            
NAV -4.18% 7.11% 8.76%   40.98% 73.15%
Market Price -4.01% 7.13% 8.78%   41.13% 73.41%
Index Performance            
Dorsey Wright Dynamic Focus FiveTM Index -3.74% 7.44% 9.11%   43.15% 76.82%
S&P 500® Index -15.47% 9.24% 11.03%   55.55% 98.24%
(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 36.)
The Fund generated a NAV return of -4.18% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the S&P 500® Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of -15.47%. The greatest allocation to the Fund was the 20.7% allocated to the Energy sector. Investments in this sector contributed 7.2% to the Fund’s return, the greatest of any sector during the period covered by this report. The most negative contribution to the Fund’s return for the period came from investments in the Consumer Discretionary sector. These investments received an allocation of 11.5% and contributed -2.4% to the Fund’s overall return.
Nasdaq® and Dorsey Wright Dynamic Focus FiveTM 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 their 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 28
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Dorsey Wright Dynamic Focus 5 ETF (FVC) (Continued)
  
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 29
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Indxx Innovative Transaction & Process ETF (LEGR)
The First Trust Indxx Innovative Transaction & Process ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an index called the Indxx Blockchain Index (the “Index”). The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the common stocks and depositary receipts that comprise the Index. The Index is designed to track the performance of companies that are either actively using, investing in, developing, or have products that are poised to benefit from blockchain technology and/or the potential for increased efficiency that it provides to various business processes. The Index seeks to include only companies that have devoted material resources to the use of blockchain technologies. The shares of the Fund are listed and traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, under the ticker symbol “LEGR.”
Performance
    Average Annual
Total Returns 		Cumulative
Total Returns
  1 Year Ended
9/30/22 		Inception (1/24/18)
to 9/30/22 		Inception (1/24/18)
to 9/30/22
Fund Performance      
NAV -25.55% 2.14% 10.42%
Market Price -25.97% 2.08% 10.09%
Index Performance      
Indxx Blockchain Index -25.03% 3.11% 15.40%
S&P 500® Index -15.47% 7.01% 37.31%
(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 36.)
The Fund generated a NAV return of -25.55% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the S&P 500® Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of -15.47%. The Fund allocated 37.8% to the Financials sector, a greater allocation to the Fund than any other sector. Investments in this sector contributed -7.2% to the Fund’s return for the period covered by this report. The most significant contribution to the Fund’s return for the period was the -10.4% from the 31.8% allocation to the Information Technology sector. No invested sector had a significant positive contribution to the Fund’s return for the period. The total currency impact to the Fund during the period covered by his report was -4.8%.
Indxx and Indxx Blockchain Index (“Index”) are trademarks of Indxx Inc. (“Indxx”) and have been licensed for use for certain purposes by First Trust. The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Indxx and Indxx makes no representation regarding the advisability of trading in such product. The Index is determined, composed and calculated by Indxx without regard to First Trust or the Fund.
Page 30
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Indxx Innovative Transaction & Process ETF (LEGR) (Continued)
Sector Allocation % of Total
Long-Term
Investments
Financials 36.0%
Information Technology 31.7
Communication Services 9.5
Consumer Discretionary 8.5
Industrials 5.7
Utilities 2.9
Materials 1.8
Consumer Staples 1.7
Health Care 1.3
Energy 0.9
Total 100.0%
Top Ten Holdings % of Total
Long-Term
Investments
Emirates Telecommunications Group Co., PJSC 1.4%
SAP SE 1.4
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., Class H 1.4
Softbank Corp. 1.3
Zoetis, Inc. 1.3
China CITIC Bank Corp., Ltd., Class H 1.3
Swisscom AG 1.3
International Business Machines Corp. 1.3
Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. 1.3
Nordea Bank Abp 1.3
Total 13.3%
  
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 31
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Nasdaq Artificial Intelligence and Robotics ETF (ROBT)
The First Trust Nasdaq Artificial Intelligence and Robotics ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an index called the Nasdaq CTA Artificial Intelligence and Robotics IndexSM (the “Index”). The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the common stocks and depositary receipts that comprise the Index. The Index is designed to track the performance of companies engaged in the artificial intelligence and robotics segments of the technology, industrial and other economic sectors. The shares of the Fund are listed and traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, under the ticker symbol “ROBT.”
Performance
    Average Annual
Total Returns 		Cumulative
Total Returns
  1 Year Ended
9/30/22 		Inception (2/21/18)
to 9/30/22 		Inception (2/21/18)
to 9/30/22
Fund Performance      
NAV -36.76% 2.87% 13.93%
Market Price -36.85% 2.86% 13.86%
Index Performance      
Nasdaq CTA Artificial Intelligence and Robotics IndexSM -36.54% 3.58% 17.56%
S&P 500® Index -15.47% 8.24% 43.97%
(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 36.)
The Fund generated a NAV return of -36.76% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the S&P 500® Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of -15.47%. The greatest allocation in the Fund for the period was the 33.4% allocated to the Software industry. Investments in this industry contributed -11.8% to the Fund’s overall return, which was by far the worst contribution to the Fund’s return of any industry during the period covered by this report. The best contribution to the Fund’s return came from the Aerospace & Defense industry which had an average weight of 6.9% and contributed 0.7% to the Fund’s overall return for the period. The total currency impact to the Fund over the period covered by this report was -6.2%.
Nasdaq® and Nasdaq CTA Artificial Intelligence and Robotics IndexSM 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 their 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 32
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust Nasdaq Artificial Intelligence and Robotics ETF (ROBT) (Continued)
Sector Allocation % of Total
Long-Term
Investments
Information Technology 60.6%
Industrials 22.3
Consumer Discretionary 8.9
Health Care 5.4
Communication Services 2.3
Real Estate 0.3
Consumer Staples 0.2
Total 100.0%
Top Ten Holdings % of Total
Long-Term
Investments
PROS Holdings, Inc. 2.6%
AVEVA Group PLC 2.3
Illumina, Inc. 2.1
Cadence Design Systems, Inc. 2.1
AeroVironment, Inc. 2.1
Halma PLC 2.1
Dynatrace, Inc. 2.0
Hexagon AB, Class B 2.0
QinetiQ Group PLC 2.0
ANSYS, Inc. 2.0
Total 21.3%
  
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 33
Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust International Developed Capital Strength ETF (FICS)
The First Trust International Developed Capital Strength ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an index called The International Developed Capital Strength IndexSM (the “Index”). The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal market conditions, at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the common stocks and real estate investment trusts that comprise the Index. The Index seeks to provide exposure to well-capitalized companies in the developed markets outside of the U.S. with strong market positions that have the potential to provide a greater degree of stability and performance over time. The shares of the Fund are listed and traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, under the ticker symbol “FICS.”
Performance
    Average Annual
Total Returns 		Cumulative
Total Returns
  1 Year Ended
9/30/22 		Inception (12/15/20)
to 9/30/22 		Inception (12/15/20)
to 9/30/22
Fund Performance      
NAV -22.50% -6.56% -11.45%
Market Price -22.33% -6.34% -11.08%
Index Performance      
The International Developed Capital Strength IndexSM -21.93% -5.38% -9.43%
MSCI World ex USA Index -23.91% -8.86% -15.32%
(See Notes to Fund Performance Overview on page 36.)
The Fund generated a NAV return of -22.50% during the 12-month period covered by this report. During the same period, the MSCI World ex USA Index (the “Benchmark”) generated a return of -23.91%. The Fund was most heavily weighted towards the Industrials sector during the period covered by this report. This sector received an allocation of 31.7% and contributed -7.8% to the Fund’s overall return, which was the most negative contribution of any sector. No sector contributed positively to the Fund’s total return for the period. The Fund’s currency exposure caused -12.5% of underperformance during the period covered by this report.
Nasdaq® and The International Developed Capital Strength IndexSM 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 their 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.
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Table of Contents
Fund Performance Overview (Unaudited) (Continued)
First Trust International Developed Capital Strength ETF (FICS) (Continued)
Sector Allocation % of Total
Investments
Industrials 31.6%
Consumer Staples 17.1
Financials 16.3
Health Care 13.7
Information Technology 10.5
Materials 3.3
Consumer Discretionary 2.1
Communication Services 2.1
Energy 1.8
Real Estate 1.5
Total 100.0%
Top Ten Holdings % of Total
Investments
Unilever PLC 2.5%
Intact Financial Corp. 2.4
Thomson Reuters Corp. 2.4
CGI, Inc. 2.3
CSL Ltd. 2.3
Obic Co., Ltd. 2.3
Wolters Kluwer N.V. 2.3
Deutsche Boerse AG 2.3
Heineken N.V. 2.3
Alimentation Couche-Tard, Inc. 2.3
Total 23.4%
  
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.
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Table of Contents
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.
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 SEC rules, the NBBO consists of the highest displayed buy and lowest sell prices among the various exchanges trading the Fund at the time the Fund’s 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.
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Table of Contents
First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI
Understanding Your Fund Expenses
September 30, 2022 (Unaudited)
As a shareholder of First Trust NASDAQ Technology Dividend Index Fund, Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund, First Trust S&P International Dividend Aristocrats ETF, First Trust BuyWrite Income ETF, First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF, First Trust Rising Dividend Achievers ETF, First Trust Dorsey Wright Focus 5 ETF, First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance® ETF, First Trust Dorsey Wright Momentum & Dividend ETF, First Trust Dorsey Wright International Focus 5 ETF, First Trust Dorsey Wright Dynamic Focus 5 ETF, First Trust Indxx Innovative Transaction & Process ETF, First Trust Nasdaq Artificial Intelligence and Robotics ETF, or First Trust International Developed Capital Strength ETF (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 (in U.S. dollars) 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 September 30, 2022.
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
April 1, 2022 		Ending
Account Value
September 30, 2022 		Annualized
Expense Ratio
Based on the
Six-Month
Period 		Expenses Paid
During the
Six-Month
Period (a)
First Trust NASDAQ Technology Dividend Index Fund (TDIV)
Actual $1,000.00 $750.00 0.50% $2.19
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) $1,000.00 $1,022.56 0.50% $2.54
Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund (MDIV) (b)
Actual $1,000.00 $885.30 0.49% $2.32
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) $1,000.00 $1,022.61 0.49% $2.48
First Trust S&P International Dividend Aristocrats ETF (FID)
Actual $1,000.00 $799.80 0.60% $2.71
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) $1,000.00 $1,022.06 0.60% $3.04
First Trust BuyWrite Income ETF (FTHI)
Actual $1,000.00 $841.30 0.85% $3.92
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) $1,000.00 $1,020.81 0.85% $4.31
First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF (FTQI)
Actual $1,000.00 $837.40 0.85% $3.92
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) $1,000.00 $1,020.81 0.85% $4.31
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Table of Contents
First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI
Understanding Your Fund Expenses (Continued)
September 30, 2022 (Unaudited)
  Beginning
Account Value
April 1, 2022 		Ending
Account Value
September 30, 2022 		Annualized
Expense Ratio
Based on the
Six-Month
Period 		Expenses Paid
During the
Six-Month
Period (a)
First Trust Rising Dividend Achievers ETF (RDVY)
Actual $1,000.00 $802.00 0.50% $2.26
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) $1,000.00 $1,022.56 0.50% $2.54
First Trust Dorsey Wright Focus 5 ETF (FV) (b)
Actual $1,000.00 $867.70 0.30% $1.40
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) $1,000.00 $1,023.56 0.30% $1.52
First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance® ETF (AIRR)
Actual $1,000.00 $903.90 0.70% $3.34
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) $1,000.00 $1,021.56 0.70% $3.55
First Trust Dorsey Wright Momentum & Dividend ETF (DDIV)
Actual $1,000.00 $813.80 0.60% $2.73
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) $1,000.00 $1,022.06 0.60% $3.04
First Trust Dorsey Wright International Focus 5 ETF (IFV) (b)
Actual $1,000.00 $784.10 0.30% $1.34
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) $1,000.00 $1,023.56 0.30% $1.52
First Trust Dorsey Wright Dynamic Focus 5 ETF (FVC) (b)
Actual $1,000.00 $916.70 0.30% $1.44
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) $1,000.00 $1,023.56 0.30% $1.52
First Trust Indxx Innovative Transaction & Process ETF (LEGR)
Actual $1,000.00 $772.10 0.65% $2.89
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) $1,000.00 $1,021.81 0.65% $3.29
First Trust Nasdaq Artificial Intelligence and Robotics ETF (ROBT)
Actual $1,000.00 $714.00 0.65% $2.79
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) $1,000.00 $1,021.81 0.65% $3.29
First Trust International Developed Capital Strength ETF (FICS)
Actual $1,000.00 $798.60 0.70% $3.16
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) $1,000.00 $1,021.56 0.70% $3.55
    
(a) Expenses are equal to the annualized expense ratios as indicated in the table multiplied by the average account value over the period (April 1, 2022 through September 30, 2022), multiplied by 183/365 (to reflect the six-month period).
(b) Annualized expense ratio and expenses paid during the six-month period do not include fees and expenses of the underlying funds in which the Fund invests.
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Table of Contents
First Trust NASDAQ Technology Dividend Index Fund (TDIV)
Portfolio of Investments
September 30, 2022
Shares   Description   Value
COMMON STOCKS – 99.8%
    Communications Equipment – 5.9%    
67,424   ADTRAN Holdings, Inc.   $1,320,162
28,100   AudioCodes Ltd.   612,861
729,895   Cisco Systems, Inc.   29,195,800
523,303   Juniper Networks, Inc.   13,668,674
118,718   Motorola Solutions, Inc.   26,589,271
428,335   Nokia Oyj, ADR   1,828,990
634,465   Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, ADR   3,641,829
26,269   Ubiquiti, Inc.   7,711,528
        84,569,115
    Diversified Telecommunication
Services – 9.4% 		   
12,860   ATN International, Inc.   496,010
677,197   BCE, Inc.   28,401,642
90,892   Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd., ADR   3,229,393
170,832   Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc.   8,910,597
332,068   KT Corp., ADR   4,057,871
3,277,195   Lumen Technologies, Inc.   23,857,980
588,470   Telefonica Brasil S.A., ADR   4,425,294
80,903   Telkom Indonesia Persero Tbk PT, ADR   2,334,052
1,449,417   TELUS Corp.   28,785,422
780,694   Verizon Communications, Inc.   29,642,951
        134,141,212
    Electronic Equipment,
Instruments & Components – 4.2% 		   
150,387   Amphenol Corp., Class A   10,069,913
53,821   Avnet, Inc.   1,944,015
21,097   Benchmark Electronics, Inc.   522,784
37,563   CDW Corp.   5,862,833
626,905   Corning, Inc.   18,192,783
18,214   Jabil, Inc.   1,051,130
12,695   Methode Electronics, Inc.   471,619
91,347   National Instruments Corp.   3,447,436
27,324   TD SYNNEX Corp.   2,218,436
130,264   TE Connectivity Ltd.   14,375,935
65,485   Vishay Intertechnology, Inc.   1,164,978
        59,321,862
    Interactive Media & Services – 0.2%    
97,365   JOYY, Inc., ADR   2,531,490
14,580   Shutterstock, Inc.   731,479
        3,262,969
    IT Services – 10.4%    
53,768   Amdocs Ltd.   4,271,868
208,625   Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Class A   11,983,420
Shares   Description   Value
    IT Services (Continued)    
10,324   Concentrix Corp.   $1,152,468
14,253   CSG Systems International, Inc.   753,699
16,172   Hackett Group (The), Inc.   286,568
328,964   Infosys Ltd., ADR   5,582,519
1,016,455   International Business Machines Corp.   120,765,019
86,738   SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc.   4,141,739
49,130   Wipro Ltd., ADR   231,402
        149,168,702
    Media – 2.0%    
3,203   Cable One, Inc.   2,732,319
901,928   Comcast Corp., Class A   26,453,548
        29,185,867
    Professional Services – 0.6%    
33,044   KBR, Inc.   1,428,162
51,618   Leidos Holdings, Inc.   4,515,026
22,581   Science Applications International Corp.   1,996,838
        7,940,026
    Semiconductors &
Semiconductor Equipment – 37.4% 		   
57,667   Amkor Technology, Inc.   983,222
245,629   Analog Devices, Inc.   34,225,945
223,644   Applied Materials, Inc.   18,323,153
522,495   ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd., ADR   2,607,250
26,233   ASML Holding N.V.   10,895,877
261,592   Broadcom, Inc.   116,149,464
531,270   Himax Technologies, Inc., ADR   2,571,347
4,090,337   Intel Corp.   105,407,984
43,186   KLA Corp.   13,069,379
22,405   Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc.   863,265
46,836   Lam Research Corp.   17,141,976
206,956   Microchip Technology, Inc.   12,630,525
202,083   Micron Technology, Inc.   10,124,358
6,954   Monolithic Power Systems, Inc.   2,527,084
112,077   NXP Semiconductors N.V.   16,532,478
12,766   Power Integrations, Inc.   821,109
493,548   QUALCOMM, Inc.   55,761,053
91,003   Skyworks Solutions, Inc.   7,759,826
12,128   STMicroelectronics N.V.   375,240
613,354   Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., ADR   42,051,550
395,144   Texas Instruments, Inc.   61,160,388
224,943   United Microelectronics Corp., ADR   1,252,933
10,549   Universal Display Corp.   995,298
        534,230,704
    Software – 14.7%    
20,514   A10 Networks, Inc.   272,221
 
See Notes to Financial Statements
Page 39
Table of Contents
First Trust NASDAQ Technology Dividend Index Fund (TDIV)
Portfolio of Investments (Continued)
September 30, 2022
Shares   Description   Value
COMMON STOCKS (Continued)
    Software (Continued)    
23,617   American Software, Inc., Class A   $361,812
20,356   Dolby Laboratories, Inc., Class A   1,326,193
8,889   Ebix, Inc.   168,624
46,537   InterDigital, Inc.   1,881,026
44,339   Intuit, Inc.   17,173,381
499,346   Microsoft Corp.   116,297,683
315,572   NortonLifeLock, Inc.   6,355,620
188,983   Open Text Corp.   4,996,711
880,399   Oracle Corp.   53,765,967
15,774   Progress Software Corp.   671,184
15,920   Roper Technologies, Inc.   5,725,469
29,201   Sapiens International Corp., N.V.   560,075
32,684   Xperi Holding Corp.   462,152
        210,018,118
    Technology Hardware,
Storage & Peripherals – 12.6% 		   
830,450   Apple, Inc.   114,768,190
114,278   Dell Technologies, Inc., Class C   3,904,879
1,144,332   Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.   13,709,097
848,312   HP, Inc.   21,139,935
76,513   Logitech International S.A.   3,519,598
150,394   NetApp, Inc.   9,301,869
215,495   Seagate Technology Holdings PLC   11,470,799
233,574   Xerox Holdings Corp.   3,055,148
        180,869,515
    Wireless Telecommunication
Services – 2.4% 		   
1,324,111   Mobile TeleSystems PJSC, ADR (a) (b) (c)   182,304
56,108   PLDT, Inc., ADR   1,419,532
758,034   Rogers Communications, Inc., Class B   29,214,630
261,351   Telephone & Data Systems, Inc.   3,632,779
        34,449,245
    Total Investments – 99.8%   1,427,157,335
    (Cost $1,601,923,830)    
    Net Other Assets and Liabilities – 0.2%   3,453,622
    Net Assets – 100.0%   $1,430,610,957
    
(a) This security is fair valued by the Advisor’s Pricing Committee in accordance with procedures approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees, and in accordance with the provisions of the Investment Company Act of 1940 and rules thereunder, as amended. At September 30, 2022, securities noted as such are valued at $182,304 or 0.0% of net assets.
(b) Pursuant to procedures adopted by the Trust’s Board of Trustees, this security has been determined to be illiquid by First Trust Advisors, L.P., the Fund’s Advisor.
(c) This security’s value was determined using significant unobservable inputs (see Note 2A – Portfolio Valuation in the Notes to Financial Statements).
    
ADR American Depositary Receipt
Valuation Inputs
A summary of the inputs used to value the Fund’s investments as of September 30, 2022 is as follows (see Note 2A - Portfolio Valuation in the Notes to Financial Statements):
  Total
Value at
9/30/2022 		Level 1
Quoted
Prices 		Level 2
Significant
Observable
Inputs 		Level 3
Significant
Unobservable
Inputs
Common Stocks:        
Wireless Telecommunication Services $ 34,449,245 $ 34,266,941 $ — $ 182,304
Other Industry Categories*  1,392,708,090  1,392,708,090  —  —
Total Investments $ 1,427,157,335 $ 1,426,975,031 $— $ 182,304
    
* See Portfolio of Investments for industry breakout.
Level 3 Common Stocks are fair valued by the Advisor’s Pricing Committee and are footnoted in the Portfolio of Investments. The Level 3 Common Stocks values are based on unobservable and non-quantitative inputs.
 
Page 40
See Notes to Financial Statements
Table of Contents
Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund (MDIV)
Portfolio of Investments
September 30, 2022
Shares/
Units 		  Description   Value
MASTER LIMITED PARTNERSHIPS – 20.2%
    Energy Equipment & Services – 1.2%    
302,427  
USA Compression Partners, L.P.
   $5,262,230
    Industrial Conglomerates – 1.5%    
133,447  
Icahn Enterprises, L.P.
   6,628,312
    Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels – 17.5%    
251,368  
Black Stone Minerals, L.P.
   3,933,909
62,324  
Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P.
   3,325,609
163,844  
Crestwood Equity Partners, L.P.
   4,549,948
208,406  
CrossAmerica Partners, L.P.
   3,895,108
57,227  
DCP Midstream, L.P.
   2,150,018
52,426  
Delek Logistics Partners, L.P.
   2,670,581
160,184  
Dorchester Minerals, L.P.
   4,001,396
263,607  
Energy Transfer, L.P.
   2,907,585
199,635  
EnLink Midstream, LLC (a)
   1,774,755
121,532  
Enterprise Products Partners, L.P.
   2,890,031
135,213  
Global Partners, L.P.
   3,346,522
214,221