EDGAR HTML

 

 
 
First Trust
Exchange-Traded Fund
Prospectus
FUND NAME
TICKER SYMBOL
EXCHANGE
First Trust Capital Strength ETF
FTCS
Nasdaq
First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund
FDN
NYSE Arca
First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund
FDM
NYSE Arca
First Trust Chindia ETF
FNI
NYSE Arca
First Trust Natural Gas ETF
FCG
NYSE Arca
First Trust Water ETF
FIW
NYSE Arca
First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund
FDL
NYSE Arca
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund
QQEW
Nasdaq
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund
QQXT
Nasdaq
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund
QTEC
Nasdaq
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund
QABA
Nasdaq
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund
QCLN
Nasdaq
First Trust NYSE® Arca® Biotechnology Index Fund
FBT
NYSE Arca
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund
FRI
NYSE Arca
First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF
FPX
NYSE Arca
First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund
FVD
NYSE Arca
Each of the funds listed above (each a “Fund, and collectively, the “Funds”) lists and principally trades its shares on either The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) or the NYSE Arca, Inc. (“NYSE Arca”) (each an “Exchange,” and collectively, the “Exchanges”). Market prices may differ to some degree from the net asset value of the shares. Unlike mutual funds, each Fund issues and redeems shares at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called "Creation Units."
Each Fund is a series of First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund (the “Trust”) and an exchange-traded index fund organized as a separate series of a registered management investment company.
Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the shares are not redeemable securities of the Funds.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has not approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
NOT FDIC INSURED MAY LOSE VALUE NO BANK GUARANTEE
May 2, 2022

Table of Contents
 
3
10
18
25
34
42
49
56
64
72
79
86
94
101
108
115
122
124
125
138
138
140
141
141
144
144
145
145
145
151
151
158
174

Summary Information

First Trust Capital Strength ETF (FTCS)
Investment Objective
The First Trust 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 equity index called The Capital Strength IndexSM (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees
0.50%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.05%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.55%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(1)
0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement
0.55%
(1)
First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.65% of its average daily net assets (the “Expense Cap”) at least through April 30, 2023. Expenses reimbursed and fees waived under such agreement are subject to recovery by the Fund’s investment advisor for up to three years from the date the fee was waived or expense was incurred, but no recovery payment will be made by the Fund if it results in the Fund exceeding (i) the applicable expense limitation in place for the most recent fiscal year for which such expense limitation was in place, (ii) the applicable expense limitation in place at the time the fees were waived or expenses were reimbursed, or (iii) the current expense limitation. The agreement may be terminated by the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, at any time and by the Fund’s investment advisor only after April 30, 2023 upon 60 days’ written notice.
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. The example assumes that the Fund’s investment advisor’s agreement to waive fees and/or pay the Fund’s expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 0.65% of average daily net assets will be terminated following April 30, 2023. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$56
$176
$307
$689
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 117% of the average value of its portfolio.
3

First Trust Capital Strength ETF (FTCS)
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the common stocks and real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) that comprise the Index. The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by Nasdaq, Inc. (the “Index Provider”). The Index Provider may, from time to time, exercise reasonable discretion as it deems appropriate in order to ensure Index integrity.
The Index seeks to provide exposure to well-capitalized companies with strong market positions that have the potential to provide their stockholders with a greater degree of stability and performance over time. The Index’s initial universe consists of the securities comprising the Nasdaq US Benchmark IndexTM, an index seeking to track the performance of small, mid and large capitalization U.S. companies. The Index then excludes all securities with a three-month average daily trading volume of less than $5 million. The Index then ranks the remaining securities by float-adjusted market capitalization and excludes all securities not ranked in the top 500. The universe is further narrowed by excluding those securities issued by companies with less than $1 billion in cash and short-term investments, companies with a long-term debt to market capitalization ratio greater than 30% and companies with a return on equity that is 15% or less. The remaining securities are then given a volatility score based upon a combination of their short-term (3 months) and long-term (12 months) realized volatility. The 50 securities with the lowest volatility score are chosen for inclusion in the Index.
A review is then enacted to determine if any industry, as determined by the Industry Classification Benchmark (“ICB”) classification system, has a cumulative weight of greater than 30%. If an industry has a weight greater than 30%, the highest-ranking security by volatility will be removed and replaced with the next eligible security (e.g., the 51st ranked by volatility) from a different industry. This process is repeated until no industry has a weight greater than 30%. Once finalized, each security is equal-dollar weighted.
The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Index’s quarterly rebalance and reconstitution schedule may cause the Fund to experience a higher rate of portfolio turnover. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of March 31, 2022, the Index was composed of 50 securities. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.
Nasdaq® and The Capital Strength IndexSM are trademarks (the “Marks”) of Nasdaq, Inc. (collectively with its affiliates “Nasdaq”). The Marks are licensed for use with the Fund by the Fund’s investment advisor. The Fund has not been passed on by Nasdaq as to its legality or suitability. The Fund is not issued, endorsed, sold, or promoted by Nasdaq. The Fund should not be construed in any way as investment advice by Nasdaq. Nasdaq makes no warranties and bears no liability with respect to the Fund.
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount (the difference between the market price of the Fund's shares and the Fund's net asset value) and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread (the difference between the the price that someone is willing to pay for shares of the Fund at a specific point in time versus the price at which someone is willing to sell) on the Fund’s shares may widen.
CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable
4

First Trust Capital Strength ETF (FTCS)
to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. Although the Fund has established risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.
EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.
INDEX CONCENTRATION RISK. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified. There may be instances in which the Index, for a variety of reasons including changes in the prices of individual securities held by the Fund, has a larger exposure to a small number of stocks or a single stock relative to the rest of the stocks in the Index. Under such circumstances, the Fund will not deviate from the Index except in rare circumstances or in an immaterial way and therefore the Fund’s returns would be more greatly influenced by the returns of the stock(s) with the larger exposure.
INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund’s shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund’s market price may be below the Fund’s net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in the Fund's shares.
INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and do not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate the Index accurately. Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of the Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose the Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors. For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact the Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the Advisor can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the
5

First Trust Capital Strength ETF (FTCS)
Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.
INFLATION RISK. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money. As inflation increases, the present value of the Fund’s assets and distributions may decline.
LOW VOLATILITY RISK. Although subject to the risks of common stocks, low volatility stocks are seen as having a lower risk profile than the overall markets. However, a portfolio comprised of low volatility stocks may not produce investment exposure that has lower variability to changes in such stocks’ price levels. Low volatility stocks are likely to underperform the broader market during periods of rapidly rising stock prices.
MARKET MAKER RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. The Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.
OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund is not actively managed. The Fund invests in securities included in or representative of the Index regardless of investment merit. The Fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that the Index is no longer calculated, the Index license is terminated or the identity or character of the Index is materially changed, the Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.
6

First Trust Capital Strength ETF (FTCS)
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. High portfolio turnover may result in the Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause the Fund’s performance to be less than expected.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund’s investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
REIT RISK. REITs typically own and operate income-producing real estate, such as residential or commercial buildings, or real-estate related assets, including mortgages. As a result, investments in REITs are subject to the risks associated with investing in real estate, which may include, but are not limited to: fluctuations in the value of underlying properties; defaults by borrowers or tenants; market saturation; changes in general and local operating expenses; and other economic, political or regulatory occurrences affecting companies in the real estate sector. REITs are also subject to the risk that the real estate market may experience an economic downturn generally, which may have a material effect on the real estate in which the REITs invest and their underlying portfolio securities. REITs may have also a relatively small market capitalization which may result in their shares experiencing less market liquidity and greater price volatility than larger companies. Increases in interest rates typically lower the present value of a REIT's future earnings stream, and may make financing property purchases and improvements more costly. Because the market price of REIT stocks may change based upon investors' collective perceptions of future earnings, the value of the Fund will generally decline when investors anticipate or experience rising interest rates.
TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.
Annual Total Return
The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund and Index returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of the Index and a broad-based market index. See “Total Return Information” for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund’s performance information is accessible on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com.
On June 4, 2013, the Fund’s underlying index changed from the Credit Suisse U.S. Value Index, Powered by HOLTTM to The Capital Strength IndexSM. Therefore, the Fund’s performance and total returns shown for the periods prior to June 4, 2013, are not necessarily indicative of the performance the Fund, based on its current index, would have generated. Returns for an underlying index are only disclosed for those periods in which the index was in existence for the whole period. Since the Fund's new underlying index had an inception date of March 20, 2013, it was not in existence for all of the periods disclosed.
7

First Trust Capital Strength ETF (FTCS)
First Trust Capital Strength ETF
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31
During the periods shown in the chart above:
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
18.05%
June 30, 2020
-17.47%
March 31, 2020
The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.
Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2021
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
26.61%
17.09%
16.17%
11.36%
7/6/2006
Return After Taxes on Distributions
26.01%
16.51%
15.47%
10.73%
 
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund
Shares
15.72%
13.52%
13.32%
9.35%
 
The Capital Strength IndexSM(1) (reflects no
deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
27.37%
17.82%
N/A
N/A
 
S&P 500® Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses or taxes)
28.71%
18.47%
16.55%
11.14%
 
(1)
On June 4, 2013, the Fund’s underlying index changed from the Credit Suisse U.S. Value Index, Powered by HOLTTM to The Capital Strength IndexSM. Since the Fund’s new underlying index had an inception date of March 20, 2013, it was not in existence for some of the periods disclosed.
Management
Investment Advisor
First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”)
8

First Trust Capital Strength ETF (FTCS)
Portfolio Managers
The Fund’s portfolio is managed by a team (the “Investment Committee”) consisting of:
Daniel J. Lindquist, Chairman of the Investment Committee and Managing Director of First Trust
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
Roger F. Testin, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Stan Ueland, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Chris A. Peterson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Erik Russo, Vice President of First Trust
The Investment Committee members are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Investment Committee member has served as a part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since 2006, except for Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo who have served as members of the portfolio management team since 2016 and 2020, respectively.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, bid-ask spreads and the median bid-ask spread for the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, is available online at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions on shares held in a tax-deferred account, while not immediately taxable, will be subject to tax when the shares are no longer held in a tax-deferred account.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), First Trust and First Trust Portfolios L.P., the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
9

Summary Information

First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (FDN)
Investment Objective
The First Trust Dow Jones Internet 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 Dow Jones Internet Composite IndexSM (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees
0.40%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.11%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.51%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(1)
0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement
0.51%
(1)
First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.60% of its average daily net assets (the “Expense Cap”) at least through April 30, 2023. Expenses reimbursed and fees waived under such agreement are subject to recovery by the Fund’s investment advisor for up to three years from the date the fee was waived or expense was incurred, but no recovery payment will be made by the Fund if it results in the Fund exceeding (i) the applicable expense limitation in place for the most recent fiscal year for which such expense limitation was in place, (ii) the applicable expense limitation in place at the time the fees were waived or expenses were reimbursed, or (iii) the current expense limitation. The agreement may be terminated by the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, at any time and by the Fund’s investment advisor only after April 30, 2023 upon 60 days’ written notice.
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. The example assumes that the Fund’s investment advisor’s agreement to waive fees and/or pay the Fund’s expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 0.60% of average daily net assets will be terminated following April 30, 2023. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$52
$164
$285
$640
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 19% of the average value of its portfolio.
10

First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (FDN)
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the common stocks that comprise the Index. The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC (the “Index Provider”). The Index Provider reserves the right to make exceptions when applying the methodology if the need arises. In addition, the Index Provider may revise Index policy covering rules for selecting companies, treatment of dividends, share counts or other matters.
The Index is designed to measure the performance of the largest and most actively traded securities issued by U.S. companies in the Internet industry. The Index is a composite of its two sub-indices, the Dow Jones Internet Commerce Index and the Dow Jones Internet Services Index, and is composed of securities issued by Internet companies from the two sub-industries represented by these sub-indices: Internet Commerce and Internet Services. For each sub-industry, the sources from which the issuer derives the majority of its sales/revenues are as follows:
Internet Commerce. Online retail, search, financial services, investment products, social media, advertising, travel platforms and Internet radio.
Internet Services. Various services performed via the Internet, cloud computing, enterprise software, networking capabilities, website creation tools and digital marketing platforms.
To be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a security must be listed on a qualifying U.S. securities exchange and be issued by a company domiciled in the United States that generates at least 50% of its sales/revenues from the Internet, have a minimum of three months’ trading history and have a three-month average float-adjusted market capitalization of at least $100 million. Eligible securities are ranked first by three-month average float-adjusted market capitalization and then by three-month average share volume. A final rank is then calculated based on an equally weighted average of the security’s market capitalization and volume rankings. Securities are then sorted in descending order by final rank within the Internet Commerce and Internet Services sub-industries, respectively. The 15 securities from the Internet Commerce sub-industry and 25 securities from the Internet Services sub-industry with the best rankings are selected for inclusion in the Index. Securities selected for inclusion in the Index are then weighted by float-adjusted market capitalization, subject to a single security weight cap of 10%. The aggregate weight of individual securities with weights of 4.5% or more is limited to 45% of the Index. Index composition changes during scheduled reconstitutions are subject to certain buffers designed to limit turnover. The Index may be composed of small, mid and large capitalization companies.
The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Index’s quarterly rebalance and reconstitution schedule may cause the Fund to experience a higher rate of portfolio turnover. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of March 31, 2022, the Index was composed of 42 securities and the Fund had significant investments in communication services companies and information technology companies, although this may change from time to time. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount (the difference between the market price of the Fund's shares and the Fund's net asset value) and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread (the difference between the the price that someone is willing to pay for shares of the Fund at a specific point in time versus the price at which someone is willing to sell) on the Fund’s shares may widen.
COMMUNICATION SERVICES COMPANIES RISK. Communication services companies may be subject to specific risks associated with legislative or regulatory changes, adverse market conditions, intellectual property use and/or increased competition. Communication services companies are particularly vulnerable to rapid advancements in technology, the
11

First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (FDN)
innovation of competitors, rapid product obsolescence and government regulation and competition, both domestically and internationally. Additionally, fluctuating domestic and international demand, shifting demographics and often unpredictable changes in consumer tastes can drastically affect a communication services company’s profitability. While all companies may be susceptible to network security breaches, certain communication services companies may be particular targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or consumer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.
CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. Although the Fund has established risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.
EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.
INDEX CONCENTRATION RISK. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified. There may be instances in which the Index, for a variety of reasons including changes in the prices of individual securities held by the Fund, has a larger exposure to a small number of stocks or a single stock relative to the rest of the stocks in the Index. Under such circumstances, the Fund will not deviate from the Index except in rare circumstances or in an immaterial way and therefore the Fund’s returns would be more greatly influenced by the returns of the stock(s) with the larger exposure.
INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund’s shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund’s market price may be below the Fund’s net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in the Fund's shares.
INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and do not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate the Index accurately. Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of the Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction
12

First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (FDN)
costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose the Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors. For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact the Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the Advisor can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES RISK. Information technology companies produce and provide hardware, software and information technology systems and services. These companies may be adversely affected by rapidly changing technologies, short product life cycles, fierce competition, aggressive pricing and reduced profit margins, the loss of patent, copyright and trademark protections, cyclical market patterns, evolving industry standards and frequent new product introductions. In addition, information technology companies are particularly vulnerable to federal, state and local government regulation, and competition and consolidation, both domestically and internationally, including competition from foreign competitors with lower production costs. Information technology companies also heavily rely on intellectual property rights and may be adversely affected by the loss or impairment of those rights.
INTERNET COMPANIES RISK. Internet companies are subject to rapid changes in technology, hacking or other cyber security events, worldwide competition, rapid obsolescence of products and services, loss of patent protections, cyclical market patterns, evolving industry standards, frequent new product introductions and the considerable risk of owning small capitalization companies that have recently begun operations. Many Internet companies have incurred large losses since their inception and may continue to incur large losses in the hope of capturing market share and generating future revenues. Accordingly, many such companies expect to incur significant operating losses for the foreseeable future, and may never be profitable. The markets in which many Internet companies compete face rapidly evolving industry standards, frequent new service and product announcements, introductions and enhancements and changing customer demands. The failure of an Internet company to adapt to such changes could have a material adverse effect on the company's business. In addition, the widespread adoption of new Internet, networking, telecommunications technologies, or other technological changes could require substantial expenditures by an Internet company to modify or adapt its services or infrastructure, which could have a material adverse effect on an Internet company's business.
MARKET MAKER RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While
13

First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (FDN)
the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. The Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.
NON-DIVERSIFICATION RISK. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in a limited number of issuers. As a result, the Fund may be more susceptible to a single adverse economic or regulatory occurrence affecting one or more of these issuers, experience increased volatility and be highly invested in certain issuers.
OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund is not actively managed. The Fund invests in securities included in or representative of the Index regardless of investment merit. The Fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that the Index is no longer calculated, the Index license is terminated or the identity or character of the Index is materially changed, the Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. High portfolio turnover may result in the Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause the Fund’s performance to be less than expected.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund’s investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
SMALLER COMPANIES RISK. Small and/or mid capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse general market or economic developments, and their securities may be less liquid and may experience greater price volatility than larger, more established companies as a result of several factors, including limited trading volumes, fewer products or financial resources, management inexperience and less publicly available information. Accordingly, such companies are generally subject to greater market risk than larger, more established companies.
14

First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (FDN)
TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.
Annual Total Return
The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund and Index returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of the Index, a broad-based market index and a market index. See “Total Return Information” for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund’s performance information is accessible on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com.
First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31
During the periods shown in the chart above:
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
37.88%
June 30, 2020
-17.61%
December 31, 2018
The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.
Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.
15

First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (FDN)
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2021
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
6.43%
23.15%
21.48%
16.93%
6/19/2006
Return After Taxes on Distributions
6.43%
23.15%
21.48%
16.92%
 
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of
Fund Shares
3.81%
19.10%
18.74%
15.09%
 
Dow Jones Internet Composite IndexSM (reflects
no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
6.97%
23.84%
22.15%
17.56%
 
S&P 500® Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses or taxes)
28.71%
18.47%
16.55%
11.30%
 
S&P Composite 1500® Information Technology
Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses
or taxes)
33.76%
31.35%
23.63%
17.11%
 
Management
Investment Advisor
First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”)
Portfolio Managers
The Fund’s portfolio is managed by a team (the “Investment Committee”) consisting of:
Daniel J. Lindquist, Chairman of the Investment Committee and Managing Director of First Trust
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
Roger F. Testin, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Stan Ueland, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Chris A. Peterson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Erik Russo, Vice President of First Trust
The Investment Committee members are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Investment Committee member has served as a part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since 2006, except for Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo who have served as members of the portfolio management team since 2016 and 2020, respectively.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, bid-ask spreads and the median bid-ask spread for the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, is available online at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions on shares held in a tax-deferred account, while not immediately taxable, will be subject to tax when the shares are no longer held in a tax-deferred account.
16

First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (FDN)
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), First Trust and First Trust Portfolios L.P., the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
17

Summary Information

First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund (FDM)
Investment Objective
The First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap 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 Dow Jones Select MicroCap IndexSM (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees
0.50%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.19%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.69%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(1)
0.09%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement
0.60%
(1)
First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.60% of its average daily net assets (the “Expense Cap”) at least through April 30, 2023. Expenses reimbursed and fees waived under such agreement are subject to recovery by the Fund’s investment advisor for up to three years from the date the fee was waived or expense was incurred, but no recovery payment will be made by the Fund if it results in the Fund exceeding (i) the applicable expense limitation in place for the most recent fiscal year for which such expense limitation was in place, (ii) the applicable expense limitation in place at the time the fees were waived or expenses were reimbursed, or (iii) the current expense limitation. The agreement may be terminated by the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, at any time and by the Fund’s investment advisor only after April 30, 2023 upon 60 days’ written notice.
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. The example assumes that the Fund’s investment advisor’s agreement to waive fees and/or pay the Fund’s expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 0.60% of average daily net assets will be terminated following April 30, 2023. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$61
$212
$375
$850
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 95% of the average value of its portfolio.
18

First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund (FDM)
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund will normally invest at least 80% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the common stocks of U.S. micro-capitalization companies which are publicly traded in the United States. The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the common stocks that comprise the Index. The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC (the “Index Provider”). The Index Provider reserves the right to make exceptions when applying the methodology if the need arises. In addition, the Index Provider may revise Index policy covering rules for selecting companies, treatment of dividends, share counts or other matters.
The Index is designed to measure the performance of micro-cap stocks issued by U.S. companies that are comparatively liquid and have strong fundamentals relative to the micro-cap segment as a whole. All stocks with a full market capitalization equal to or less than the micro-cap market capitalization threshold in the Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index comprise the Index’s initial universe. The Index ranks each eligible security by full market capitalization, three-month dollar volume and one-month dollar volume and eliminates any securities that do not meet all three of the following criteria:
Within the top 1,000 securities by full market capitalization
Within the top 1,000 securities by three-month value traded
Within the top 1,500 securities by one-month value traded
The remaining eligible securities are ranked by each of the five ratios below. Securities that rank within the specified range on any one of the ratios are excluded. Securities with a negative or missing P/E ratio or negative operating profit margin are also excluded.
Trailing P/E ratio (highest 20% are excluded)
Trailing price/sales ratio (highest 20% are excluded)
Per-share profit change for the previous quarter (lowest 20% are excluded)
Operating profit margin (lowest 20% are excluded)
Six-month total return (lowest 20% are excluded)
Any remaining securities are selected for inclusion in the Index and are weighted based on float-adjusted market capitalization. Float-adjusted market capitalization reflects what the Index Provider believes to be the outstanding shares minus non-publicly held shares multiplied by the market price.
The Index is rebalanced quarterly and reconstituted annually and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Index’s quarterly rebalance schedule may cause the Fund to experience a higher rate of portfolio turnover. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of March 31, 2022, the Index was composed of 203 securities and the Fund had significant investments in financial companies, although this may change from time to time. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective ​ will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount (the difference between the market price of the Fund's shares and the Fund's net asset value) and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread (the difference between the the price that someone is willing to pay for shares of the Fund at a specific point in time versus the price at which someone is willing to sell) on the Fund’s shares may widen.
CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational
19

First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund (FDM)
damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. Although the Fund has established risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.
EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.
FINANCIAL COMPANIES RISK. Financial companies, such as retail and commercial banks, insurance companies and financial services companies, are especially subject to the adverse effects of economic recession, currency exchange rates, extensive government regulation, decreases in the availability of capital, volatile interest rates, portfolio concentrations in geographic markets, industries or products (such as commercial and residential real estate loans), competition from new entrants and blurred distinctions in their fields of business.
INDEX CONCENTRATION RISK. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified. There may be instances in which the Index, for a variety of reasons including changes in the prices of individual securities held by the Fund, has a larger exposure to a small number of stocks or a single stock relative to the rest of the stocks in the Index. Under such circumstances, the Fund will not deviate from the Index except in rare circumstances or in an immaterial way and therefore the Fund’s returns would be more greatly influenced by the returns of the stock(s) with the larger exposure.
INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund’s shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund’s market price may be below the Fund’s net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in the Fund's shares.
INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and do not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate the Index accurately. Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of the Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose the Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors.
20

First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund (FDM)
For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact the Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the Advisor can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.
MARKET CAPITALIZATION DEVIATION RISK. There can be no assurance that the securities held by the Fund will stay within the Fund’s intended market capitalization range. As a result, the Fund may be exposed to additional risk or investors may not be given the opportunity to invest fully in a certain market capitalization range.
MARKET MAKER RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
MICRO-CAP COMPANIES RISK. Micro-capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse general market or economic developments, may be less liquid, and may experience greater price volatility than larger, more established companies as a result of several factors, including limited trading volume, products or financial resources, management inexperience and less publicly available information. Accordingly, such companies are generally subject to greater market risk than larger, more established companies.
NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. The Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.
OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including
21

First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund (FDM)
custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund is not actively managed. The Fund invests in securities included in or representative of the Index regardless of investment merit. The Fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that the Index is no longer calculated, the Index license is terminated or the identity or character of the Index is materially changed, the Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. High portfolio turnover may result in the Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause the Fund’s performance to be less than expected.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund’s investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.
Annual Total Return
The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund and Index returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of the Index and a broad-based market index. See “Total Return Information” for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund’s performance information is accessible on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com.
22

First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund (FDM)
First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31
During the periods shown in the chart above:
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
28.82%
December 31, 2020
-38.22%
March 31, 2020
The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.
Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2021
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
34.71%
9.22%
13.74%
8.52%
9/27/2005
Return After Taxes on Distributions
34.10%
8.61%
13.13%
8.08%
 
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of
Fund Shares
20.54%
6.95%
11.20%
6.93%
 
Dow Jones Select MicroCap IndexSM (reflects no
deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
35.60%
10.03%
14.52%
9.28%
 
Russell 2000® Index (reflects no deduction for
fees, expenses or taxes)
14.82%
12.02%
13.23%
9.29%
 
Management
Investment Advisor
First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”)
23

First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund (FDM)
Portfolio Managers
The Fund’s portfolio is managed by a team (the “Investment Committee”) consisting of:
Daniel J. Lindquist, Chairman of the Investment Committee and Managing Director of First Trust
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
Roger F. Testin, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Stan Ueland, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Chris A. Peterson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Erik Russo, Vice President of First Trust
The Investment Committee members are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Investment Committee member has served as a part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since 2005, with the exception of Stan Ueland, Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo who have served as members of the portfolio management team since 2006, 2016 and 2020, respectively.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, bid-ask spreads and the median bid-ask spread for the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, is available online at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions on shares held in a tax-deferred account, while not immediately taxable, will be subject to tax when the shares are no longer held in a tax-deferred account.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), First Trust and First Trust Portfolios L.P., the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
24

Summary Information

First Trust Chindia ETF (FNI)
Investment Objective
The First Trust Chindia ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the ISE ChIndiaTM Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees
0.40%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.19%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.59%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(1)
0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement
0.59%
(1)
First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.60% of its average daily net assets (the “Expense Cap”) at least through April 30, 2023. Expenses reimbursed and fees waived under such agreement are subject to recovery by the Fund’s investment advisor for up to three years from the date the fee was waived or expense was incurred, but no recovery payment will be made by the Fund if it results in the Fund exceeding (i) the applicable expense limitation in place for the most recent fiscal year for which such expense limitation was in place, (ii) the applicable expense limitation in place at the time the fees were waived or expenses were reimbursed, or (iii) the current expense limitation. The agreement may be terminated by the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, at any time and by the Fund’s investment advisor only after April 30, 2023 upon 60 days’ written notice.
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. The example assumes that the Fund’s investment advisor’s agreement to waive fees and/or pay the Fund’s expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 0.60% of average daily net assets will be terminated following April 30, 2023. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$60
$189
$329
$738
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 43% of the average value of its portfolio.
25

First Trust Chindia ETF (FNI)
Principal Investment Strategies
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 Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is developed and owned by Nasdaq, Inc. (the “Index Provider”), and is calculated and maintained by Nasdaq. The Index Provider may, from time to time, exercise reasonable discretion as it deems appropriate in order to ensure Index integrity.
The Index is a modified market capitalization-weighted index designed to track the performance of U.S.-listed securities issued by small, mid and large capitalization companies domiciled in China or India. To be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a security must be listed on a qualifying U.S. securities exchange and be issued by a company domiciled in China (excluding Taiwan) or India. In addition, a security must be issued by a company with a market capitalization of at least $250 million, have a three-month average daily trading volume of at least $1 million and a minimum free float of 20%. Qualifying securities are then sorted into two groups based upon their country of domicile (Chinese issuers and Indian issuers). Each group of securities is then ranked by market capitalization and three-month average daily trading volume. The two ranks for each security are added together to provide a composite score. Each group of securities is then ranked based upon this composite score. The 25 securities with the highest rank from China and the 25 securities from India with the highest rank are selected for inclusion in the Index. If there are less than 25 qualifying securities from either China or India, securities will be added from the other country until the Index is composed of 50 securities.
Securities chosen for inclusion in the Index are weighted according to a modified market capitalization weighting methodology based on the composite score described above.
Each Chinese and Indian security ranked #1 through #3 is assigned a weight of 7.0%.
Each Chinese and Indian security ranked #4 through #6 is assigned a weight of 4.0%.
Each Chinese and Indian security ranked #7 through #9 is assigned a weight of 2.0%.
The remaining Index weight is equally distributed among the remaining securities.
The Index may be significantly composed of American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) and American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”). ADRs are certificates issued by a U.S. bank that represent a bank’s holdings of a stated number of shares of a non U.S. company. ADSs are vehicles for non U.S. companies to list their equity shares on a U.S. exchange and are U.S. dollar denominated, and each share represents one or more underlying shares in a non U.S. company.
The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted semi-annually and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of March 31, 2022, the Index was composed of 50 securities and the Fund had significant investments in consumer discretionary companies, information technology companies, Chinese issuers, Indian issuers and Asian issuers, although this may change from time to time. In order to gain exposure to certain Chinese companies that are included in the Index but are unavailable to direct investment by foreign investors, the Fund invests significantly in non-Chinese shell companies that have created structures known as variable interest entities (“VIEs”) in order to gain exposure to such Chinese companies. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
ASIA RISK. The Fund is subject to certain risks specifically associated with investments in the securities of Asian issuers. Many Asian economies have experienced rapid growth and industrialization, and there is no assurance that this growth rate will be maintained. Some Asian economies are highly dependent on trade, and economic conditions in other countries within and outside Asia can impact these economies. Certain of these economies may be adversely affected by trade or policy disputes with its major trade partners. There is also a high concentration of market capitalization and trading volume in a small number of issuers representing a limited number of industries, as well as a high concentration of investors and financial intermediaries. Certain Asian countries have experienced and may in the future experience expropriation and nationalization of assets, confiscatory taxation, currency manipulation, political instability, armed conflict and social instability as a result of religious, ethnic, socio-economic and/or political unrest. In particular, escalated tensions involving North Korea and any outbreak of
26

First Trust Chindia ETF (FNI)
hostilities involving North Korea could have a severe adverse effect on Asian economies. Governments of certain Asian countries have exercised, and continue to exercise, substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector. In certain cases, the government owns or controls many companies, including the largest in the country. Accordingly, government actions could have a significant effect on the issuers of the Fund’s securities or on economic conditions generally. Recent developments in relations between the U.S. and China have heightened concerns of increased tariffs and restrictions on trade between the two countries. An increase in tariffs or trade restrictions, or even the threat of such developments, could lead to a significant reduction in international trade, which could have a negative impact on the economy of Asian countries and a commensurately negative impact on the Fund.
AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount (the difference between the market price of the Fund's shares and the Fund's net asset value) and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread (the difference between the the price that someone is willing to pay for shares of the Fund at a specific point in time versus the price at which someone is willing to sell) on the Fund’s shares may widen.
CHINA RISK. The Fund is subject to certain risks specifically associated with investments in the securities of Chinese issuers, including those issuers with securities listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. China is an emerging market and demonstrates significantly higher volatility from time to time in comparison to developed markets. Shareholder claims that are available in the U.S., as well as regulatory oversight and authority that is common in the U.S., including for claims based on fraud, may be difficult or impossible for shareholders of securities in China or for U.S. authorities to pursue. The central government has historically exercised substantial control over virtually every sector of the Chinese economy through administrative regulation and/or state ownership and actions of the Chinese central and local government authorities continue to have a substantial effect on economic conditions in China. Export growth continues to be a major driver of China’s rapid economic growth. Reduction in spending on Chinese products and services, institution of tariffs or other trade barriers, or a downturn in any of the economies of China’s key trading partners may have an adverse impact on the Chinese economy. Recent developments in relations between the U.S. and China have heightened concerns of increased tariffs and restrictions on trade between the two countries. An increase in tariffs or trade restrictions, or even the threat of such developments, could lead to a significant reduction in international trade, which could have a negative impact on China’s export industry and a commensurately negative impact on the Fund.
CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY COMPANIES RISK. Consumer discretionary companies, such as retailers, media companies and consumer services companies, provide non-essential goods and services. These companies manufacture products and provide discretionary services directly to the consumer, and the success of these companies is tied closely to the performance of the overall domestic and international economy, interest rates, competition and consumer confidence. Success depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Changes in demographics and consumer tastes can also affect the demand for, and success of, consumer discretionary products in the marketplace.
CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. Although the Fund has established risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.
DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS RISK. Depositary receipts represent equity interests in a foreign company that trade on a local stock exchange. Depositary receipts may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market. Any distributions paid to the holders of depositary receipts are usually subject to a fee charged by the depositary. Holders of depositary receipts may have limited voting rights, and investment restrictions in certain countries may adversely impact the value of depositary receipts because such restrictions may limit the ability to convert the equity shares into depositary receipts and vice versa.
27

First Trust Chindia ETF (FNI)
Such restrictions may cause the equity shares of the underlying issuer to trade at a discount or premium to the market price of the depositary receipts.
EMERGING MARKETS RISK. Investments in securities issued by governments and companies operating in emerging market countries involve additional risks relating to political, economic, or regulatory conditions not associated with investments in securities and instruments issued by U.S. companies or by companies operating in other developed market countries. Investments in emerging markets securities are generally considered speculative in nature and are subject to the following heightened risks: smaller market capitalization of securities markets which may suffer periods of relative illiquidity; significant price volatility; restrictions on foreign investment; possible repatriation of investment income and capital; rapid inflation; and currency convertibility issues. Emerging market countries also often have less uniformity in accounting, auditing and reporting requirements, unsettled securities laws, unreliable securities valuation and greater risk associated with custody of securities. Financial and other reporting by companies and government entities also may be less reliable in emerging market countries. Shareholder claims that are available in the U.S., as well as regulatory oversight and authority that is common in the U.S., including for claims based on fraud, may be difficult or impossible for shareholders of securities in emerging market countries or for U.S. authorities to pursue. For funds that track an index or are managed based upon a benchmark, the index may not weight the securities in emerging market countries on the basis of investor protection limitations, financial reporting quality or available oversight mechanisms. Furthermore, investors may be required to register the proceeds of sales and future economic or political crises could lead to price controls, forced mergers, expropriation or confiscatory taxation, seizure, nationalization or creation of government monopolies.
EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.
INDEX CONCENTRATION RISK. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified. There may be instances in which the Index, for a variety of reasons including changes in the prices of individual securities held by the Fund, has a larger exposure to a small number of stocks or a single stock relative to the rest of the stocks in the Index. Under such circumstances, the Fund will not deviate from the Index except in rare circumstances or in an immaterial way and therefore the Fund’s returns would be more greatly influenced by the returns of the stock(s) with the larger exposure.
INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund’s shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund’s market price may be below the Fund’s net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in the Fund's shares.
INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and do not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate the Index accurately. Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of the Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction
28

First Trust Chindia ETF (FNI)
costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose the Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors. For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact the Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the Advisor can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.
INDIA RISK. The Fund is subject to certain risks specifically associated with investments in the securities of Indian issuers. India is an emerging market and demonstrates significantly higher volatility from time to time in comparison to developed markets. Shareholder claims that are available in the U.S., as well as regulatory oversight and authority that is common in the U.S., including for claims based on fraud, may be difficult or impossible for shareholders of securities in India or for U.S. authorities to pursue. Investment in Indian securities involves risks in addition to those associated with investments in securities of issuers in more developed countries, which may adversely affect the value of the Fund’s assets. Such heightened risks include, among others, political and legal uncertainty, greater government control over the economy, currency fluctuations or blockage and the risk of nationalization or expropriation of assets. In addition, religious and border disputes persist in India. Moreover, India has experienced civil unrest and hostilities with neighboring countries, including Pakistan, and the Indian government has confronted separatist movements in several Indian states. The securities market of India is considered an emerging market that is characterized by a small number of listed companies that have significantly smaller market capitalizations, greater price volatility, greater delays and possibility of disruptions in settlement transactions, greater political uncertainties and greater dependence on international trade or development assistance and substantially less liquidity than companies in more developed markets. These factors, coupled with restrictions on foreign investment and other factors, limit the supply of securities available for investment by the Fund. This will affect the rate at which the Fund is able to invest in the securities of Indian companies, the purchase and sale prices for such securities and the timing of purchases and sales. Certain restrictions on foreign investments may decrease the liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio, subject the Fund to higher transaction costs, or inhibit the Fund’s ability to track the Index. Investments in Indian securities may also be limited or prevented, at times, due to the limits on foreign ownership imposed by the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”). In addition, a natural or other disaster could occur in India that could affect the Indian economy or operations of the Fund, causing an adverse impact on the Fund.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES RISK. Information technology companies produce and provide hardware, software and information technology systems and services. These companies may be adversely affected by rapidly changing technologies, short product life cycles, fierce competition, aggressive pricing and reduced profit margins, the loss of patent, copyright and trademark protections, cyclical market patterns, evolving industry standards and frequent new product introductions. In addition, information technology companies are particularly vulnerable to federal, state and local government regulation, and competition and consolidation, both domestically and internationally, including competition from foreign competitors with lower production costs. Information technology companies also heavily rely on intellectual property rights and may be adversely affected by the loss or impairment of those rights.
MARKET MAKER RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.
29

First Trust Chindia ETF (FNI)
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. The Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.
NON-DIVERSIFICATION RISK. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in a limited number of issuers. As a result, the Fund may be more susceptible to a single adverse economic or regulatory occurrence affecting one or more of these issuers, experience increased volatility and be highly invested in certain issuers.
NON-U.S. SECURITIES RISK. Non-U.S. securities are subject to higher volatility than securities of domestic issuers due to possible adverse political, social or economic developments, restrictions on foreign investment or exchange of securities, capital controls, lack of liquidity, currency exchange rates, excessive taxation, government seizure of assets, the imposition of sanctions by foreign governments, different legal or accounting standards, and less government supervision and regulation of securities exchanges in foreign countries.
OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund is not actively managed. The Fund invests in securities included in or representative of the Index regardless of investment merit. The Fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that the Index is no longer calculated, the Index license is terminated or the identity or character of the Index is materially changed, the Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund’s investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying
30

First Trust Chindia ETF (FNI)
portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
SMALLER COMPANIES RISK. Small and/or mid capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse general market or economic developments, and their securities may be less liquid and may experience greater price volatility than larger, more established companies as a result of several factors, including limited trading volumes, fewer products or financial resources, management inexperience and less publicly available information. Accordingly, such companies are generally subject to greater market risk than larger, more established companies.
TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.
VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES RISK. In China, direct ownership of companies in certain sectors by foreign individuals and entities is prohibited. In order to allow for foreign investment in these businesses, many Chinese companies have created VIE structures to enable indirect foreign ownership. In such an arrangement, a Chinese operating company typically establishes an offshore shell company in another jurisdiction, such as the Cayman Islands. That shell company enters into service and other contracts with the Chinese issuer or operating company to obtain economic exposure to the Chinese company, then issues shares on an exchange outside of mainland China, and U.S. investors hold stock in the non-Chinese shell company rather than directly in the Chinese issuer or operating company. This arrangement allows U.S. investors, such as the Fund, to obtain economic exposure to the Chinese issuer or operating company through contractual means rather than through formal equity ownership. Because neither the shell company nor the Fund owns actual equity interests in the Chinese operating company, they do not have the voting rights or other types of control that an equity holder would expect to benefit from. Although VIEs are a longstanding industry practice and well known to officials and regulators in China, VIEs are not formally recognized under Chinese law. Intervention by the Chinese government with respect to VIEs could significantly affect the Chinese company’s performance and the enforceability of the VIE’s contractual arrangements that establish the links between the Chinese company and the shell company in which the Fund invests. This could considerably impact the financial condition of the shell company in which the Fund invests by limiting its ability to consolidate the financial results of the Chinese operating company into its own financial statements, as well as make the value of the shares held by the Fund effectively worthless. Further, if Chinese officials prohibit the existence of VIEs, the market value of the Fund’s associated holdings would likely suffer significant, and possibly permanent effects, which could negatively impact the Fund’s net asset value and could result in substantial losses. Further, it is uncertain whether any new laws, rules or regulations relating to VIE structures will be adopted or, if adopted, what impact they would have on the value of the Fund’s shares.
VIEs are also subject to the investment risks associated with the underlying Chinese issuer or operating company. Chinese companies are not subject to the same degree of regulatory requirements or accounting standards and oversight as companies in more developed countries. As a result, information about the Chinese securities and VIEs in which the Fund invests may be less reliable and incomplete. There also may be significant obstacles to obtaining information necessary for investigations into or litigation against Chinese companies and VIEs, and shareholders may have limited legal remedies, which could negatively impact the Fund. Additionally, U.S.-listed VIEs may be delisted if they do not meet U.S. accounting standards and auditor oversight requirements. Delisting would significantly decrease the liquidity and value of the securities, decrease the ability of the Fund to invest in such securities and may increase the cost of the Fund if required to seek alternative markets in which to invest in such securities.
Annual Total Return
The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund and Index returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of the Index, a broad-based market index and a market index. See “Total Return Information” for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund’s performance information is accessible on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com.
31

First Trust Chindia ETF (FNI)
First Trust Chindia ETF
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31
During the periods shown in the chart above:
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
30.03%
June 30, 2020
-21.23%
March 31, 2020
The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.
Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2021
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
-19.38%
12.64%
11.16%
7.11%
5/8/2007
Return After Taxes on Distributions
-19.38%
12.25%
10.71%
6.71%
 
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of
Fund Shares
-11.48%
9.91%
9.01%
5.66%
 
ISE ChIndiaTM Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses or taxes)
-18.94%
13.25%
11.71%
7.68%
 
Russell 3000® Index (reflects no deduction for
fees, expenses or taxes)
25.66%
17.97%
16.30%
10.33%
 
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (reflects no
deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
-2.54%
9.87%
5.49%
3.91%
 
Management
Investment Advisor
First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”)
32

First Trust Chindia ETF (FNI)
Portfolio Managers
The Fund’s portfolio is managed by a team (the “Investment Committee”) consisting of:
Daniel J. Lindquist, Chairman of the Investment Committee and Managing Director of First Trust
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
Roger F. Testin, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Stan Ueland, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Chris A. Peterson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Erik Russo, Vice President of First Trust
The Investment Committee members are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Investment Committee member has served as a part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since 2007, except for Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo who have served as members of the portfolio management team since 2016 and 2020, respectively.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, bid-ask spreads and the median bid-ask spread for the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, is available online at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions on shares held in a tax-deferred account, while not immediately taxable, will be subject to tax when the shares are no longer held in a tax-deferred account.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), First Trust and First Trust Portfolios L.P., the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
33

Summary Information

First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)
Investment Objective
The First Trust Natural Gas ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the ISE-Revere Natural GasTM Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees
0.40%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses(1)
0.21%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.61%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(2)
0.01%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement
0.60%
(1)
Expenses have been restated to reflect the current fiscal year.
(2)
First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.60% of its average daily net assets (the “Expense Cap”) at least through April 30, 2023. Expenses reimbursed and fees waived under such agreement are subject to recovery by the Fund’s investment advisor for up to three years from the date the fee was waived or expense was incurred, but no recovery payment will be made by the Fund if it results in the Fund exceeding (i) the applicable expense limitation in place for the most recent fiscal year for which such expense limitation was in place, (ii) the applicable expense limitation in place at the time the fees were waived or expenses were reimbursed, or (iii) the current expense limitation. The agreement may be terminated by the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, at any time and by the Fund’s investment advisor only after April 30, 2023 upon 60 days’ written notice.
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. The example assumes that the Fund’s investment advisor’s agreement to waive fees and/or pay the Fund’s expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 0.60% of average daily net assets will be terminated following April 30, 2023. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$61
$194
$339
$761
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 42% of the average value of its portfolio.
34

First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the common stocks, depositary receipts and master limited partnership ("MLP") units that comprise the Index. The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is developed and owned by Nasdaq, Inc. (the “Index Provider”), and is calculated and maintained by Nasdaq. The Index Provider may, from time to time, exercise reasonable discretion as it deems appropriate in order to ensure Index integrity.
The Index is designed to track the performance of mid and large capitalization companies that derive a substantial portion of their revenues from midstream activities and/or the exploration and production of natural gas. To be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a security must be listed on a qualifying U.S. securities exchange and be issued by a company involved in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, according to FactSet Revere, where its natural gas proved reserves accounts for 30% or greater of its total proved reserves. Natural gas shall be converted to Barrels of Oil Equivalent (“BOE”) using the industry standard conversion of 1 BOE equals 6,000 cubic feet. In addition, eligible securities must have a market capitalization of at least $250 million, a three-month average daily trading volume of at least $1 million and a minimum free float of 20%. Securities meeting the eligibility criteria are then divided into two groups: securities issued by MLPs and securities issued by non-MLPs. Each group of securities is then ranked by market capitalization. All eligible non-MLP securities and the ten largest MLP securities are chosen for inclusion in the Index.
The Index uses a linear-based capitalization-weighted methodology for both groups of constituents that initially ranks the securities based on market capitalization and average daily trading volume, and then adjusts the combined rankings of each security by a factor relating to its market capitalization. The resulting linear weight distribution prevents a few large component stocks from dominating the Index while allowing smaller companies to adequately influence Index performance. The Index allocates 15% of its weight to securities issued by MLPs and 85% of its weight to securities issued by non-MLPs. The maximum weight of any security is 4.5%. Therefore, any security in excess of 4.5% is capped at 4.5% and the excess weight is redistributed proportionally across the remaining constituent securities.
The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Index’s quarterly rebalance and reconstitution schedule may cause the Fund to experience a higher rate of portfolio turnover. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of March 31, 2022, the Index was composed of 44 securities and the Fund had significant investments in energy companies, although this may change from time to time. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount (the difference between the market price of the Fund's shares and the Fund's net asset value) and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread (the difference between the the price that someone is willing to pay for shares of the Fund at a specific point in time versus the price at which someone is willing to sell) on the Fund’s shares may widen.
CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. Although the Fund has established risk
35

First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)
management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.
DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS RISK. Depositary receipts represent equity interests in a foreign company that trade on a local stock exchange. Depositary receipts may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market. Any distributions paid to the holders of depositary receipts are usually subject to a fee charged by the depositary. Holders of depositary receipts may have limited voting rights, and investment restrictions in certain countries may adversely impact the value of depositary receipts because such restrictions may limit the ability to convert the equity shares into depositary receipts and vice versa. Such restrictions may cause the equity shares of the underlying issuer to trade at a discount or premium to the market price of the depositary receipts.
ENERGY COMPANIES RISK. The success of energy companies may be cyclical and highly dependent on energy prices. The market value of securities issued by energy companies may decline for many reasons, including, among other things, changes in the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, capital expenditures on exploration and production of energy sources, exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, tax treatment, energy conservation efforts, increased competition and technological advances. Energy companies may be subject to substantial government regulation and contractual fixed pricing, which may increase the cost of doing business and limit the earnings of these companies. A significant portion of the revenues of energy companies may depend on a relatively small number of customers, including governmental entities and utilities. As a result, governmental budget constraints may have a material adverse effect on the stock prices of energy companies. Energy companies may also operate in, or engage in transactions involving, countries with less developed regulatory regimes or a history of expropriation, nationalization or other adverse policies. Energy companies also face a significant risk of liability from accidents resulting in injury or loss of life or property, pollution or other environmental problems, equipment malfunctions or mishandling of materials and a risk of loss from terrorism, political strife or natural disasters.
EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.
INDEX CONCENTRATION RISK. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified. There may be instances in which the Index, for a variety of reasons including changes in the prices of individual securities held by the Fund, has a larger exposure to a small number of stocks or a single stock relative to the rest of the stocks in the Index. Under such circumstances, the Fund will not deviate from the Index except in rare circumstances or in an immaterial way and therefore the Fund’s returns would be more greatly influenced by the returns of the stock(s) with the larger exposure.
INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund’s shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund’s market price may be below the Fund’s net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in the Fund's shares.
INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and do not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage the Fund
36

First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)
consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate the Index accurately. Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of the Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose the Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors. For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact the Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the Advisor can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.
MARKET MAKER RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
MLP RISK. Investments in securities of MLPs involve certain risks different from or in addition to the risks of investing in common stocks. MLP common units can be affected by macro-economic factors and other factors unique to the partnership or company and the industry or industries in which the MLP operates. Certain MLP securities may trade in relatively low volumes due to their smaller capitalizations or other factors, which may cause them to have a high degree of price volatility and illiquidity. The structures of MLPs create certain risks, including, for example, risks related to the limited ability of investors to control an MLP and to vote on matters affecting the MLP, risks related to potential conflicts of interest between an MLP and the MLP's general partner, the risk that an MLP will generate insufficient cash flow to meet its current operating requirements, the risk that an MLP will issue additional securities or engage in other transactions that will have the effect of diluting the interests
37

First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)
of existing investors, and risks related to the general partner's right to require unit-holders to sell their common units at an undesirable time or price.
MLP TAX RISK. The Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective relies in part upon the level of taxable income it receives from the MLPs in which it invests, a factor over which the Fund has no control. The benefit the Fund derives from its investment in MLPs is largely dependent on their being treated as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Partnerships do not pay U.S. federal income tax at the partnership level. Rather, each partner is allocated a share of the partnership’s income, gains, losses, deductions and expenses. A change in current tax law or a change in the underlying business mix of a given MLP could result in an MLP being treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, which would result in the MLP being required to pay U.S. federal income tax (as well as state and local income taxes) on its taxable income at the applicable corporate tax rate. This would have the effect of reducing the amount of cash available for distribution by an MLP and could result in a significant reduction in the value of the Fund’s investment. The classification of an MLP as a corporation for U. S. federal income tax purposes would have the effect of reducing the amount of cash available for distribution by the MLP and causing any such distributions received by the Fund to be taxed as dividend income to the extent of the MLP’s current or accumulated earnings and profits. To the extent a distribution received by the Fund from an MLP is treated as a return of capital, the Fund’s adjusted tax basis in the interests of the MLP may be reduced, which will result in an increase in the amount of income or gain (or decrease in the amount of loss) that will be recognized by the Fund for tax purposes upon the sale of any such interests or upon subsequent distributions in respect of such interests. Furthermore, any return of capital distribution received from an MLP may require the Fund to restate the character of its distributions and amend any shareholder tax reporting previously issued.
On March 15, 2018, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") changed its long-standing tax allowance policy which no longer permits MLPs to include in their cost of service an income tax allowance. This has had a negative impact on the performance of some MLPs affected by this decision. This policy change and any similar policy changes in the future could adversely impact an MLP's business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows and ability to pay cash distributions or dividends.
NATURAL GAS COMPANIES RISK. One of natural gas companies’ primary risks is the competitive risk associated with the prices of alternative fuels, such as coal and oil. For example, major natural gas customers such as industrial users and electric power generators often have the ability to switch between the use of coal, oil or natural gas. During periods when competing fuels are less expensive, the revenues of gas utility companies may decline with a corresponding impact on earnings. After years of booming production, natural gas firms have recently begun scaling back after record low prices and huge surpluses. Weather is another risk that may affect natural gas companies. Mild weather contributes to a scaled back demand for natural gas and declining stock prices for natural gas companies. Additionally, natural gas companies are sensitive to increased interest rates because of the capital intensive nature of their business.
Furthermore, there are additional risks and hazards that are inherent to natural gas companies that may cause the price of natural gas to widely fluctuate. The exploration for, and production of, natural gas is an uncertain process with many risks. The cost of drilling, completing and operating wells for natural gas is often uncertain, and a number of factors can delay or prevent drilling operations or production, including:
unexpected drilling conditions;
pressure or irregularities in formations;
equipment failures or repairs;
fires or other accidents;
adverse weather conditions;
pipeline ruptures or spills; and
shortages or delays in the availability of drilling rigs and the delivery of equipment.
NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. The Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.
NON-U.S. SECURITIES RISK. Non-U.S. securities are subject to higher volatility than securities of domestic issuers due to possible adverse political, social or economic developments, restrictions on foreign investment or exchange of securities, capital controls, lack of liquidity, currency exchange rates, excessive taxation, government seizure of assets, the imposition of sanctions
38

First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)
by foreign governments, different legal or accounting standards, and less government supervision and regulation of securities exchanges in foreign countries.
OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund is not actively managed. The Fund invests in securities included in or representative of the Index regardless of investment merit. The Fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that the Index is no longer calculated, the Index license is terminated or the identity or character of the Index is materially changed, the Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. High portfolio turnover may result in the Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause the Fund’s performance to be less than expected.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund’s investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
SMALLER COMPANIES RISK. Small and/or mid capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse general market or economic developments, and their securities may be less liquid and may experience greater price volatility than larger, more established companies as a result of several factors, including limited trading volumes, fewer products or financial resources, management inexperience and less publicly available information. Accordingly, such companies are generally subject to greater market risk than larger, more established companies.
TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.
Annual Total Return
The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund and Index returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of the Index, a broad-based market index and a market index. See “Total Return Information” for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund’s performance information is accessible on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com.
39

First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)
First Trust Natural Gas ETF
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31
During the periods shown in the chart above:
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
81.18%
June 30, 2020
-65.00%
March 31, 2020
The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.
Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2021
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
98.69%
-5.82%
-13.77%
-10.06%
5/8/2007
Return After Taxes on Distributions
97.22%
-6.75%
-14.44%
-10.59%
 
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of
Fund Shares
58.37%
-4.76%
-8.64%
-6.14%
 
ISE-Revere Natural GasTM Index (reflects no
deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
100.25%
-6.16%
-13.94%
-9.97%
 
S&P Composite 1500® Energy Index (reflects no
deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
55.15%
-2.23%
0.52%
1.30%
 
Russell 3000® Index (reflects no deduction for
fees, expenses or taxes)
25.66%
17.97%
16.30%
10.33%
 
Management
Investment Advisor
First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”)
40

First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)
Portfolio Managers
The Fund’s portfolio is managed by a team (the “Investment Committee”) consisting of:
Daniel J. Lindquist, Chairman of the Investment Committee and Managing Director of First Trust
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
Roger F. Testin, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Stan Ueland, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Chris A. Peterson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Erik Russo, Vice President of First Trust
The Investment Committee members are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Investment Committee member has served as a part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since 2007, except for Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo who have served as members of the portfolio management team since 2016 and 2020, respectively.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, bid-ask spreads and the median bid-ask spread for the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, is available online at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions on shares held in a tax-deferred account, while not immediately taxable, will be subject to tax when the shares are no longer held in a tax-deferred account.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), First Trust and First Trust Portfolios L.P., the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
41

Summary Information

First Trust Water ETF (FIW)
Investment Objective
The First Trust Water ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the ISE Clean Edge Water Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees
0.40%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.13%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.53%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(1)
0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement
0.53%
(1)
First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.60% of its average daily net assets (the “Expense Cap”) at least through April 30, 2023. Expenses reimbursed and fees waived under such agreement are subject to recovery by the Fund’s investment advisor for up to three years from the date the fee was waived or expense was incurred, but no recovery payment will be made by the Fund if it results in the Fund exceeding (i) the applicable expense limitation in place for the most recent fiscal year for which such expense limitation was in place, (ii) the applicable expense limitation in place at the time the fees were waived or expenses were reimbursed, or (iii) the current expense limitation. The agreement may be terminated by the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, at any time and by the Fund’s investment advisor only after April 30, 2023 upon 60 days’ written notice.
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. The example assumes that the Fund’s investment advisor’s agreement to waive fees and/or pay the Fund’s expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 0.60% of average daily net assets will be terminated following April 30, 2023. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$54
$170
$296
$665
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 15% of the average value of its portfolio.
42

First Trust Water ETF (FIW)
Principal Investment Strategies
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 Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is developed and owned by Nasdaq, Inc. (the “Index Provider”), and is calculated and maintained by Nasdaq. The Index Provider may, from time to time, exercise reasonable discretion as it deems appropriate in order to ensure Index integrity.
The Index is designed to track the performance of small, mid and large capitalization companies that derive a substantial portion of their revenues from the potable water and wastewater industry, according to Clean Edge. Such industry exposure includes water distribution, infrastructure (pumps, pipes, and valves), water solutions (purification and filtration), and ancillary services such as consulting, construction and metering. To be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a security must be listed on a qualifying U.S. securities exchange and be issued by a company that derives a substantial portion of its revenue from the potable water and wastewater industry. In addition, eligible securities must have a market capitalization of at least $100 million, a three-month average daily trading volume of at least $500,000 and minimum free float of 20%. Qualifying securities are ranked by market capitalization and the top 36 securities are selected for inclusion in the Index.
The Index uses a modified market capitalization-weighted methodology. Component securities are weighted according to their market capitalization as set forth below.
Securities ranked 1 through 10 by market capitalization are assigned a weight of 4%;
Securities ranked 11 through 15 by market capitalization are assigned a weight of 3.5%;
Securities ranked 16 through 20 by market capitalization are assigned a weight of 3.0%;
Securities ranked 21 through 30 by market capitalization are assigned a weight of 2.0%;
The remaining weight is equally allocated among the remaining securities.
The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted semi-annually and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of March 31, 2022, the Index was composed of 36 securities and the Fund had significant investments in industrials companies and utility companies, although this may change from time to time. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount (the difference between the market price of the Fund's shares and the Fund's net asset value) and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread (the difference between the the price that someone is willing to pay for shares of the Fund at a specific point in time versus the price at which someone is willing to sell) on the Fund’s shares may widen.
CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. Although the Fund has established risk
43

First Trust Water ETF (FIW)
management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.
DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS RISK. Depositary receipts represent equity interests in a foreign company that trade on a local stock exchange. Depositary receipts may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market. Any distributions paid to the holders of depositary receipts are usually subject to a fee charged by the depositary. Holders of depositary receipts may have limited voting rights, and investment restrictions in certain countries may adversely impact the value of depositary receipts because such restrictions may limit the ability to convert the equity shares into depositary receipts and vice versa. Such restrictions may cause the equity shares of the underlying issuer to trade at a discount or premium to the market price of the depositary receipts.
EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.
INDEX CONCENTRATION RISK. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified. There may be instances in which the Index, for a variety of reasons including changes in the prices of individual securities held by the Fund, has a larger exposure to a small number of stocks or a single stock relative to the rest of the stocks in the Index. Under such circumstances, the Fund will not deviate from the Index except in rare circumstances or in an immaterial way and therefore the Fund’s returns would be more greatly influenced by the returns of the stock(s) with the larger exposure.
INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund’s shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund’s market price may be below the Fund’s net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in the Fund's shares.
INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and do not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate the Index accurately. Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of the Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose the Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors. For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact the Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund
44

First Trust Water ETF (FIW)
nor the Advisor can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.
INDUSTRIALS COMPANIES RISK. Industrials companies convert unfinished goods into finished durables used to manufacture other goods or provide services. Examples of industrials companies include companies involved in the production of electrical equipment and components, industrial products, manufactured housing and telecommunications equipment, as well as defense and aerospace companies. General risks of industrials companies include the general state of the economy, exchange rates, commodity prices, intense competition, consolidation, domestic and international politics, government regulation, import controls, excess capacity, consumer demand and spending trends. In addition, industrials companies may also be significantly affected by overall capital spending levels, economic cycles, rapid technological changes, delays in modernization, labor relations, environmental liabilities, governmental and product liability and e-commerce initiatives.
MARKET MAKER RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. The Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.
NON-U.S. SECURITIES RISK. Non-U.S. securities are subject to higher volatility than securities of domestic issuers due to possible adverse political, social or economic developments, restrictions on foreign investment or exchange of securities, capital controls, lack of liquidity, currency exchange rates, excessive taxation, government seizure of assets, the imposition of sanctions by foreign governments, different legal or accounting standards, and less government supervision and regulation of securities exchanges in foreign countries.
OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed
45

First Trust Water ETF (FIW)
or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund is not actively managed. The Fund invests in securities included in or representative of the Index regardless of investment merit. The Fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that the Index is no longer calculated, the Index license is terminated or the identity or character of the Index is materially changed, the Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund’s investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
SMALLER COMPANIES RISK. Small and/or mid capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse general market or economic developments, and their securities may be less liquid and may experience greater price volatility than larger, more established companies as a result of several factors, including limited trading volumes, fewer products or financial resources, management inexperience and less publicly available information. Accordingly, such companies are generally subject to greater market risk than larger, more established companies.
TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.
UTILITY COMPANIES RISK. Utility companies include companies producing or providing gas, electricity or water. These companies are subject to the risk of the imposition of rate caps, increased competition due to deregulation, the difficulty in obtaining an adequate return on invested capital or in financing large construction projects counterparty risk, the limitations on operations and increased costs and delays attributable to environmental considerations and the capital market’s ability to absorb utility debt. In addition, taxes, government regulation, domestic and international politics, price and supply fluctuations, volatile interest rates and energy conservation may negatively affect utility companies.
WATER COMPANIES RISK. Water companies can be significantly affected by the availability of water, the level of rainfall and the occurrence of other climatic and environmental events, changes in water consumption and water conservation. Water companies may also be negatively affected by changes in governmental regulation and spending, technological advances and increases in inflation, interest rates or the cost of raw materials. Water companies may be subject to liability for environmental damage, depletion of resources, conflicts with local communities over water rights and mandated expenditures for safety and pollution control.
Annual Total Return
The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund and Index returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of the Index and a broad-based market index. See “Total Return Information” for
46

First Trust Water ETF (FIW)
additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund’s performance information is accessible on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com.
First Trust Water ETF
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31
During the periods shown in the chart above:
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
19.61%
December 31, 2020
-20.04%
March 31, 2020
The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.
Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2021
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
31.89%
19.93%
17.30%
12.05%
5/8/2007
Return After Taxes on Distributions
31.67%
19.57%
16.93%
11.71%
 
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund
Shares
18.87%
16.07%
14.58%
10.16%
 
ISE Clean Edge Water Index (reflects no deduction
for fees, expenses or taxes)
33.30%
20.68%
18.05%
12.78%
 
Russell 3000® Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses or taxes)
25.66%
17.97%
16.30%
10.33%
 
Management
Investment Advisor
First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”)
47

First Trust Water ETF (FIW)
Portfolio Managers
The Fund’s portfolio is managed by a team (the “Investment Committee”) consisting of:
Daniel J. Lindquist, Chairman of the Investment Committee and Managing Director of First Trust
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
Roger F. Testin, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Stan Ueland, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Chris A. Peterson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Erik Russo, Vice President of First Trust
The Investment Committee members are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Investment Committee member has served as a part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since 2007, except for Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo who have served as members of the portfolio management team since 2016 and 2020, respectively.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, bid-ask spreads and the median bid-ask spread for the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, is available online at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions on shares held in a tax-deferred account, while not immediately taxable, will be subject to tax when the shares are no longer held in a tax-deferred account.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), First Trust and First Trust Portfolios L.P., the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
48

Summary Information

First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund (FDL)
Investment Objective
The First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders 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 Morningstar® Dividend Leaders IndexSM (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees
0.30%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.16%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.46%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(1)
0.01%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement
0.45%
(1)
First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.45% of its average daily net assets (the “Expense Cap”) at least through April 30, 2023. Expenses reimbursed and fees waived under such agreement are subject to recovery by the Fund’s investment advisor for up to three years from the date the fee was waived or expense was incurred, but no recovery payment will be made by the Fund if it results in the Fund exceeding (i) the applicable expense limitation in place for the most recent fiscal year for which such expense limitation was in place, (ii) the applicable expense limitation in place at the time the fees were waived or expenses were reimbursed, or (iii) the current expense limitation. The agreement may be terminated by the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, at any time and by the Fund’s investment advisor only after April 30, 2023 upon 60 days’ written notice.
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. The example assumes that the Fund’s investment advisor’s agreement to waive fees and/or pay the Fund’s expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 0.45% of average daily net assets will be terminated following April 30, 2023. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$46
$147
$257
$578
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 59% of the average value of its portfolio.
49

First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund (FDL)
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the common stocks that comprise the Index. The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by Morningstar, Inc. (the “Index Provider”). S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC serves as the index calculation agent. The Index Provider continually reviews the Index methodology to account for factors such as evolving market trends, feedback received from market participants or as an endeavor to adopt evolving best practices in the industry. Such reviews may cause the Index Provider to change the Index construction or calculation methodology, as well as the Index's treatment of various corporate actions. Such changes can impact the Index’s selection universe, portfolio composition or the Index’s on-going maintenance.
The Index is designed to measure the performance of the 100 highest-yielding stocks that have a consistent record of dividend payment and have the ability to sustain their dividend payments. The securities comprising the Morningstar® US Market IndexSM (the “Base Index”) serve as the Fund’s selection universe. The Base Index is a broad market index representing 97% of U.S. equity market capitalization. To be eligible for inclusion in the Base Index, a security must be listed on a qualifying U.S. securities exchange and be issued by a company incorporated in the United States or its territories and whose primary stock market activities are carried out in the United States. Securities issued by companies incorporated outside the United States and its territories may nonetheless be included in the Base Index if the company files a Form 10-K/10-Q or equivalents, and its primary business activities, as measured by the geographic distribution of revenue and assets, are conducted in the United States. The Base Index also excludes securities with more than 10 non-trading days in the prior quarter and those securities not ranked in the top 75% of the companies in the investable universe based on liquidity score, which is the average of a security’s rank on each of the following measures: (i) average monthly trading volume in U.S. dollars during the six calendar months immediately before reconstitution or, in the case of corporate entities younger than six months, since the security was first issued; and (ii) the security’s lowest two months’ total trading volume during the six calendar months immediately before reconstitution (the months need not be sequential).
From this universe, the Index further excludes any securities issuing dividend payments that do not constitute qualifying income (i.e., real estate investment trusts). The Index also excludes securities issued by companies with a five-year indicated dividend per share growth of less than zero and a coverage ratio of one or less than one. A security’s coverage ratio equals its one-year forecast of earnings per share divided by its indicated dividend per share. All remaining securities are then ranked by indicated dividend yield and the top 100 securities are selected for inclusion in the Index. The Index weights the component securities based upon an indicated dividend dollar weighted methodology. Weights are adjusted so that no individual security has a weight of greater than 10% and securities with a weight of more than 5% do not collectively exceed 50% of the entire portfolio.
The Index is rebalanced quarterly and reconstituted annually and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Index’s quarterly rebalance schedule may cause the Fund to experience a higher rate of portfolio turnover. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of March 31, 2022, the Index was composed of 100 securities and the Fund had significant investments in health care companies, although this may change from time to time. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount (the difference between the market price of the Fund's shares and the Fund's net asset value) and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread (the difference between the the price that someone is willing to pay for shares of the Fund at a specific point in time versus the price at which someone is willing to sell) on the Fund’s shares may widen.
CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer
50

First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund (FDL)
data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. Although the Fund has established risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.
DIVIDENDS RISK. The Fund’s investment in dividend-paying securities could cause the Fund to underperform similar funds that invest without consideration of an issuer’s track record of paying dividends. Companies that issue dividend-paying securities are not required to continue to pay dividends on such securities. Therefore, there is the possibility that such companies could reduce or eliminate the payment of dividends in the future, which could negatively affect the Fund’s performance.
EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.
HEALTH CARE COMPANIES RISK. Health care companies, such as companies providing medical and healthcare goods and services, companies engaged in manufacturing medical equipment, supplies and pharmaceuticals, as well as operating health care facilities and the provision of managed health care, may be affected by government regulations and government health care programs, increases or decreases in the cost of medical products and services and product liability claims, among other factors. Many health care companies are heavily dependent on patent protection, and the expiration of a company’s patent may adversely affect that company’s profitability. Health care companies are also subject to competitive forces that may result in price discounting, may be thinly capitalized and susceptible to product obsolescence.
INDEX CONCENTRATION RISK. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified. There may be instances in which the Index, for a variety of reasons including changes in the prices of individual securities held by the Fund, has a larger exposure to a small number of stocks or a single stock relative to the rest of the stocks in the Index. Under such circumstances, the Fund will not deviate from the Index except in rare circumstances or in an immaterial way and therefore the Fund’s returns would be more greatly influenced by the returns of the stock(s) with the larger exposure.
INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund’s shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund’s market price may be below the Fund’s net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in the Fund's shares.
INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and do not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate the Index accurately.
51

First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund (FDL)
Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of the Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose the Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors. For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact the Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the Advisor can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.
INFLATION RISK. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money. As inflation increases, the present value of the Fund’s assets and distributions may decline.
MARKET MAKER RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. The Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.
52

First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund (FDL)
NON-DIVERSIFICATION RISK. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in a limited number of issuers. As a result, the Fund may be more susceptible to a single adverse economic or regulatory occurrence affecting one or more of these issuers, experience increased volatility and be highly invested in certain issuers.
OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund is not actively managed. The Fund invests in securities included in or representative of the Index regardless of investment merit. The Fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that the Index is no longer calculated, the Index license is terminated or the identity or character of the Index is materially changed, the Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. High portfolio turnover may result in the Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause the Fund’s performance to be less than expected.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund’s investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.
Annual Total Return
The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund and Index returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of the Index and a broad-based market index. See “Total Return Information” for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund’s performance information is accessible on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com.
53

First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund (FDL)
First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31
During the periods shown in the chart above:
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
15.31%
June 30, 2020
-30.57%
March 31, 2020
The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.
Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2021
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
24.76%
9.34%
11.35%
7.80%
3/9/2006
Return After Taxes on Distributions
22.84%
7.57%
9.66%
6.19%
 
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund
Shares
14.58%
6.44%
8.40%
5.50%
 
Morningstar® Dividend Leaders IndexSM (reflects no
deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
25.55%
9.94%
11.95%
8.35%
 
S&P 500® Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses or taxes)
28.71%
18.47%
16.55%
10.95%
 
Management
Investment Advisor
First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”)
54

First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund (FDL)
Portfolio Managers
The Fund’s portfolio is managed by a team (the “Investment Committee”) consisting of:
Daniel J. Lindquist, Chairman of the Investment Committee and Managing Director of First Trust
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
Roger F. Testin, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Stan Ueland, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Chris A. Peterson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Erik Russo, Vice President of First Trust
The Investment Committee members are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Investment Committee member has served as a part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since 2006, except for Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo who have served as members of the portfolio management team since 2016 and 2020, respectively.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, bid-ask spreads and the median bid-ask spread for the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, is available online at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions on shares held in a tax-deferred account, while not immediately taxable, will be subject to tax when the shares are no longer held in a tax-deferred account.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), First Trust and First Trust Portfolios L.P., the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
55

Summary Information

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)
Investment Objective
The First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the Nasdaq-100 Equal Weighted IndexSM (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees
0.40%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.17%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(1)
0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement
0.57%
(1)
First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.60% of its average daily net assets (the “Expense Cap”) at least through April 30, 2023. Expenses reimbursed and fees waived under such agreement are subject to recovery by the Fund’s investment advisor for up to three years from the date the fee was waived or expense was incurred, but no recovery payment will be made by the Fund if it results in the Fund exceeding (i) the applicable expense limitation in place for the most recent fiscal year for which such expense limitation was in place, (ii) the applicable expense limitation in place at the time the fees were waived or expenses were reimbursed, or (iii) the current expense limitation. The agreement may be terminated by the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, at any time and by the Fund’s investment advisor only after April 30, 2023 upon 60 days’ written notice.
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. The example assumes that the Fund’s investment advisor’s agreement to waive fees and/or pay the Fund’s expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 0.60% of average daily net assets will be terminated following April 30, 2023. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$58
$183
$318
$714
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 23% of the average value of its portfolio.
56

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)
Principal Investment Strategies
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 Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by Nasdaq, Inc. (the “Index Provider”). The Index Provider may, from time to time, exercise reasonable discretion as it deems appropriate in order to ensure Index integrity.
The Index is the equal-weighted version of the Nasdaq-100 Index®. The Nasdaq-100 Index® includes 100 of the largest U.S. and international non-financial companies listed on Nasdaq based on market capitalization. In order to be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a security must meet the following criteria: (i) the issuer of the security’s primary U.S. listing must be exclusively listed on Nasdaq (unless the security was dually listed on another U.S. market prior to January 1, 2004 and has continuously maintained such listing); (ii) the security must be issued by a non-financial company; (iii) the security must have an average daily trading volume of at least 200,000 shares over the previous three months; and (iv) if the issuer of the security is organized under the laws of a jurisdiction outside the United States, then such security must have listed options on a recognized options market in the United States or be eligible for listed-options trading on a recognized options market in the United States. The 100 securities with the largest capitalizations meeting these criteria are included in the Index and are each assigned a weight of 1.00%. Once selected for inclusion in the Index, in addition to the criteria set forth above, the issuer of a security must have an adjusted market capitalization equal to or exceeding 0.10% of the aggregate adjusted market capitalization of the Nasdaq-100 Index® at each month-end in order to remain eligible for inclusion in the Index. In the event a company does not meet this criterion for two consecutive month-ends, it will be removed from the Index. The Index may contain securities issued by mid and large capitalization companies.
The Index is rebalanced quarterly and reconstituted annually and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Index’s quarterly rebalance schedule may cause the Fund to experience a higher rate of portfolio turnover. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of March 31, 2022, the Index was composed of 102 securities and the Fund had significant investments in information technology companies, although this may change from time to time. In order to gain exposure to certain Chinese companies that are included in the Index but are unavailable to direct investment by foreign investors, the Fund invests significantly in non-Chinese shell companies that have created structures known as variable interest entities (“VIEs”) in order to gain exposure to such Chinese companies. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount (the difference between the market price of the Fund's shares and the Fund's net asset value) and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread (the difference between the the price that someone is willing to pay for shares of the Fund at a specific point in time versus the price at which someone is willing to sell) on the Fund’s shares may widen.
CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. Although the Fund has established risk
57

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)
management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.
DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS RISK. Depositary receipts represent equity interests in a foreign company that trade on a local stock exchange. Depositary receipts may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market. Any distributions paid to the holders of depositary receipts are usually subject to a fee charged by the depositary. Holders of depositary receipts may have limited voting rights, and investment restrictions in certain countries may adversely impact the value of depositary receipts because such restrictions may limit the ability to convert the equity shares into depositary receipts and vice versa. Such restrictions may cause the equity shares of the underlying issuer to trade at a discount or premium to the market price of the depositary receipts.
EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.
INDEX CONCENTRATION RISK. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified. There may be instances in which the Index, for a variety of reasons including changes in the prices of individual securities held by the Fund, has a larger exposure to a small number of stocks or a single stock relative to the rest of the stocks in the Index. Under such circumstances, the Fund will not deviate from the Index except in rare circumstances or in an immaterial way and therefore the Fund’s returns would be more greatly influenced by the returns of the stock(s) with the larger exposure.
INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund’s shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund’s market price may be below the Fund’s net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in the Fund's shares.
INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and do not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate the Index accurately. Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of the Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose the Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors. For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact the Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund
58

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)
nor the Advisor can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES RISK. Information technology companies produce and provide hardware, software and information technology systems and services. These companies may be adversely affected by rapidly changing technologies, short product life cycles, fierce competition, aggressive pricing and reduced profit margins, the loss of patent, copyright and trademark protections, cyclical market patterns, evolving industry standards and frequent new product introductions. In addition, information technology companies are particularly vulnerable to federal, state and local government regulation, and competition and consolidation, both domestically and internationally, including competition from foreign competitors with lower production costs. Information technology companies also heavily rely on intellectual property rights and may be adversely affected by the loss or impairment of those rights.
MARKET MAKER RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. The Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.
NON-U.S. SECURITIES RISK. Non-U.S. securities are subject to higher volatility than securities of domestic issuers due to possible adverse political, social or economic developments, restrictions on foreign investment or exchange of securities, capital controls, lack of liquidity, currency exchange rates, excessive taxation, government seizure of assets, the imposition of sanctions by foreign governments, different legal or accounting standards, and less government supervision and regulation of securities exchanges in foreign countries.
OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed
59

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)
or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund is not actively managed. The Fund invests in securities included in or representative of the Index regardless of investment merit. The Fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that the Index is no longer calculated, the Index license is terminated or the identity or character of the Index is materially changed, the Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. High portfolio turnover may result in the Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause the Fund’s performance to be less than expected.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund’s investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.
VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES RISK. In China, direct ownership of companies in certain sectors by foreign individuals and entities is prohibited. In order to allow for foreign investment in these businesses, many Chinese companies have created VIE structures to enable indirect foreign ownership. In such an arrangement, a Chinese operating company typically establishes an offshore shell company in another jurisdiction, such as the Cayman Islands. That shell company enters into service and other contracts with the Chinese issuer or operating company to obtain economic exposure to the Chinese company, then issues shares on an exchange outside of mainland China, and U.S. investors hold stock in the non-Chinese shell company rather than directly in the Chinese issuer or operating company. This arrangement allows U.S. investors, such as the Fund, to obtain economic exposure to the Chinese issuer or operating company through contractual means rather than through formal equity ownership. Because neither the shell company nor the Fund owns actual equity interests in the Chinese operating company, they do not have the voting rights or other types of control that an equity holder would expect to benefit from. Although VIEs are a longstanding industry practice and well known to officials and regulators in China, VIEs are not formally recognized under Chinese law. Intervention by the Chinese government with respect to VIEs could significantly affect the Chinese company’s performance and the enforceability of the VIE’s contractual arrangements that establish the links between the Chinese company and the shell company in which the Fund invests. This could considerably impact the financial condition of the shell company in which the Fund invests by limiting its ability to consolidate the financial results of the Chinese operating company into its own financial statements, as well as make the value of the shares held by the Fund effectively worthless. Further, if Chinese officials prohibit the existence of VIEs, the market value of the Fund’s associated holdings would likely suffer significant, and possibly permanent effects, which could negatively impact the Fund’s net asset value and could result in substantial losses. Further, it is uncertain whether any new laws, rules or regulations relating to VIE structures will be adopted or, if adopted, what impact they would have on the value of the Fund’s shares.
VIEs are also subject to the investment risks associated with the underlying Chinese issuer or operating company. Chinese companies are not subject to the same degree of regulatory requirements or accounting standards and oversight as companies
60

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)
in more developed countries. As a result, information about the Chinese securities and VIEs in which the Fund invests may be less reliable and incomplete. There also may be significant obstacles to obtaining information necessary for investigations into or litigation against Chinese companies and VIEs, and shareholders may have limited legal remedies, which could negatively impact the Fund. Additionally, U.S.-listed VIEs may be delisted if they do not meet U.S. accounting standards and auditor oversight requirements. Delisting would significantly decrease the liquidity and value of the securities, decrease the ability of the Fund to invest in such securities and may increase the cost of the Fund if required to seek alternative markets in which to invest in such securities.
Annual Total Return
The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund and Index returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of the Index, a broad-based market index and a market index. See “Total Return Information” for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund’s performance information is accessible on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com.
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31
During the periods shown in the chart above:
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
28.33%
June 30, 2020
-15.42%
March 31, 2020
The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.
Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.
61

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2021
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
17.67%
21.27%
18.57%
12.54%
4/19/2006
Return After Taxes on Distributions
17.55%
21.04%
18.26%
12.32%
 
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of
Fund Shares
10.46%
17.32%
15.80%
10.77%
 
Nasdaq-100 Equal Weighted IndexSM (reflects no
deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
18.45%
22.02%
19.31%
13.24%
 
S&P 500® Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses or taxes)
28.71%
18.47%
16.55%
10.81%
 
Nasdaq-100 Index® (reflects no deduction for
fees, expenses or taxes)
27.51%
28.63%
23.15%
16.46%
 
Management
Investment Advisor
First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”)
Portfolio Managers
The Fund’s portfolio is managed by a team (the “Investment Committee”) consisting of:
Daniel J. Lindquist, Chairman of the Investment Committee and Managing Director of First Trust
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
Roger F. Testin, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Stan Ueland, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Chris A. Peterson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Erik Russo, Vice President of First Trust
The Investment Committee members are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Investment Committee member has served as a part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since 2006, except for Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo who have served as members of the portfolio management team since 2016 and 2020, respectively.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, bid-ask spreads and the median bid-ask spread for the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, is available online at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions on shares held in a tax-deferred account, while not immediately taxable, will be subject to tax when the shares are no longer held in a tax-deferred account.
62

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), First Trust and First Trust Portfolios L.P., the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
63

Summary Information

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)
Investment Objective
The First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the Nasdaq-100 Ex-Tech Sector IndexSM (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees
0.40%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.22%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.62%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(1)
0.02%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement
0.60%
(1)
First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.60% of its average daily net assets (the “Expense Cap”) at least through April 30, 2023. Expenses reimbursed and fees waived under such agreement are subject to recovery by the Fund’s investment advisor for up to three years from the date the fee was waived or expense was incurred, but no recovery payment will be made by the Fund if it results in the Fund exceeding (i) the applicable expense limitation in place for the most recent fiscal year for which such expense limitation was in place, (ii) the applicable expense limitation in place at the time the fees were waived or expenses were reimbursed, or (iii) the current expense limitation. The agreement may be terminated by the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, at any time and by the Fund’s investment advisor only after April 30, 2023 upon 60 days’ written notice.
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. The example assumes that the Fund’s investment advisor’s agreement to waive fees and/or pay the Fund’s expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 0.60% of average daily net assets will be terminated following April 30, 2023. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$61
$197
$344
$772
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 25% of the average value of its portfolio.
64

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)
Principal Investment Strategies
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 Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by Nasdaq, Inc. (the “Index Provider”). The Index Provider may, from time to time, exercise reasonable discretion as it deems appropriate in order to ensure Index integrity.
The Index is an equal-weighted index composed of the securities comprising the Nasdaq-100 Index® that are not classified as “technology” according to the Industry Classification Benchmark (“ICB”) classification system. The Nasdaq-100 Index® includes 100 of the largest U.S. and international non-financial companies listed on Nasdaq based on market capitalization. In order to be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a security must meet the following criteria: (i) the issuer of the security’s primary U.S. listing must be exclusively listed on Nasdaq (unless the security was dually listed on another U.S. market prior to January 1, 2004 and has continuously maintained such listing); (ii) the security must be issued by a non-financial company; (iii) the security must have an average daily trading volume of at least 200,000 shares over the previous three months; and (iv) if the issuer of the security is organized under the laws of a jurisdiction outside the United States, then such security must have listed options on a recognized options market in the United States or be eligible for listed-options trading on a recognized options market in the United States. Once selected for inclusion in the Index, in addition to the criteria set forth above, the issuer of a security must have an adjusted market capitalization equal to or exceeding 0.10% of the aggregate adjusted market capitalization of the Nasdaq-100 Index® at each month-end in order to remain eligible for inclusion in the Index. In the event a company does not meet this criterion for two consecutive month-ends, it will be removed from the Index. The Index may contain securities issued by mid and large capitalization companies.
The Index is rebalanced quarterly and reconstituted annually and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Index’s quarterly rebalance schedule may cause the Fund to experience a higher rate of portfolio turnover. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of March 31, 2022, the Index was composed of 60 securities and the Fund had significant investments in consumer discretionary companies and health care companies, although this may change from time to time. In order to gain exposure to certain Chinese companies that are included in the Index but are unavailable to direct investment by foreign investors, the Fund invests significantly in non-Chinese shell companies that have created structures known as variable interest entities (“VIEs”) in order to gain exposure to such Chinese companies. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount (the difference between the market price of the Fund's shares and the Fund's net asset value) and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread (the difference between the the price that someone is willing to pay for shares of the Fund at a specific point in time versus the price at which someone is willing to sell) on the Fund’s shares may widen.
CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY COMPANIES RISK. Consumer discretionary companies, such as retailers, media companies and consumer services companies, provide non-essential goods and services. These companies manufacture products and provide discretionary services directly to the consumer, and the success of these companies is tied closely to the performance of the overall domestic and international economy, interest rates, competition and consumer confidence. Success depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Changes in demographics and consumer tastes can also affect the demand for, and success of, consumer discretionary products in the marketplace.
CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational
65

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)
damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. Although the Fund has established risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.
DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS RISK. Depositary receipts represent equity interests in a foreign company that trade on a local stock exchange. Depositary receipts may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market. Any distributions paid to the holders of depositary receipts are usually subject to a fee charged by the depositary. Holders of depositary receipts may have limited voting rights, and investment restrictions in certain countries may adversely impact the value of depositary receipts because such restrictions may limit the ability to convert the equity shares into depositary receipts and vice versa. Such restrictions may cause the equity shares of the underlying issuer to trade at a discount or premium to the market price of the depositary receipts.
EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.
HEALTH CARE COMPANIES RISK. Health care companies, such as companies providing medical and healthcare goods and services, companies engaged in manufacturing medical equipment, supplies and pharmaceuticals, as well as operating health care facilities and the provision of managed health care, may be affected by government regulations and government health care programs, increases or decreases in the cost of medical products and services and product liability claims, among other factors. Many health care companies are heavily dependent on patent protection, and the expiration of a company’s patent may adversely affect that company’s profitability. Health care companies are also subject to competitive forces that may result in price discounting, may be thinly capitalized and susceptible to product obsolescence.
INDEX CONCENTRATION RISK. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified. There may be instances in which the Index, for a variety of reasons including changes in the prices of individual securities held by the Fund, has a larger exposure to a small number of stocks or a single stock relative to the rest of the stocks in the Index. Under such circumstances, the Fund will not deviate from the Index except in rare circumstances or in an immaterial way and therefore the Fund’s returns would be more greatly influenced by the returns of the stock(s) with the larger exposure.
INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund’s shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund’s market price may be below the Fund’s net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in the Fund's shares.
INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and do not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage the Fund
66

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)
consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate the Index accurately. Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of the Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose the Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors. For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact the Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the Advisor can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.
MARKET MAKER RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. The Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.
NON-U.S. SECURITIES RISK. Non-U.S. securities are subject to higher volatility than securities of domestic issuers due to possible adverse political, social or economic developments, restrictions on foreign investment or exchange of securities, capital controls, lack of liquidity, currency exchange rates, excessive taxation, government seizure of assets, the imposition of sanctions
67

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)
by foreign governments, different legal or accounting standards, and less government supervision and regulation of securities exchanges in foreign countries.
OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund is not actively managed. The Fund invests in securities included in or representative of the Index regardless of investment merit. The Fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that the Index is no longer calculated, the Index license is terminated or the identity or character of the Index is materially changed, the Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. High portfolio turnover may result in the Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause the Fund’s performance to be less than expected.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund’s investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.
VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES RISK. In China, direct ownership of companies in certain sectors by foreign individuals and entities is prohibited. In order to allow for foreign investment in these businesses, many Chinese companies have created VIE structures to enable indirect foreign ownership. In such an arrangement, a Chinese operating company typically establishes an offshore shell company in another jurisdiction, such as the Cayman Islands. That shell company enters into service and other contracts with the Chinese issuer or operating company to obtain economic exposure to the Chinese company, then issues shares on an exchange outside of mainland China, and U.S. investors hold stock in the non-Chinese shell company rather than directly in the Chinese issuer or operating company. This arrangement allows U.S. investors, such as the Fund, to obtain economic exposure to the Chinese issuer or operating company through contractual means rather than through formal equity ownership. Because neither the shell company nor the Fund owns actual equity interests in the Chinese operating company, they do not have the voting rights or other types of control that an equity holder would expect to benefit from. Although VIEs are a longstanding industry practice and well known to officials and regulators in China, VIEs are not formally recognized under Chinese law. Intervention by the Chinese government with respect to VIEs could significantly affect the Chinese company’s performance and the enforceability of the VIE’s contractual arrangements that establish the links between the Chinese company and the shell company in which the Fund invests. This could considerably impact the financial condition of the shell company in which the Fund invests by limiting its ability to consolidate the financial results of the Chinese operating company into its own financial statements, as well as make the value of the shares held by the Fund effectively worthless. Further, if Chinese officials prohibit the existence of VIEs, the market value of the Fund’s associated holdings would likely suffer significant, and possibly permanent effects, which could negatively impact the Fund’s net asset value and could result
68

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)
in substantial losses. Further, it is uncertain whether any new laws, rules or regulations relating to VIE structures will be adopted or, if adopted, what impact they would have on the value of the Fund’s shares.
VIEs are also subject to the investment risks associated with the underlying Chinese issuer or operating company. Chinese companies are not subject to the same degree of regulatory requirements or accounting standards and oversight as companies in more developed countries. As a result, information about the Chinese securities and VIEs in which the Fund invests may be less reliable and incomplete. There also may be significant obstacles to obtaining information necessary for investigations into or litigation against Chinese companies and VIEs, and shareholders may have limited legal remedies, which could negatively impact the Fund. Additionally, U.S.-listed VIEs may be delisted if they do not meet U.S. accounting standards and auditor oversight requirements. Delisting would significantly decrease the liquidity and value of the securities, decrease the ability of the Fund to invest in such securities and may increase the cost of the Fund if required to seek alternative markets in which to invest in such securities.
Annual Total Return
The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund and Index returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of the Index and a broad-based market index. See “Total Return Information” for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund’s performance information is accessible on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com.
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31
During the periods shown in the chart above:
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
27.43%
June 30, 2020
-15.39%
March 31, 2020
The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.
Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.
69

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2021
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
11.80%
17.36%
16.16%
10.99%
2/8/2007
Return After Taxes on Distributions
11.63%
17.19%
15.93%
10.80%
 
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund
Shares
6.98%
14.01%
13.64%
9.31%
 
Nasdaq-100 Ex-Tech Sector IndexSM (reflects no
deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
12.53%
18.08%
16.87%
11.68%
 
Russell 1000® Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses or taxes)
26.45%
18.43%
16.54%
10.61%
 
Management
Investment Advisor
First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”)
Portfolio Managers
The Fund’s portfolio is managed by a team (the “Investment Committee”) consisting of:
Daniel J. Lindquist, Chairman of the Investment Committee and Managing Director of First Trust
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
Roger F. Testin, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Stan Ueland, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Chris A. Peterson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Erik Russo, Vice President of First Trust
The Investment Committee members are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Investment Committee member has served as a part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since 2007, except for Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo who have served as members of the portfolio management team since 2016 and 2020, respectively.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, bid-ask spreads and the median bid-ask spread for the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, is available online at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions on shares held in a tax-deferred account, while not immediately taxable, will be subject to tax when the shares are no longer held in a tax-deferred account.
70

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), First Trust and First Trust Portfolios L.P., the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
71

Summary Information

First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)
Investment Objective
The First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector IndexSM (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees
0.40%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.16%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.56%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(1)
0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement
0.56%
(1)
First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.60% of its average daily net assets (the “Expense Cap”) at least through April 30, 2023. Expenses reimbursed and fees waived under such agreement are subject to recovery by the Fund’s investment advisor for up to three years from the date the fee was waived or expense was incurred, but no recovery payment will be made by the Fund if it results in the Fund exceeding (i) the applicable expense limitation in place for the most recent fiscal year for which such expense limitation was in place, (ii) the applicable expense limitation in place at the time the fees were waived or expenses were reimbursed, or (iii) the current expense limitation. The agreement may be terminated by the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, at any time and by the Fund’s investment advisor only after April 30, 2023 upon 60 days’ written notice.
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. The example assumes that the Fund’s investment advisor’s agreement to waive fees and/or pay the Fund’s expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 0.60% of average daily net assets will be terminated following April 30, 2023. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$57
$179
$313
$701
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 25% of the average value of its portfolio.
72

First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)
Principal Investment Strategies
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 Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by Nasdaq, Inc. (the “Index Provider”). The Index Provider may, from time to time, exercise reasonable discretion as it deems appropriate in order to ensure Index integrity.
The Index is an equal-weighted index composed of the securities comprising the Nasdaq-100 Index® that are classified as “technology” according to the Industry Classification Benchmark (“ICB”) classification system. The Nasdaq-100 Index® includes 100 of the largest U.S. and international non-financial companies listed on Nasdaq based on market capitalization. In order to be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a security must meet the following criteria: (i) the issuer of the security’s primary U.S. listing must be exclusively listed on Nasdaq (unless the security was dually listed on another U.S. market prior to January 1, 2004 and has continuously maintained such listing); (ii) the security must be issued by a non-financial company; (iii) the security must have an average daily trading volume of at least 200,000 shares over the previous three months; and (iv) if the issuer of the security is organized under the laws of a jurisdiction outside the United States, then such security must have listed options on a recognized options market in the United States or be eligible for listed-options trading on a recognized options market in the United States. Once selected for inclusion in the Index, in addition to the criteria set forth above, the issuer of a security must have an adjusted market capitalization equal to or exceeding 0.10% of the aggregate adjusted market capitalization of the Nasdaq-100 Index® at each month-end in order to remain eligible for inclusion in the Index. In the event a company does not meet this criterion for two consecutive month-ends, it will be removed from the Index. The Index may contain securities issued by mid and large capitalization companies.
The Index is rebalanced quarterly and reconstituted annually and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Index’s quarterly rebalance schedule may cause the Fund to experience a higher rate of portfolio turnover. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of March 31, 2022, the Index was composed of 42 securities and the Fund had significant investments in information technology companies, although this may change from time to time. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount (the difference between the market price of the Fund's shares and the Fund's net asset value) and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread (the difference between the the price that someone is willing to pay for shares of the Fund at a specific point in time versus the price at which someone is willing to sell) on the Fund’s shares may widen.
CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. Although the Fund has established risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.
73

First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)
DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS RISK. Depositary receipts represent equity interests in a foreign company that trade on a local stock exchange. Depositary receipts may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market. Any distributions paid to the holders of depositary receipts are usually subject to a fee charged by the depositary. Holders of depositary receipts may have limited voting rights, and investment restrictions in certain countries may adversely impact the value of depositary receipts because such restrictions may limit the ability to convert the equity shares into depositary receipts and vice versa. Such restrictions may cause the equity shares of the underlying issuer to trade at a discount or premium to the market price of the depositary receipts.
EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.
INDEX CONCENTRATION RISK. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified. There may be instances in which the Index, for a variety of reasons including changes in the prices of individual securities held by the Fund, has a larger exposure to a small number of stocks or a single stock relative to the rest of the stocks in the Index. Under such circumstances, the Fund will not deviate from the Index except in rare circumstances or in an immaterial way and therefore the Fund’s returns would be more greatly influenced by the returns of the stock(s) with the larger exposure.
INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund’s shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund’s market price may be below the Fund’s net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in the Fund's shares.
INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and do not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate the Index accurately. Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of the Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose the Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors. For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact the Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the Advisor can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in
74

First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)
market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES RISK. Information technology companies produce and provide hardware, software and information technology systems and services. These companies may be adversely affected by rapidly changing technologies, short product life cycles, fierce competition, aggressive pricing and reduced profit margins, the loss of patent, copyright and trademark protections, cyclical market patterns, evolving industry standards and frequent new product introductions. In addition, information technology companies are particularly vulnerable to federal, state and local government regulation, and competition and consolidation, both domestically and internationally, including competition from foreign competitors with lower production costs. Information technology companies also heavily rely on intellectual property rights and may be adversely affected by the loss or impairment of those rights.
MARKET MAKER RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. The Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.
NON-U.S. SECURITIES RISK. Non-U.S. securities are subject to higher volatility than securities of domestic issuers due to possible adverse political, social or economic developments, restrictions on foreign investment or exchange of securities, capital controls, lack of liquidity, currency exchange rates, excessive taxation, government seizure of assets, the imposition of sanctions by foreign governments, different legal or accounting standards, and less government supervision and regulation of securities exchanges in foreign countries.
OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
75

First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)
PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund is not actively managed. The Fund invests in securities included in or representative of the Index regardless of investment merit. The Fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that the Index is no longer calculated, the Index license is terminated or the identity or character of the Index is materially changed, the Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. High portfolio turnover may result in the Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause the Fund’s performance to be less than expected.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund’s investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.
Annual Total Return
The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund and Index returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of the Index, a broad-based market index and a market index. See “Total Return Information” for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund’s performance information is accessible on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com.
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31
76

First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)
During the periods shown in the chart above:
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
29.56%
June 30, 2020
-15.46%
March 31, 2020
The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.
Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2021
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
26.94%
27.99%
22.96%
15.51%
4/19/2006
Return After Taxes on Distributions
26.93%
27.67%
22.53%
15.22%
 
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of
Fund Shares
15.95%
23.12%
19.78%
13.52%
 
Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector IndexSM (reflects
no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
27.71%
28.78%
23.74%
16.23%
 
S&P 500® Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses or taxes)
28.71%
18.47%
16.55%
10.81%
 
S&P 500® Information Technology Index (reflects
no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
34.53%
32.13%
24.01%
16.29%
 
Management
Investment Advisor
First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”)
Portfolio Managers
The Fund’s portfolio is managed by a team (the “Investment Committee”) consisting of:
Daniel J. Lindquist, Chairman of the Investment Committee and Managing Director of First Trust
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
Roger F. Testin, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Stan Ueland, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Chris A. Peterson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Erik Russo, Vice President of First Trust
The Investment Committee members are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Investment Committee member has served as a part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since 2006, except for Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo who have served as members of the portfolio management team since 2016 and 2020, respectively.
77

First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, bid-ask spreads and the median bid-ask spread for the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, is available online at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions on shares held in a tax-deferred account, while not immediately taxable, will be subject to tax when the shares are no longer held in a tax-deferred account.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), First Trust and First Trust Portfolios L.P., the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
78

Summary Information

First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)
Investment Objective
The First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the Nasdaq OMX® ABA Community Bank IndexSM (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees
0.40%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.23%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.63%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(1)
0.03%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement
0.60%
(1)
First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.60% of its average daily net assets (the “Expense Cap”) at least through April 30, 2023. Expenses reimbursed and fees waived under such agreement are subject to recovery by the Fund’s investment advisor for up to three years from the date the fee was waived or expense was incurred, but no recovery payment will be made by the Fund if it results in the Fund exceeding (i) the applicable expense limitation in place for the most recent fiscal year for which such expense limitation was in place, (ii) the applicable expense limitation in place at the time the fees were waived or expenses were reimbursed, or (iii) the current expense limitation. The agreement may be terminated by the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, at any time and by the Fund’s investment advisor only after April 30, 2023 upon 60 days’ written notice.
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. The example assumes that the Fund’s investment advisor’s agreement to waive fees and/or pay the Fund’s expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 0.60% of average daily net assets will be terminated following April 30, 2023. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$61
$199
$348
$783
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 23% of the average value of its portfolio.
79

First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the common stocks that comprise the Index. The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is jointly owned and was developed by Nasdaq, Inc. and the American Bankers Association (the “ABA”). The Index is calculated and maintained by Nasdaq, Inc. (the “Index Provider”). The Index Provider may, from time to time, exercise reasonable discretion as it deems appropriate in order to ensure Index integrity.
The Index is designed to track the performance of small, mid and large capitalization companies that comprise the community banking industry. To be eligible for inclusion in the Index, the issuer of the security’s primary U.S. listing must be exclusively listed on Nasdaq (unless the security was dually listed on another U.S. market prior to January 1, 2004 and has continuously maintained such listing). The Index’s initial universe consists of all such Nasdaq-listed securities issued by companies classified as “banks” according to the Industry Classification Benchmark (“ICB”) classification system, or that the ABA determines should be classified as “banks.” This classification includes banks, thrifts or their holding companies. From this initial universe, the Index excludes the securities of the 50 largest banks, thrifts and their holding companies by asset size, as determined by the most recently available call report data as compiled by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”). In addition, the Index excludes securities issued by banks or thrifts with either an international specialization or a credit card specialization (and holding companies if such banks or thrifts constitute the majority of the relevant holding company’s assets), as determined by the most recently available call report data as compiled by the FDIC. Banks with an international specialization are generally those institutions with assets greater than $10 billion and more than 25% of total assets in non-U.S. offices. Banks with a credit card specialization are generally those institutions with credit card loans plus securitized receivables in excess of 50% of total assets plus securitized receivables. Securities issued by companies with market capitalizations of less than $200 million and three-month average daily trading volumes of less than $500,000 are also ineligible for inclusion in the Index.
Securities selected for inclusion in the Index are weighted according to market capitalization. However, the maximum weight for an individual component security is capped at 25% and securities weighing more than 5% cannot collectively exceed 50% of the entire portfolio. If either threshold is broken, the Index would be rebalanced using a modified market capitalization-weighting such that the maximum weight of any security will not exceed 8% and no more than five securities are at that cap. The excess weight of any capped security would be distributed proportionally across the remaining securities. If after redistribution, any of the five highest-ranked securities are weighted below 8%, these securities would not be capped. Next, any remaining securities with weights in excess of 4% would be capped at 4% and the excess weight would be redistributed proportionally across the remaining securities. The process would be repeated, if necessary, to derive the final weights.
The Index is rebalanced quarterly and reconstituted semi-annually and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Index’s quarterly rebalance schedule may cause the Fund to experience a higher rate of portfolio turnover. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of March 31, 2022, the Index was composed of 155 securities and the Fund had significant investments in financial companies, although this may change from time to time. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount (the difference between the market price of the Fund's shares and the Fund's net asset value) and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread (the difference between the the price that someone is willing to pay for shares of the Fund at a specific point in time versus the price at which someone is willing to sell) on the Fund’s shares may widen.
COMMUNITY BANK RISK. Community banks were significantly impacted by the downturn in the United States and world economies that began with the decline in the subprime mortgage lending market in the United States. These conditions have
80

First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)
brought about legislative and regulatory changes, changes in short-term and long-term interest rates, inflation and changes in government monetary and fiscal policies, all of which have had a significant impact on the banking business. Community banks may also be affected by anticipated government fiscal policy initiatives relating to the current period of historically low interest rates and the market reaction to those initiatives. Unlike larger national or other regional banks that are more geographically diversified, a community bank’s financial performance may be highly dependent upon the business environment in certain geographic regions of the United States and may be adversely impacted by any downturn or unfavorable economic or employment developments in its local market and the United States as a whole. In particular, this environment impacts the ability of borrowers to pay interest on and repay principal of outstanding loans and the value of collateral securing those loans. Also, the securities of community banks are often subject to low trading volume and low analyst coverage.
CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. Although the Fund has established risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.
EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.
FINANCIAL COMPANIES RISK. Financial companies, such as retail and commercial banks, insurance companies and financial services companies, are especially subject to the adverse effects of economic recession, currency exchange rates, extensive government regulation, decreases in the availability of capital, volatile interest rates, portfolio concentrations in geographic markets, industries or products (such as commercial and residential real estate loans), competition from new entrants and blurred distinctions in their fields of business.
INDEX CONCENTRATION RISK. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified. There may be instances in which the Index, for a variety of reasons including changes in the prices of individual securities held by the Fund, has a larger exposure to a small number of stocks or a single stock relative to the rest of the stocks in the Index. Under such circumstances, the Fund will not deviate from the Index except in rare circumstances or in an immaterial way and therefore the Fund’s returns would be more greatly influenced by the returns of the stock(s) with the larger exposure.
INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund’s shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund’s market price may be below the Fund’s net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in the Fund's shares.
INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed,
81

First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)
calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and do not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate the Index accurately. Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of the Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose the Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors. For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact the Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the Advisor can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.
MARKET MAKER RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. The Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.
82

First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)
OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund is not actively managed. The Fund invests in securities included in or representative of the Index regardless of investment merit. The Fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that the Index is no longer calculated, the Index license is terminated or the identity or character of the Index is materially changed, the Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. High portfolio turnover may result in the Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause the Fund’s performance to be less than expected.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund’s investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
SMALLER COMPANIES RISK. Small and/or mid capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse general market or economic developments, and their securities may be less liquid and may experience greater price volatility than larger, more established companies as a result of several factors, including limited trading volumes, fewer products or financial resources, management inexperience and less publicly available information. Accordingly, such companies are generally subject to greater market risk than larger, more established companies.
TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.
Annual Total Return
The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund and Index returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of the Index, a broad-based market index and a market index. See “Total Return Information” for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund’s performance information is accessible on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com.
83

First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31
During the periods shown in the chart above:
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
41.89%
December 31, 2020
-36.34%
March 31, 2020
The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.
Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2021
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
34.08%
4.32%
11.82%
10.87%
6/29/2009
Return After Taxes on Distributions
33.14%
3.46%
11.02%
10.13%
 
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of
Fund Shares
20.16%
2.90%
9.38%
8.72%
 
Nasdaq OMX®ABA Community Bank IndexSM
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or
taxes)
35.01%
5.00%
12.53%
11.59%
 
S&P Composite 1500® Financials Index (reflects
no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
34.55%
12.73%
15.97%
13.97%
 
Russell 3000® Index (reflects no deduction for
fees, expenses or taxes)
25.66%
17.97%
16.30%
16.20%
 
Management
Investment Advisor
First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”)
84

First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)
Portfolio Managers
The Fund’s portfolio is managed by a team (the “Investment Committee”) consisting of:
Daniel J. Lindquist, Chairman of the Investment Committee and Managing Director of First Trust
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
Roger F. Testin, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Stan Ueland, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Chris A. Peterson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Erik Russo, Vice President of First Trust
The Investment Committee members are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Investment Committee member has served as a part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since 2009, except for Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo who have served as members of the portfolio management team since 2016 and 2020, respectively.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, bid-ask spreads and the median bid-ask spread for the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, is available online at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions on shares held in a tax-deferred account, while not immediately taxable, will be subject to tax when the shares are no longer held in a tax-deferred account.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), First Trust and First Trust Portfolios L.P., the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
85

Summary Information

First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)
Investment Objective
The First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the Nasdaq® Clean Edge® Green Energy IndexSM (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees
0.40%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.18%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.58%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(1)
0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement
0.58%
(1)
First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.60% of its average daily net assets (the “Expense Cap”) at least through April 30, 2023. Expenses reimbursed and fees waived under such agreement are subject to recovery by the Fund’s investment advisor for up to three years from the date the fee was waived or expense was incurred, but no recovery payment will be made by the Fund if it results in the Fund exceeding (i) the applicable expense limitation in place for the most recent fiscal year for which such expense limitation was in place, (ii) the applicable expense limitation in place at the time the fees were waived or expenses were reimbursed, or (iii) the current expense limitation. The agreement may be terminated by the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, at any time and by the Fund’s investment advisor only after April 30, 2023 upon 60 days’ written notice.
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. The example assumes that the Fund’s investment advisor’s agreement to waive fees and/or pay the Fund’s expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 0.60% of average daily net assets will be terminated following April 30, 2023. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$59
$186
$324
$726
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 28% of the average value of its portfolio.
86

First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)
Principal Investment Strategies
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 Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by Nasdaq, Inc. and Clean Edge, Inc. (“Clean Edge” and together with Nasdaq Inc., the “Index Provider”). The Index Provider may, from time to time, exercise reasonable discretion as it deems appropriate in order to ensure Index integrity.
The Index is designed to track the performance of small, mid and large capitalization clean energy companies that are publicly traded in the United States. To be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a security must be issued by companies classified, according to Clean Edge, as technology manufacturers, developers, distributors, and/or installers in one of the following sub-sectors:
Advanced Materials (nanotech, membranes, silicon, lithium, carbon capture and utilization and other materials and processes that enable clean-energy technologies)
Energy Intelligence (conservation, automated meter reading, energy management systems, smart grid, superconductors and power controls)
Energy Storage & Conversion (advanced batteries, hybrid drivetrains, hydrogen, fuel cells for stationary, portable and transportation applications)
Renewable Electricity Generation & Renewable Fuels (solar photovoltaics, concentrating solar, wind, geothermal, and ethanol, biodiesel, biofuel enabling enzymes)
In order to be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a security must also be listed on a qualifying U.S. securities exchange, be issued by a company with a market capitalization of at least $150 million, have a minimum average daily trading volume of at least 100,000 shares and have a minimum closing price per share of $1. Securities selected for inclusion in the Index are weighted according to modified market capitalization methodology. At each quarter, the Index is rebalanced so that the maximum weight of any component security does not exceed 8% and no more than five securities have a weight of 8%. The excess weight of any capped security is distributed proportionally across the other component securities. If after redistribution any of the five highest ranked securities are weighted below 8%, these securities are not capped. Next, any remaining securities with weights in excess of 4% are capped at 4% and the excess weight is redistributed proportionally across the remaining securities. The process is repeated, if necessary, to derive the final weights.
The Index is rebalanced quarterly and reconstituted semi-annually and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Index’s quarterly rebalance schedule may cause the Fund to experience a higher rate of portfolio turnover. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of March 31, 2022, the Index was composed of 65 securities and the Fund had significant investments in information technology companies and industrials companies, although this may change from time to time. In order to gain exposure to certain Chinese companies that are included in the Index but are unavailable to direct investment by foreign investors, the Fund invests significantly in non-Chinese shell companies that have created structures known as variable interest entities (“VIEs”) in order to gain exposure to such Chinese companies. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount (the difference between the market price of the Fund's shares and the Fund's net asset value) and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread (the difference between the the price that someone is willing to pay for shares of the Fund at a specific point in time versus the price at which someone is willing to sell) on the Fund’s shares may widen.
CLEAN ENERGY COMPANIES RISK. Renewable and alternative energy companies can be significantly affected by the following factors: obsolescence of existing technology, short product cycles, legislation resulting in more strict government regulations
87

First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)
and enforcement policies, fluctuations in energy prices and supply and demand of alternative energy fuels, energy conservation, the success of exploration projects, the supply of and demand for oil and gas, world events and economic conditions. In addition, shares of clean energy companies have been significantly more volatile than shares of companies operating in other more established industries and the securities included in the Fund may be subject to sharp price declines. This industry is relatively nascent and under-researched in comparison to more established and mature sectors, and should therefore be regarded as having greater investment risk.
CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. Although the Fund has established risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.
DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS RISK. Depositary receipts represent equity interests in a foreign company that trade on a local stock exchange. Depositary receipts may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market. Any distributions paid to the holders of depositary receipts are usually subject to a fee charged by the depositary. Holders of depositary receipts may have limited voting rights, and investment restrictions in certain countries may adversely impact the value of depositary receipts because such restrictions may limit the ability to convert the equity shares into depositary receipts and vice versa. Such restrictions may cause the equity shares of the underlying issuer to trade at a discount or premium to the market price of the depositary receipts.
EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.
INDEX CONCENTRATION RISK. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified. There may be instances in which the Index, for a variety of reasons including changes in the prices of individual securities held by the Fund, has a larger exposure to a small number of stocks or a single stock relative to the rest of the stocks in the Index. Under such circumstances, the Fund will not deviate from the Index except in rare circumstances or in an immaterial way and therefore the Fund’s returns would be more greatly influenced by the returns of the stock(s) with the larger exposure.
INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund’s shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund’s market price may be below the Fund’s net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in the Fund's shares.
INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in
88

First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)
relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and do not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate the Index accurately. Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of the Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose the Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors. For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact the Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the Advisor can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.
INDUSTRIALS COMPANIES RISK. Industrials companies convert unfinished goods into finished durables used to manufacture other goods or provide services. Examples of industrials companies include companies involved in the production of electrical equipment and components, industrial products, manufactured housing and telecommunications equipment, as well as defense and aerospace companies. General risks of industrials companies include the general state of the economy, exchange rates, commodity prices, intense competition, consolidation, domestic and international politics, government regulation, import controls, excess capacity, consumer demand and spending trends. In addition, industrials companies may also be significantly affected by overall capital spending levels, economic cycles, rapid technological changes, delays in modernization, labor relations, environmental liabilities, governmental and product liability and e-commerce initiatives.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES RISK. Information technology companies produce and provide hardware, software and information technology systems and services. These companies may be adversely affected by rapidly changing technologies, short product life cycles, fierce competition, aggressive pricing and reduced profit margins, the loss of patent, copyright and trademark protections, cyclical market patterns, evolving industry standards and frequent new product introductions. In addition, information technology companies are particularly vulnerable to federal, state and local government regulation, and competition and consolidation, both domestically and internationally, including competition from foreign competitors with lower production costs. Information technology companies also heavily rely on intellectual property rights and may be adversely affected by the loss or impairment of those rights.
MARKET MAKER RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments.
89

First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)
For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. The Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.
NON-DIVERSIFICATION RISK. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in a limited number of issuers. As a result, the Fund may be more susceptible to a single adverse economic or regulatory occurrence affecting one or more of these issuers, experience increased volatility and be highly invested in certain issuers.
NON-U.S. SECURITIES RISK. Non-U.S. securities are subject to higher volatility than securities of domestic issuers due to possible adverse political, social or economic developments, restrictions on foreign investment or exchange of securities, capital controls, lack of liquidity, currency exchange rates, excessive taxation, government seizure of assets, the imposition of sanctions by foreign governments, different legal or accounting standards, and less government supervision and regulation of securities exchanges in foreign countries.
OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund is not actively managed. The Fund invests in securities included in or representative of the Index regardless of investment merit. The Fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that the Index is no longer calculated, the Index license is terminated or the identity or character of the Index is materially changed, the Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. High portfolio turnover may result in the Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause the Fund’s performance to be less than expected.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund’s investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying
90

First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)
portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
SMALLER COMPANIES RISK. Small and/or mid capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse general market or economic developments, and their securities may be less liquid and may experience greater price volatility than larger, more established companies as a result of several factors, including limited trading volumes, fewer products or financial resources, management inexperience and less publicly available information. Accordingly, such companies are generally subject to greater market risk than larger, more established companies.
TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.
VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES RISK. In China, direct ownership of companies in certain sectors by foreign individuals and entities is prohibited. In order to allow for foreign investment in these businesses, many Chinese companies have created VIE structures to enable indirect foreign ownership. In such an arrangement, a Chinese operating company typically establishes an offshore shell company in another jurisdiction, such as the Cayman Islands. That shell company enters into service and other contracts with the Chinese issuer or operating company to obtain economic exposure to the Chinese company, then issues shares on an exchange outside of mainland China, and U.S. investors hold stock in the non-Chinese shell company rather than directly in the Chinese issuer or operating company. This arrangement allows U.S. investors, such as the Fund, to obtain economic exposure to the Chinese issuer or operating company through contractual means rather than through formal equity ownership. Because neither the shell company nor the Fund owns actual equity interests in the Chinese operating company, they do not have the voting rights or other types of control that an equity holder would expect to benefit from. Although VIEs are a longstanding industry practice and well known to officials and regulators in China, VIEs are not formally recognized under Chinese law. Intervention by the Chinese government with respect to VIEs could significantly affect the Chinese company’s performance and the enforceability of the VIE’s contractual arrangements that establish the links between the Chinese company and the shell company in which the Fund invests. This could considerably impact the financial condition of the shell company in which the Fund invests by limiting its ability to consolidate the financial results of the Chinese operating company into its own financial statements, as well as make the value of the shares held by the Fund effectively worthless. Further, if Chinese officials prohibit the existence of VIEs, the market value of the Fund’s associated holdings would likely suffer significant, and possibly permanent effects, which could negatively impact the Fund’s net asset value and could result in substantial losses. Further, it is uncertain whether any new laws, rules or regulations relating to VIE structures will be adopted or, if adopted, what impact they would have on the value of the Fund’s shares.
VIEs are also subject to the investment risks associated with the underlying Chinese issuer or operating company. Chinese companies are not subject to the same degree of regulatory requirements or accounting standards and oversight as companies in more developed countries. As a result, information about the Chinese securities and VIEs in which the Fund invests may be less reliable and incomplete. There also may be significant obstacles to obtaining information necessary for investigations into or litigation against Chinese companies and VIEs, and shareholders may have limited legal remedies, which could negatively impact the Fund. Additionally, U.S.-listed VIEs may be delisted if they do not meet U.S. accounting standards and auditor oversight requirements. Delisting would significantly decrease the liquidity and value of the securities, decrease the ability of the Fund to invest in such securities and may increase the cost of the Fund if required to seek alternative markets in which to invest in such securities.
Annual Total Return
The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund and Index returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of the Index and a broad-based market index. See “Total Return Information” for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund’s performance information is accessible on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com.
91

First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31
During the periods shown in the chart above:
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
58.73%
December 31, 2020
-23.67%
September 30, 2015
The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.
Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2021
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
-3.14%
35.28%
22.48%
9.11%
2/8/2007
Return After Taxes on Distributions
-3.12%
34.94%
22.10%
8.89%
 
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund
Shares
-1.84%
29.58%
19.36%
7.55%
 
Nasdaq® Clean Edge® Green Energy IndexSM
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or
taxes)
-2.64%
35.64%
22.44%
9.34%
 
Russell 2000® Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses or taxes)
14.82%
12.02%
13.23%
8.49%
 
Management
Investment Advisor
First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”)
92

First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)
Portfolio Managers
The Fund’s portfolio is managed by a team (the “Investment Committee”) consisting of:
Daniel J. Lindquist, Chairman of the Investment Committee and Managing Director of First Trust
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
Roger F. Testin, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Stan Ueland, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Chris A. Peterson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Erik Russo, Vice President of First Trust
The Investment Committee members are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Investment Committee member has served as a part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since 2007, except for Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo who have served as members of the portfolio management team since 2016 and 2020, respectively.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, bid-ask spreads and the median bid-ask spread for the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, is available online at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions on shares held in a tax-deferred account, while not immediately taxable, will be subject to tax when the shares are no longer held in a tax-deferred account.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), First Trust and First Trust Portfolios L.P., the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
93

Summary Information

First Trust NYSE® Arca® Biotechnology Index Fund (FBT)
Investment Objective
The First Trust NYSE® Arca® Biotechnology 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 NYSE® Arca Biotechnology Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees
0.40%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.15%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.55%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(1)
0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement
0.55%
(1)
First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.60% of its average daily net assets (the “Expense Cap”) at least through April 30, 2023. Expenses reimbursed and fees waived under such agreement are subject to recovery by the Fund’s investment advisor for up to three years from the date the fee was waived or expense was incurred, but no recovery payment will be made by the Fund if it results in the Fund exceeding (i) the applicable expense limitation in place for the most recent fiscal year for which such expense limitation was in place, (ii) the applicable expense limitation in place at the time the fees were waived or expenses were reimbursed, or (iii) the current expense limitation. The agreement may be terminated by the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, at any time and by the Fund’s investment advisor only after April 30, 2023 upon 60 days’ written notice.
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. The example assumes that the Fund’s investment advisor’s agreement to waive fees and/or pay the Fund’s expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 0.60% of average daily net assets will be terminated following April 30, 2023. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$56
$176
$307
$689
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 39% of the average value of its portfolio.
94

First Trust NYSE® Arca® Biotechnology Index Fund (FBT)
Principal Investment Strategies
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 Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by ICE Data Indices, LLC (the “Index Provider”). The Index Provider reserves the right to, at any time, change the number of stocks comprising the Index by adding or deleting one or more stocks, or replacing one or more stocks contained in the Index with one or more substitute stocks of its choice, if in the Index Provider's discretion such addition, deletion or substitution is necessary or appropriate to maintain the quality and/or character of the Index.
The Index is an equal-dollar weighted index designed to measure the performance of a cross section of small, mid and large capitalization companies in the biotechnology industry that are primarily involved in the use of biological processes to develop products or provide services. Such processes include, but are not limited to, recombinant DNA technology, molecular biology, genetic engineering, monoclonal antibody based technology, lipid/liposome technology and genomics. In order to be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a security must be listed on a qualifying U.S. securities exchange, be issued by a company with a market capitalization of at least $1 billion, have an average daily trading value of at least $1 million over the prior three months and have a current last-traded price of greater than $3. The securities selected for inclusion in the Index are equally weighted. Once included in the Index, it is required that a security maintain a market capitalization of at least $900 million, an average daily trading value of at least $900,000 over the prior three months and a current last-traded price of greater than $1.
The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Index’s quarterly rebalance and reconstitution schedule may cause the Fund to experience a higher rate of portfolio turnover. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of March 31, 2022, the Index was composed of 30 securities and the Fund had significant investments in health care companies, although this may change from time to time. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount (the difference between the market price of the Fund's shares and the Fund's net asset value) and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread (the difference between the the price that someone is willing to pay for shares of the Fund at a specific point in time versus the price at which someone is willing to sell) on the Fund’s shares may widen.
BIOTECHNOLOGY COMPANIES RISK. Biotechnology companies invest heavily in research and development which may not necessarily lead to commercially successful products. Biotechnology companies are subject to increased governmental regulation which may delay or inhibit the release of new products. The effects of high development costs and increased regulation may be exacerbated by a company’s inability to raise prices to cover costs because of managed care pressure or price controls. Many biotechnology companies are dependent upon their ability to use and enforce intellectual property rights and patents. Any impairment of such rights may have adverse financial consequences. Biotechnology stocks, especially those issued by smaller, less-seasoned companies, tend to be more volatile than the overall market. Biotechnology companies can also be significantly affected by technological change and obsolescence, product liability lawsuits and consequential high insurance costs.
CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable
95

First Trust NYSE® Arca® Biotechnology Index Fund (FBT)
to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. Although the Fund has established risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.
DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS RISK. Depositary receipts represent equity interests in a foreign company that trade on a local stock exchange. Depositary receipts may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market. Any distributions paid to the holders of depositary receipts are usually subject to a fee charged by the depositary. Holders of depositary receipts may have limited voting rights, and investment restrictions in certain countries may adversely impact the value of depositary receipts because such restrictions may limit the ability to convert the equity shares into depositary receipts and vice versa. Such restrictions may cause the equity shares of the underlying issuer to trade at a discount or premium to the market price of the depositary receipts.
EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.
HEALTH CARE COMPANIES RISK. Health care companies, such as companies providing medical and healthcare goods and services, companies engaged in manufacturing medical equipment, supplies and pharmaceuticals, as well as operating health care facilities and the provision of managed health care, may be affected by government regulations and government health care programs, increases or decreases in the cost of medical products and services and product liability claims, among other factors. Many health care companies are heavily dependent on patent protection, and the expiration of a company’s patent may adversely affect that company’s profitability. Health care companies are also subject to competitive forces that may result in price discounting, may be thinly capitalized and susceptible to product obsolescence.
INDEX CONCENTRATION RISK. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified. There may be instances in which the Index, for a variety of reasons including changes in the prices of individual securities held by the Fund, has a larger exposure to a small number of stocks or a single stock relative to the rest of the stocks in the Index. Under such circumstances, the Fund will not deviate from the Index except in rare circumstances or in an immaterial way and therefore the Fund’s returns would be more greatly influenced by the returns of the stock(s) with the larger exposure.
INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund’s shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund’s market price may be below the Fund’s net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in the Fund's shares.
INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and do not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate the Index accurately. Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its
96

First Trust NYSE® Arca® Biotechnology Index Fund (FBT)
shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of the Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose the Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors. For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact the Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the Advisor can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.
MARKET MAKER RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. The Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.
NON-U.S. SECURITIES RISK. Non-U.S. securities are subject to higher volatility than securities of domestic issuers due to possible adverse political, social or economic developments, restrictions on foreign investment or exchange of securities, capital controls, lack of liquidity, currency exchange rates, excessive taxation, government seizure of assets, the imposition of sanctions by foreign governments, different legal or accounting standards, and less government supervision and regulation of securities exchanges in foreign countries.
97

First Trust NYSE® Arca® Biotechnology Index Fund (FBT)
OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund is not actively managed. The Fund invests in securities included in or representative of the Index regardless of investment merit. The Fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that the Index is no longer calculated, the Index license is terminated or the identity or character of the Index is materially changed, the Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.
PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES RISK. Pharmaceuticals companies may be affected by industry competition, dependency on a limited number of products, obsolescence of products, government approvals and regulations, loss or impairment of intellectual property rights and litigation regarding product liability. Pharmaceutical are subject to competitive forces that may make it difficult to raise prices of their products and may result in price discounting. The profitability of some pharmaceuticals companies may be dependent on a relatively limited number of products. The research and development costs required to bring a new product to market are substantial with no guarantee that the product will ever become profitable. Many new products are subject to gaining the approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), which can be long and costly. Many pharmaceutical companies are heavily dependent on patents and intellectual property rights. The loss or impairment of these rights may adversely affect the profitability of these companies. Pharmaceuticals companies may also be subject to extensive litigation based on product liability and similar claims.
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. High portfolio turnover may result in the Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause the Fund’s performance to be less than expected.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund’s investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
SMALLER COMPANIES RISK. Small and/or mid capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse general market or economic developments, and their securities may be less liquid and may experience greater price volatility than larger, more established companies as a result of several factors, including limited trading volumes, fewer products or financial resources, management inexperience and less publicly available information. Accordingly, such companies are generally subject to greater market risk than larger, more established companies.
TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.
Annual Total Return
The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund and Index returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by
98

First Trust NYSE® Arca® Biotechnology Index Fund (FBT)
showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of the Index, a broad-based market index and two market indices. See “Total Return Information” for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund’s performance information is accessible on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com.
First Trust NYSE® Arca® Biotechnology Index Fund
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31
During the periods shown in the chart above:
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
29.25%
March 31, 2012
-22.50%
March 31, 2016
The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.
Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2021
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
-3.64%
12.25%
17.38%
14.51%
6/19/2006
Return After Taxes on Distributions
-3.64%
12.25%
17.37%
14.48%
 
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of
Fund Shares
-2.15%
9.80%
14.92%
12.77%
 
NYSE® Arca Biotechnology Index (reflects no
deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
-3.52%
12.75%
17.91%
15.10%
 
S&P Composite 1500® Health Care Index (reflects
no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
24.85%
17.70%
17.44%
12.85%
 
Nasdaq® Biotechnology Index (reflects no
deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
0.02%
11.89%
16.36%
13.26%
 
S&P 500® Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses or taxes)
28.71%
18.47%
16.55%
11.30%
 
99

First Trust NYSE® Arca® Biotechnology Index Fund (FBT)
Management
Investment Advisor
First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”)
Portfolio Managers
The Fund’s portfolio is managed by a team (the “Investment Committee”) consisting of:
Daniel J. Lindquist, Chairman of the Investment Committee and Managing Director of First Trust
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
Roger F. Testin, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Stan Ueland, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Chris A. Peterson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Erik Russo, Vice President of First Trust
The Investment Committee members are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Investment Committee member has served as a part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since 2006, except for Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo who have served as members of the portfolio management team since 2016 and 2020, respectively.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, bid-ask spreads and the median bid-ask spread for the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, is available online at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions on shares held in a tax-deferred account, while not immediately taxable, will be subject to tax when the shares are no longer held in a tax-deferred account.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), First Trust and First Trust Portfolios L.P., the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
100

Summary Information

First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)
Investment Objective
The First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the S&P United States REIT Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees
0.30%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.21%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.51%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(1)
0.01%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement
0.50%
(1)
First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.50% of its average daily net assets (the “Expense Cap”) at least through April 30, 2023. Expenses reimbursed and fees waived under such agreement are subject to recovery by the Fund’s investment advisor for up to three years from the date the fee was waived or expense was incurred, but no recovery payment will be made by the Fund if it results in the Fund exceeding (i) the applicable expense limitation in place for the most recent fiscal year for which such expense limitation was in place, (ii) the applicable expense limitation in place at the time the fees were waived or expenses were reimbursed, or (iii) the current expense limitation. The agreement may be terminated by the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, at any time and by the Fund’s investment advisor only after April 30, 2023 upon 60 days’ written notice.
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. The example assumes that the Fund’s investment advisor’s agreement to waive fees and/or pay the Fund’s expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 0.50% of average daily net assets will be terminated following April 30, 2023. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$51
$163
$284
$640
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 6% of the average value of its portfolio.
101

First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) that comprise the Index. The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC (the “Index Provider”). The Index Provider reserves the right to make exceptions when applying the methodology if the need arises. In addition, the Index Provider may revise Index policy covering rules for selecting companies, treatment of dividends, share counts or other matters.
The Index seeks to measure the performance of publicly-traded REITs domiciled in the United States that meet certain eligibility requirements. Generally, REITs are companies that own and most often actively manage income-generating commercial real estate. Some REITs make or invest in loans and other obligations that are secured by real estate collateral. REITs receive special tax considerations and can be a liquid method of investing in real estate.
The S&P Global Property Index, which is a market capitalization-weighted index that contains property companies engaged in real estate ownership, development and/or management that trade in developed and merging countries, serves as the initial universe for the Index. The constituents of the S&P Global Property Index are drawn from the S&P Global Broad Market Index, which is an index that measures global stock market performance and excludes securities issued by companies with a market capitalization of less than $100 million.
The Index does not include timber REITs, mortgage REITs or mortgage-backed REITs. The Index may contain securities issued by small, mid and large capitalization companies. Securities selected for inclusion in the Index are weighted pursuant to a float-adjusted market capitalization weighted methodology. The Index Provider may make changes to the Index’s methodology or constituents on an as-needed basis.
The Index is rebalanced quarterly and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Index’s quarterly rebalance schedule may cause the Fund to experience a higher rate of portfolio turnover. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of March 31, 2022, the Index was composed of 150 securities and the Fund had significant investments in real estate companies, although this may change from time to time. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount (the difference between the market price of the Fund's shares and the Fund's net asset value) and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread (the difference between the the price that someone is willing to pay for shares of the Fund at a specific point in time versus the price at which someone is willing to sell) on the Fund’s shares may widen.
CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. Although the Fund has established risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.
102

First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)
EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.
INDEX CONCENTRATION RISK. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified. There may be instances in which the Index, for a variety of reasons including changes in the prices of individual securities held by the Fund, has a larger exposure to a small number of stocks or a single stock relative to the rest of the stocks in the Index. Under such circumstances, the Fund will not deviate from the Index except in rare circumstances or in an immaterial way and therefore the Fund’s returns would be more greatly influenced by the returns of the stock(s) with the larger exposure.
INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund’s shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund’s market price may be below the Fund’s net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in the Fund's shares.
INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and do not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate the Index accurately. Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of the Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose the Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors. For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact the Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the Advisor can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.
MARKET MAKER RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process
103

First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)
in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. The Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.
OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund is not actively managed. The Fund invests in securities included in or representative of the Index regardless of investment merit. The Fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that the Index is no longer calculated, the Index license is terminated or the identity or character of the Index is materially changed, the Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. High portfolio turnover may result in the Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause the Fund’s performance to be less than expected.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund’s investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
104

First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)
REAL ESTATE COMPANIES RISK. Real estate companies include REITs and other companies involved in the operation and development of commercial, residential and industrial real estate. An investment in a real estate company may be subject to risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including the possibility of declines in the value of real estate, losses from casualty or condemnation, and changes in local and general economic conditions, supply and demand, interest rates, environmental liability, zoning laws, regulatory limitations on rents, property taxes, and operating expenses. Some real estate companies have limited diversification because they invest in a limited number of properties, a narrow geographic area, or a single type of property. The price of a real estate company’s securities may also drop because of dividend reductions, lowered credit ratings, poor management, or other factors that affect companies in general.
REIT RISK. REITs typically own and operate income-producing real estate, such as residential or commercial buildings, or real-estate related assets, including mortgages. As a result, investments in REITs are subject to the risks associated with investing in real estate, which may include, but are not limited to: fluctuations in the value of underlying properties; defaults by borrowers or tenants; market saturation; changes in general and local operating expenses; and other economic, political or regulatory occurrences affecting companies in the real estate sector. REITs are also subject to the risk that the real estate market may experience an economic downturn generally, which may have a material effect on the real estate in which the REITs invest and their underlying portfolio securities. REITs may have also a relatively small market capitalization which may result in their shares experiencing less market liquidity and greater price volatility than larger companies. Increases in interest rates typically lower the present value of a REIT's future earnings stream, and may make financing property purchases and improvements more costly. Because the market price of REIT stocks may change based upon investors' collective perceptions of future earnings, the value of the Fund will generally decline when investors anticipate or experience rising interest rates.
SMALLER COMPANIES RISK. Small and/or mid capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse general market or economic developments, and their securities may be less liquid and may experience greater price volatility than larger, more established companies as a result of several factors, including limited trading volumes, fewer products or financial resources, management inexperience and less publicly available information. Accordingly, such companies are generally subject to greater market risk than larger, more established companies.
TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.
Annual Total Return
The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund and Index returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of the Index, a broad-based market index and a market index. See “Total Return Information” for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund’s performance information is accessible on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com.
105

First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31
During the periods shown in the chart above:
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
16.18%
December 31, 2021
-27.01%
March 31, 2020
The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.
Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2021
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
42.52%
10.00%
10.63%
6.15%
5/8/2007
Return After Taxes on Distributions
41.61%
8.82%
9.42%
5.05%
 
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund
Shares
25.12%
7.26%
8.05%
4.35%
 
S&P United States REIT Index(1) (reflects no
deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
43.05%
10.57%
11.21%
N/A
 
FTSE EPRA/NAREIT North America Index (reflects
no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
42.60%
10.00%
10.52%
6.27%
 
Russell 3000® Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses or taxes)
25.66%
17.97%
16.30%
10.33%
 
(1)
On November 6, 2008, the Fund’s underlying index changed from the S&P REIT Composite Index to the S&P United States REIT Index. Effective December 31, 2008, the S&P REIT Composite Index was discontinued. Therefore, the Fund’s performance and historical total returns shown for the periods prior to November 6, 2008, are not necessarily indicative of the performance that the Fund, based on its current Index, would have generated. The inception date of the Index was June 30, 2008. Returns for the Index are only disclosed for those periods in which the Index was in existence for the whole period.
106

First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)
Management
Investment Advisor
First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”)
Portfolio Managers
The Fund’s portfolio is managed by a team (the “Investment Committee”) consisting of:
Daniel J. Lindquist, Chairman of the Investment Committee and Managing Director of First Trust
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
Roger F. Testin, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Stan Ueland, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Chris A. Peterson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Erik Russo, Vice President of First Trust
The Investment Committee members are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Investment Committee member has served as a part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since 2007, except for Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo who have served as members of the portfolio management team since 2016 and 2020, respectively.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, bid-ask spreads and the median bid-ask spread for the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, is available online at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions on shares held in a tax-deferred account, while not immediately taxable, will be subject to tax when the shares are no longer held in a tax-deferred account.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), First Trust and First Trust Portfolios L.P., the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
107

Summary Information

First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF (FPX)
Investment Objective
The First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the IPOX®-100 U.S. Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees
0.40%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.17%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.57%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(1)
0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement
0.57%
(1)
First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.60% of its average daily net assets (the “Expense Cap”) at least through April 30, 2023. Expenses reimbursed and fees waived under such agreement are subject to recovery by the Fund’s investment advisor for up to three years from the date the fee was waived or expense was incurred, but no recovery payment will be made by the Fund if it results in the Fund exceeding (i) the applicable expense limitation in place for the most recent fiscal year for which such expense limitation was in place, (ii) the applicable expense limitation in place at the time the fees were waived or expenses were reimbursed, or (iii) the current expense limitation. The agreement may be terminated by the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, at any time and by the Fund’s investment advisor only after April 30, 2023 upon 60 days’ written notice.
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. The example assumes that the Fund’s investment advisor’s agreement to waive fees and/or pay the Fund’s expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 0.60% of average daily net assets will be terminated following April 30, 2023. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$58
$183
$318
$714
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 85% of the average value of its portfolio.
108

First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF (FPX)
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the common stocks that comprise the Index. The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by IPOX® Schuster LLC (the “Index Provider”). Solactive serves as the index calculation agent. It is the sole responsibility of the Index Provider to decide on all matters relating to the Index methodology and Index constituent selection. The Index Provider may make exceptions to the Index methodology regarding constituent inclusion, exclusion and weighting.
The Index seeks to measure the performance of equity securities of the 100 typically largest and most liquid initial public offerings (“IPOs”) (including spin-offs and equity carve-outs) of U.S. companies. An IPO is a public offering in which the shares of stock in a company are sold to the general public for the first time on an exchange. The Index measures the performance of a company’s equity securities for the 1,000 trading days following its IPO. A company is eligible for inclusion in the Index on the close of the 6th trading day following its IPO and is eligible to remain in the Index until the close of the 1,000th trading day. The IPOX Global Composite Index (the “Base Index”) serves as the initial universe for the Index. The Base Index is a market capitalization-weighted index which seeks to provide exposure to the aftermarket performance of the U.S. IPO market. Securities issued by companies without a minimum market capitalization of $50 million on the close of the first trading day following the IPO, companies with less than 15% public float at the IPO and companies that experience abnormally large “underpricing” in their IPO are not eligible for inclusion in the Base Index. The Index is selected by first excluding all securities comprising the Base Index that are issued by non-U.S. companies. The remaining securities are then ranked according to market capitalization. The 100 securities with the largest market capitalizations are included in the Index. While the Index is market-capitalization weighted, individual securities are capped at a weight of 10%. The Index may contain the securities of small, mid and large capitalization companies.
The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Index’s quarterly rebalance schedule may cause the Fund to experience a higher rate of portfolio turnover. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of March 31, 2022, the Index was composed of 100 securities and the Fund had significant investments in information technology companies, although this may change from time to time. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.
In certain circumstances, such as pending corporate actions, economically significant IPOs, or spin-offs, mergers or acquisitions involving Index constituents, the Index Provider may make exceptions to the initial screening rebalancing and exit process described above. In addition, subject to the terms of the license agreement that permits the Fund to use the Index, the Index Provider may have the ability to change the Index methodology, terminate the license agreement or cease compiling, calculating and publishing the Index, in each case without the consent of the Fund, the Advisor or the Fund’s shareholders.
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount (the difference between the market price of the Fund's shares and the Fund's net asset value) and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread (the difference between the the price that someone is willing to pay for shares of the Fund at a specific point in time versus the price at which someone is willing to sell) on the Fund’s shares may widen.
CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable
109

First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF (FPX)
to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. Although the Fund has established risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.
EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.
INDEX CONCENTRATION RISK. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified. There may be instances in which the Index, for a variety of reasons including changes in the prices of individual securities held by the Fund, has a larger exposure to a small number of stocks or a single stock relative to the rest of the stocks in the Index. Under such circumstances, the Fund will not deviate from the Index except in rare circumstances or in an immaterial way and therefore the Fund’s returns would be more greatly influenced by the returns of the stock(s) with the larger exposure.
INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund’s shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund’s market price may be below the Fund’s net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in the Fund's shares.
INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and do not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate the Index accurately. Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of the Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose the Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors. For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact the Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the Advisor can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the
110

First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF (FPX)
Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES RISK. Information technology companies produce and provide hardware, software and information technology systems and services. These companies may be adversely affected by rapidly changing technologies, short product life cycles, fierce competition, aggressive pricing and reduced profit margins, the loss of patent, copyright and trademark protections, cyclical market patterns, evolving industry standards and frequent new product introductions. In addition, information technology companies are particularly vulnerable to federal, state and local government regulation, and competition and consolidation, both domestically and internationally, including competition from foreign competitors with lower production costs. Information technology companies also heavily rely on intellectual property rights and may be adversely affected by the loss or impairment of those rights.
IPO RISK. Shares issued by companies that have recently conducted an IPO are often subject to extreme price volatility and speculative trading due to factors such as the absence of a prior public market, unseasoned trading, the small number of shares available for trading and limited information about the issuer’s business model, quality of management, earnings growth potential and other criteria used to evaluate its investment prospects. Such stocks may have exhibited price appreciation in connection with the IPO that is not sustained, and it is not uncommon for stocks to decline in value in the period following the IPO. addition, the market for IPO shares can be speculative and/or inactive for extended periods of time. There is no assurance that a Fund will be able to obtain allocable portions of IPO shares. The limited number of shares available for trading in some IPOs may make it more difficult for a Fund to buy or sell significant amounts of shares without an unfavorable impact on prevailing prices. Investors in IPO shares can be affected by substantial dilution in the value of their shares, by sales of additional shares and by concentration of control in existing management and principal shareholders.
MARKET MAKER RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. The Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.
NON-DIVERSIFICATION RISK. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in
111

First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF (FPX)
the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in a limited number of issuers. As a result, the Fund may be more susceptible to a single adverse economic or regulatory occurrence affecting one or more of these issuers, experience increased volatility and be highly invested in certain issuers.
OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund is not actively managed. The Fund invests in securities included in or representative of the Index regardless of investment merit. The Fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that the Index is no longer calculated, the Index license is terminated or the identity or character of the Index is materially changed, the Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. High portfolio turnover may result in the Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause the Fund’s performance to be less than expected.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund’s investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
SMALLER COMPANIES RISK. Small and/or mid capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse general market or economic developments, and their securities may be less liquid and may experience greater price volatility than larger, more established companies as a result of several factors, including limited trading volumes, fewer products or financial resources, management inexperience and less publicly available information. Accordingly, such companies are generally subject to greater market risk than larger, more established companies.
TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.
Annual Total Return
The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund and Index returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of the Index and two broad-based market indices. See “Total Return Information” for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund’s performance information is accessible on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com.
112

First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF (FPX)
First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31
During the periods shown in the chart above:
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
33.35%
June 30, 2020
-21.47%
March 31, 2020
The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.
Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2021
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
3.67%
18.42%
18.51%
13.07%
4/12/2006
Return After Taxes on Distributions
3.61%
18.14%
18.18%
12.74%
 
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of
Fund Shares
2.17%
14.84%
15.73%
11.18%
 
IPOX®-100 U.S. Index (reflects no deduction for
fees, expenses or taxes)
4.19%
18.97%
19.14%
13.70%
 
S&P 500® Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses or taxes)
28.71%
18.47%
16.55%
10.92%
 
Russell 3000® Index (reflects no deduction for
fees, expenses or taxes)
25.66%
17.97%
16.30%
10.79%
 
Management
Investment Advisor
First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”)
113

First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF (FPX)
Portfolio Managers
The Fund’s portfolio is managed by a team (the “Investment Committee”) consisting of:
Daniel J. Lindquist, Chairman of the Investment Committee and Managing Director of First Trust
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
Roger F. Testin, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Stan Ueland, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Chris A. Peterson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Erik Russo, Vice President of First Trust
The Investment Committee members are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Investment Committee member has served as a part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since 2006, except for Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo who have served as members of the portfolio management team since 2016 and 2020, respectively.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, bid-ask spreads and the median bid-ask spread for the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, is available online at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions on shares held in a tax-deferred account, while not immediately taxable, will be subject to tax when the shares are no longer held in a tax-deferred account.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), First Trust and First Trust Portfolios L.P., the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
114

Summary Information

First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund (FVD)
Investment Objective
The First Trust Value Line® 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 Value Line® Dividend Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees
0.50%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.17%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.67%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(1)
0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement
0.67%
(1)
First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed 0.70% of its average daily net assets (the “Expense Cap”) at least through April 30, 2023. Expenses reimbursed and fees waived under such agreement are subject to recovery by the Fund’s investment advisor for up to three years from the date the fee was waived or expense was incurred, but no recovery payment will be made by the Fund if it results in the Fund exceeding (i) the applicable expense limitation in place for the most recent fiscal year for which such expense limitation was in place, (ii) the applicable expense limitation in place at the time the fees were waived or expenses were reimbursed, or (iii) the current expense limitation. The agreement may be terminated by the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, at any time and by the Fund’s investment advisor only after April 30, 2023 upon 60 days’ written notice.
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. The example assumes that the Fund’s investment advisor’s agreement to waive fees and/or pay the Fund’s expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 0.70% of average daily net assets will be terminated following April 30, 2023. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$68
$214
$373
$835
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 47% of the average value of its portfolio.
115

First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund (FVD)
Principal Investment Strategies
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 Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is developed by Value Line Publishing, LLC (the “Index Provider”) and calculated by ICE Data Indices, LLC as the calculation agent on behalf of the Index Provider.
The Index seeks to measure the performance of the securities ranked #1 or #2 according to the Index Provider’s proprietary Value Line® SafetyTM Ranking System (the “Safety Ranking System”) that are also still expected to provide above-average dividend yield. According to information published by Value Line, the Safety Ranking System seeks to measure the total risk of a security relative to the total risk of the approximately 1,700 securities comprising the Index’s initial universe. The initial universe of 1,700 U.S.-listed equity securities accounts for approximately 90% of the market capitalization of all stocks traded on U.S. securities exchanges and is intended to provide broad industry coverage.
On a weekly basis, the Safety Ranking System assigns a rank of #1 (safest) to #5 (riskiest) to each of the securities in the initial universe based on each security’s expected total risk relative to the other securities in the universe. According to information published by Value Line, the Safety Rank is derived from two equally weighted measurements, a security’s “price stability rank” and “financial strength rating.” A security’s “price stability rank” is based on the standard deviation of weekly percent changes in the price of the security over the last five years. A company’s “financial strength rating” is the Index Provider’s measure of a company’s financial condition. The Index excludes all securities that are not assigned a Safety Rank of #1 or #2. The Index also excludes all securities issued by companies with a market capitalization of less than $1 billion and those companies with a lower than average dividend yield, as compared to the indicated dividend yield of the S&P 500 Index. The remaining securities are selected for inclusion in the Index and are equally weighted. Because the Safety Ranking System assigns ranks weekly and the Index reconstitutes monthly, the Index may, for the remainder of any given monthly period, contain securities that are no longer assigned a Safety Rank of #1 or #2. The Index may contain the securities of small, mid and large capitalization companies.
The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted monthly and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Index’s monthly rebalance and reconstitution schedule may cause the Fund to experience a higher rate of portfolio turnover. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of March 31, 2022, the Index was composed of 206 securities. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount (the difference between the market price of the Fund's shares and the Fund's net asset value) and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread (the difference between the the price that someone is willing to pay for shares of the Fund at a specific point in time versus the price at which someone is willing to sell) on the Fund’s shares may widen.
CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund’s digital information systems through “hacking” or malicious software coding but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or the Fund’s third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. Although the Fund has established risk
116

First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund (FVD)
management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.
DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS RISK. Depositary receipts represent equity interests in a foreign company that trade on a local stock exchange. Depositary receipts may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market. Any distributions paid to the holders of depositary receipts are usually subject to a fee charged by the depositary. Holders of depositary receipts may have limited voting rights, and investment restrictions in certain countries may adversely impact the value of depositary receipts because such restrictions may limit the ability to convert the equity shares into depositary receipts and vice versa. Such restrictions may cause the equity shares of the underlying issuer to trade at a discount or premium to the market price of the depositary receipts.
DIVIDENDS RISK. The Fund’s investment in dividend-paying securities could cause the Fund to underperform similar funds that invest without consideration of an issuer’s track record of paying dividends. Companies that issue dividend-paying securities are not required to continue to pay dividends on such securities. Therefore, there is the possibility that such companies could reduce or eliminate the payment of dividends in the future, which could negatively affect the Fund’s performance.
EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.
INDEX CONCENTRATION RISK. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified. There may be instances in which the Index, for a variety of reasons including changes in the prices of individual securities held by the Fund, has a larger exposure to a small number of stocks or a single stock relative to the rest of the stocks in the Index. Under such circumstances, the Fund will not deviate from the Index except in rare circumstances or in an immaterial way and therefore the Fund’s returns would be more greatly influenced by the returns of the stock(s) with the larger exposure.
INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund’s shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund’s market price may be below the Fund’s net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in the Fund's shares.
INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and do not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate the Index accurately. Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of the Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose the Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors.
117

First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund (FVD)
For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact the Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the Advisor can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.
INFLATION RISK. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money. As inflation increases, the present value of the Fund’s assets and distributions may decline.
MARKET MAKER RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. The Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.
NON-U.S. SECURITIES RISK. Non-U.S. securities are subject to higher volatility than securities of domestic issuers due to possible adverse political, social or economic developments, restrictions on foreign investment or exchange of securities, capital controls, lack of liquidity, currency exchange rates, excessive taxation, government seizure of assets, the imposition of sanctions by foreign governments, different legal or accounting standards, and less government supervision and regulation of securities exchanges in foreign countries.
OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including
118

First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund (FVD)
custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund is not actively managed. The Fund invests in securities included in or representative of the Index regardless of investment merit. The Fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that the Index is no longer calculated, the Index license is terminated or the identity or character of the Index is materially changed, the Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. High portfolio turnover may result in the Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause the Fund’s performance to be less than expected.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund’s investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
SMALLER COMPANIES RISK. Small and/or mid capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse general market or economic developments, and their securities may be less liquid and may experience greater price volatility than larger, more established companies as a result of several factors, including limited trading volumes, fewer products or financial resources, management inexperience and less publicly available information. Accordingly, such companies are generally subject to greater market risk than larger, more established companies.
TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.
Annual Total Return
The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund and Index returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of the Index, a broad-based market index and a market index. See “Total Return Information” for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund’s performance information is accessible on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com.
On December 15, 2006, the Fund acquired the assets and adopted the financial and performance history of First Trust Value Line® Dividend Fund (the “Predecessor FVD Fund,” a closed-end fund), which had an inception date of August 19, 2003. The inception date total returns at net asset value include the sales load of $0.675 per share on the initial offering. The investment goals, strategies and policies of the Fund are substantially similar to those of the Predecessor FVD Fund. Because the Fund's Index had an inception date of the Index was July 3, 2006, it was not in existence for all of the periods disclosed.
119

First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund (FVD)
First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31
During the periods shown in the chart above:
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
12.53%
March 31, 2013
-22.54%
March 31, 2020
The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.
Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2021
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
24.86%
11.41%
13.02%
10.33%
8/19/2003
Return After Taxes on Distributions
23.91%
10.38%
11.92%
8.90%
 
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of
Fund Shares
14.68%
8.52%
10.23%
7.96%
 
Value Line® Dividend Index(1),(2) (reflects no
deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
25.85%
12.32%
13.95%
N/A
 
S&P 500® Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses or taxes)
28.71%
18.47%
16.55%
11.06%
 
Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend IndexSM(2) (reflects
no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
32.24%
11.02%
12.82%
N/A
 
(1)
On December 15, 2006, the Fund acquired the assets and adopted the financial and performance history of First Trust Value Line® Dividend Fund (the “Predecessor FVD Fund,” a closed-end fund), which had an inception date of August 19, 2003. The inception date total returns at Net Asset Value (“NAV”) include the sales load of $0.675 per share on the initial offering. The investment goals, strategies and policies of the Fund are substantially similar to those of the Predecessor FVD Fund. The inception date of the Index was July 3, 2006. Returns for the Index are only disclosed for those periods in which the Index was in existence for the entire period. The cumulative total returns for the period from the reorganization date (12/15/06) through period end (12/31/21) were 276.05% and 277.93% at NAV and Market Value, respectively. That compares to an Index return of 324.04% for the same period. The average annual total returns for the period from the reorganization date (12/15/06) through period end (12/31/21) were 9.20% and 9.24% at NAV and Market Value, respectively. That compares to an Index return of 10.08% for the same period.
120

First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund (FVD)
NAV and Market Value returns assume that all dividend distributions have been reinvested in the Fund at NAV and Market Value, respectively. Prior to December 15, 2006, NAV and Market Value returns assumed that all dividend distributions were reinvested at prices obtained by the Dividend Reinvestment Plan of the Predecessor FVD Fund and the price used to calculate Market Value return was the AMEX (now known as the NYSE American) closing market price of the Predecessor FVD Fund.
(2)
Performance data is not available for all the periods shown in the table because performance data does not exist for the periods shown.
Management
Investment Advisor
First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or the “Advisor”)
Portfolio Managers
The Fund’s portfolio is managed by a team (the “Investment Committee”) consisting of:
Daniel J. Lindquist, Chairman of the Investment Committee and Managing Director of First Trust
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
Roger F. Testin, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Stan Ueland, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Chris A. Peterson, Senior Vice President of First Trust
Erik Russo, Vice President of First Trust
The Investment Committee members are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Investment Committee member has served as a part of the portfolio management team of the Predecessor FVD Fund and the Fund since 2003, with the exception of Daniel Lindquist, Stan Ueland, Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo who have served as members of the portfolio management team since 2004, 2006, 2016 and 2020, respectively.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis, at net asset value, only in large blocks of shares called “Creation Units.” Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Since shares of the Fund trade on securities exchanges in the secondary market at their market price rather than their net asset value, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than (premium) or less than (discount) the Fund’s net asset value. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, bid-ask spreads and the median bid-ask spread for the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, is available online at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions on shares held in a tax-deferred account, while not immediately taxable, will be subject to tax when the shares are no longer held in a tax-deferred account.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), First Trust and First Trust Portfolios L.P., the Fund’s distributor, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
121

Additional Information on the Funds' Investment Objectives and Strategies
Each Fund is a series of First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund and is regulated as an “investment company” under the 1940 Act. Each Fund operates as an index fund and is not actively managed by First Trust. As such, each Fund’s investment objective is to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of its Index. In seeking to achieve this objective, each Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the securities that comprise its Index. ICE Data Indices, LLC serves as the index provider for the index tracked by the First Trust NYSE® Arca® Biotechnology Index Fund. International Securities Exchange, LLC serves as the index provider for the index tracked by the First Trust Chindia ETF, First Trust Natural Gas ETF and First Trust Water ETF. IPOX Schuster LLC serves as the index provider for the index tracked by the First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF. Morningstar, Inc. serves as the index provider for the index tracked by the First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund. Nasdaq, Inc. serves as the index provider for the index tracked by the First Trust Capital Strength ETF, First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund, First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund and First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund. Nasdaq, Inc. and American Bankers Association serve as the index providers for the index tracked by the First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund. Nasdaq, Inc. and Clean Edge, Inc. serve as the index providers for the index tracked by the First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund. S&P Dow Jones Indices, LLC serves as the index provider for the index tracked by the First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund, First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund and First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund. Value Line Publishing, LLC serves as the index provider for the index tracked by the First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund. ICE Data Indices, LLC, International Securities Exchange, LLC, IPOX Schuster LLC, Morningstar, Inc., Nasdaq, Inc., American Bankers Association, Clean Edge, Inc., S&P Dow Jones Indices, LLC and Value Line Publishing, LLC may individually be referred to throughout this prospectus as an “Index Provider” and collectively as the “Index Providers.”
Each Fund will generally employ a full replication strategy, meaning that it will normally invest in all of the securities comprising its Index in proportion to their weightings in the Index. However, under various circumstances, full replication of the Index may not be possible or practicable. In those circumstances, a Fund may purchase a sample of securities in its Index. There may also be instances in which First Trust may choose to overweight certain securities in an Index, purchase securities not in an Index which First Trust believes are appropriate to substitute for certain securities in the Index, use futures or derivative instruments or utilize various combinations of the above techniques in seeking to track an Index. Each Fund may sell securities that are represented in its Index in anticipation of their removal from the Index or purchase securities not represented in the Index in anticipation of their addition to the Index.
Each Fund’s investment objective, (with the exception of the First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund, First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund, First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund, First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund, First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF and First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund) its 90% investment strategy and each of the policies described herein are non-fundamental policies that may be changed by the Board of Trustees of the Trust (the “Board”) without shareholder approval upon 60 days’ prior written notice to shareholders. With respect to each of the First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund, First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund, First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund, First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund, First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF and First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund, the investment objective is a fundamental policy that may be changed only with shareholder approval. Certain fundamental policies of the Funds are set forth in the Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”) under “Investment Objective and Policies.”
While it is not expected that the Funds will invest in the securities of other investment companies, any such investments would be subject to limitations imposed by the 1940 Act and the related rules and interpretations. Each Fund has adopted a policy that it will not invest in other investment companies in excess of 1940 Act limits in reliance on Sections 12(d)(1)(F) or 12(d)(1)(G) of the 1940 Act.
Capital Strength Index℠
The Capital Strength Index℠ is an equal-dollar weighted index that seeks to provide exposure to well-capitalized companies with strong market positions that have the potential to provide stockholders with a greater degree of stability and performance over time. The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced quarterly in January, April, July and October.
Dow Jones Internet Composite Index℠
The Dow Jones Internet Composite Index℠ is a float-adjusted market capitalization index designed to represent the largest and most actively traded stocks of U.S. companies in the internet industry. The Index is rebalanced quarterly in March, June, September and December.
122

Dow Jones Select Microcap Index℠
The Dow Jones Select Microcap Index℠ is a float-adjusted market capitalization index designed to measure the performance of U.S. micro-cap stocks meeting specific size, liquidity, and fundamental eligibility criteria. The Index is reconstituted annually in August and rebalanced quarterly.
ISE ChIndia IndexTM
The ISE ChIndia IndexTM is a modified market capitalization-weighted index designed to track the performance of companies from the emerging markets of China and India. The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced semi-annually in June and December.
ISE-Revere Natural GasTM Index
The ISE-Revere Natural GasTM Index is a linear-based capitalization-weighted index designed to track public companies that derive a substantial portion of their revenues from midstream activities and/or the exploration and production of natural gas. The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced quarterly in March, June, September and December.
ISE Clean Edge Water Index
The ISE Clean Edge Water Index is a modified market capitalization-weighted index designed to track the performance of companies that derive a substantial portion of their revenues from the potable water and wastewater industry. The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced semi-annually in March and September.
Morningstar® Dividend Leaders Index℠
The Morningstar® Dividend Leaders Index℠ is a modified market capitalization-weighted index designed to capture the performance of 100 publicly traded companies that have shown a consistent record of dividend payments and ability to sustain those payments. The Index is reconstituted annually in June and rebalanced quarterly in March, June, September and December.
Nasdaq-100 Equal Weighted Index℠
The Nasdaq-100 Equal Weighted Index℠ is an equal-weighted index of the Nasdaq-100 Index, which seeks to include 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market by market value. The Index is reconstituted annually in December and rebalanced quarterly in March, June, September and December.
Nasdaq-100 Ex-Tech Sector Index℠
The Nasdaq-100 Ex-Tech Sector Index℠ is an equal-weighted index based on non-technology companies included in the Nasdaq-100 Index, which seeks to include 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market by market value. The Index is reconstituted annually in December and rebalanced quarterly in March, June, September and December.
Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector Index℠
The Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector Index℠ is an equal-weighted index based on the securities of the Nasdaq-100 Index, which seeks to include 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market by market value, that are classified as Technology according to the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) classification system. The Index is reconstituted annually in December and rebalanced quarterly in March, June, September and December.
Nasdaq OMX® ABA Community Bank Index℠
The Nasdaq OMX® ABA Community Bank Index℠ is a market capitalization-weighted index that seeks to include a subset of banks and thrifts or their holding companies listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market. The Index is reconstituted semi-annually in June and December and rebalanced quarterly in March, June, September and December.
Nasdaq® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index℠
The Nasdaq® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index℠ is a modified market capitalization-weighted index designed to track the performance of companies that are primarily manufacturers, developers, distributors, or installers of clean-energy technologies. The Index is reconstituted semi-annually in March and September and rebalanced quarterly in March, June, September and December.
123

NYSE® Arca Biotechnology Index
The NYSE® Arca Biotechnology Index is an equal dollar weighted index designed to measure the performance of publicly traded companies in the biotechnology industry that are primarily involved in the use of biological processes to develop products or provide services. The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced quarterly in January, April, July and October.
S&P United States REIT Index
The S&P United States REIT Index is designed to measure the investable U.S. real estate investment trust market and maintain a constituency that reflects the market’s overall composition. The Index is rebalanced quarterly in March, June, September and December.
IPOX®-100 U.S. Index
The IPOX®-100 U.S. Index is an applied market capitalization-weighted price index designed to measure the performance of the top 100 U.S. companies ranked quarterly by market capitalization in the IPOX® Global Composite Index. The Index is rebalanced quarterly.
Value Line® Dividend Index
The Value Line® Dividend Index is an equal-dollar weighted index that seeks to include U.S. exchange-listed securities of companies that pay above-average dividends and which Value Line® gives a SafetyTM Ranking of #1 or #2 using the Value Line® SafetyTM Ranking System. The Index is evaluated and rebalanced monthly.
More information regarding each Index, including additional detail on the Index methodology, may be found on an Index Provider’s website. Neither the Fund, the Board, First Trust, or any of their affiliates, are responsible for the information set forth on an Index Provider’s website. Information from an Index Provider’s website and any other information not expressly included in this prospectus is not incorporated by reference in, and should not be considered part of, this prospectus.
Fund Investments
Principal Investments
Equity Securities
The Funds invest in equity securities, including common stocks and depositary receipts. Common stock represents an equity ownership interest in issuers. Holders of common stock are entitled to the income and increase in the value of the assets and business of the issuers after all debt obligations and obligations to preferred stockholders are satisfied. Depositary receipts are certificates typically issued by a bank or trust company that represent ownership interests in securities of non-U.S. companies. Depositary receipts may or may not be jointly sponsored by the underlying issuer.
Master Limited Partnerships
Certain Funds invest in units of MLPs. An MLP is a limited partnership or a limited liability company that is treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, the interests in which (known as units) are traded on securities exchanges or over-the-counter. MLPs are typically engaged in one or more aspects of the exploration, production, processing, transmission, marketing, storage or delivery of energy-related commodities such as natural gas, natural gas liquids, coal, crude oil or refined petroleum products. Holders of MLP units have limited control and voting rights on matters affecting the partnership. If publicly traded, to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the MLP must receive at least 90% of its income from qualifying sources, including interest, dividends, real estate rents, gain from the sale or disposition of real property, income and gain from mineral or natural resources activities, income and gain from the transportation or storage of certain fuels, gain from the sale or disposition of a capital asset held for the production of income described in the foregoing. Mineral or natural resources activities include exploration, development, production, mining, refining, marketing and transportation (including pipelines), of oil and gas, minerals, geothermal energy, fertilizer, timber or carbon dioxide.
Real Estate Investment Trusts
Certain Funds invest in REITS. REITs are financial vehicles that pool investors’ capital to purchase or finance real estate. REITs are generally classified as equity REITs, mortgage REITs or a combination of equity and mortgage REITs. Equity REITs invest the majority of their assets directly in real property and derive income primarily from the collection of rents. Equity REITs can also realize capital gains by selling properties that have appreciated in value. Mortgage REITs invest the majority of their assets
124

in real estate mortgages and derive income from the collection of interest payments. REITs are not taxed on income distributed to shareholders provided they comply with the applicable tax requirements.
Non-Principal Investments
Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments
Normally, a Fund invests substantially all of its assets to meet its investment objectives. Each Fund may invest the remainder of its assets in securities with maturities of less than one year or cash equivalents, or it may hold cash. The percentage of a Fund invested in such holdings varies and depends on several factors, including market conditions. For temporary defensive purposes and during periods of high cash inflows or outflows, a Fund may depart from its principal investment strategies and invest part or all of its assets in these securities, or it may hold cash. During such periods, a Fund may not be able to achieve its investment objectives. A Fund may adopt a defensive strategy when its portfolio managers believe securities in which the Fund normally invests have elevated risks due to political or economic factors and in other extraordinary circumstances. For more information on eligible short-term investments, see the SAI.
Illiquid Investments
Each Fund may invest up to 15% of its net assets in investments and other instruments that are, at the time of investment, illiquid (determined using the Securities and Exchange Commission's standard applicable to investment companies, i.e., any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without the sale or disposition significantly changing the market value of the investment).
Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings
Each Fund’s portfolio holdings are available on the Funds' website at www.ftportfolios.com. A description of the policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of each Fund's portfolio securities is included in the Funds' SAI, which is also available on the Funds' website.
Risks of Investing in the Funds
Risk is inherent in all investing. Investing in a Fund involves risk, including the risk that you may lose all or part of your investment. There can be no assurance that a Fund will meet its stated objective. Before you invest, you should consider the following supplemental disclosure pertaining to the Principal Risks set forth above as well as additional Non-Principal Risks set forth below in this prospectus. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
Principal Risks
ASIA RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in the securities of Asian issuers. Such investments subject a Fund to certain risks associated specifically with investments in securities of Asian issuers, including distinct legal, regulatory, political and economic risks. Many Asian economies have experienced rapid growth and industrialization, and there is no assurance that this growth rate will be maintained. Some Asian economies are highly dependent on trade, and economic conditions in other countries within and outside Asia can impact these economies. Certain of these economies may be adversely affected by trade or policy disputes with its major trade partners. There is also a high concentration of market capitalization and trading volume in a small number of issuers representing a limited number of industries, as well as a high concentration of investors and financial intermediaries. Certain Asian countries have experienced and may in the future experience expropriation and nationalization of assets, confiscatory taxation, currency manipulation, political instability, armed conflict and social instability as a result of religious, ethnic, socio-economic and/or political unrest. In particular, escalated tensions involving North Korea and any outbreak of hostilities involving North Korea could have a severe adverse effect on Asian economies. Governments of certain Asian countries have exercised, and continue to exercise, substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector. In certain cases, the government owns or controls many companies, including the largest in the country. Accordingly, government actions could have a significant effect on the issuers of a Fund’s securities or on economic conditions generally. Issuers in Asia may not be subject to the same accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards as U.S. companies and if their securities are not listed on a U.S. exchange, they may not be subject to the same corporate governance standards as U.S. issuers. In addition, satisfactory custodial services for investment securities may not be available in some Asia countries, which may result in a Fund incurring additional costs and delays in providing transportation and custody services for such securities outside such countries. Recent developments in relations between the U.S. and China have heightened concerns of increased tariffs and restrictions on trade between the two countries. An increase in tariffs or trade restrictions, or even the threat of such
125

developments, could lead to a significant reduction in international trade, which could have a negative impact on the economy of Asian countries and a commensurately negative impact on the Fund.
AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with a Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for a Fund. Although participants are not obligated to make a market in a Fund’s shares or submit purchase and redemption orders for creation units. To the extent that these institutions exit the business, reduce their role or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, a Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
BIOTECHNOLOGY COMPANIES RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in biotechnology companies. Biotechnology companies invest heavily in research and development which may not necessarily lead to commercially successful products. Biotechnology companies are subject to increased governmental regulation which may delay or inhibit the release of new products. The effects of high development costs and increased regulation may be exacerbated by a company’s inability to raise prices to cover costs because of managed care pressure or price controls. Many biotechnology companies are dependent upon their ability to use and enforce intellectual property rights and patents. Any impairment of such rights may have adverse financial consequences. Biotechnology stocks, especially those issued by smaller, less-seasoned companies, tend to be more volatile than the overall market. Biotechnology companies can also be significantly affected by technological change and obsolescence, product liability lawsuits and consequential high insurance costs.
CHINA RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in the securities of Chinese issuers. Therefore, in addition to the risks associated with investments in non-U.S. securities generally, the Fund is subject to certain risks associated specifically with investments in securities of Chinese issuers, including those issuers with securities listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. China is an emerging market and demonstrates significantly higher volatility from time to time in comparison to developed markets. The central government has historically exercised substantial control over virtually every sector of the Chinese economy through administrative regulation and/or state ownership and actions of the Chinese central and local government authorities continue to have a substantial effect on economic conditions in China. Furthermore, China’s economy is dependent on the economies of other Asian countries and can be significantly affected by currency fluctuations and increasing competition from Asia’s other emerging economies. China has experienced security concerns, such as terrorism and strained international relations. Incidents involving China’s or the region’s security may cause uncertainty in Chinese markets and may adversely affect the Chinese economy and the value of the Fund’s investments. Export growth continues to be a major driver of China’s rapid economic growth. Reduction in spending on Chinese products and services, institution of tariffs or other trade barriers, or a downturn in any of the economies of China’s key trading partners may have an adverse impact on the Chinese economy. Recent developments in relations between the U.S. and China have heightened concerns of increased tariffs and restrictions on trade between the two countries. An increase in tariffs or trade restrictions, or even the threat of such developments, could lead to a significant reduction in international trade, which could have a negative impact on China’s export industry and a commensurately negative impact on the Fund.
As of the date of this prospectus, Executive Order 13959, as amended or supplemented from time to time, regarding securities investments that finance Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies (the "Executive Order") remains in effect. To comply with the Executive Order, a Fund may be forced to sell certain securities impacted by the Executive Order ("Prohibited Securities"). Certain securities that are designated as Prohibited Securities may have less liquidity as a result of such designation and the market price of such Prohibited Securities may decline and a Fund may incur a loss as a result. In addition, the market for securities of other Chinese-based issuers may also be negatively impacted resulting in reduced liquidity and price declines. Additionally, certain Prohibited Securities that have been, or will be, sold by a Fund may not be immediately removed from the Fund's corresponding Index. This disparity between a Fund's portfolio and its Index constituents could result in tracking error and a greater difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of its Index for any period during which a Prohibited Security remains in the Fund's Index.
CLEAN ENERGY COMPANIES RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in clean energy companies. Renewable and alternative energy companies can be significantly affected by the following factors: obsolescence of existing technology, short product cycles, legislation resulting in more strict government regulations and enforcement policies, fluctuations in energy prices and supply and demand of alternative energy fuels, energy conservation, the success of exploration projects, the supply of and demand for oil and gas, world events and economic conditions. In addition, shares of clean energy companies have been significantly more volatile than shares of companies operating in other more established industries and the securities included
126

in the Fund may be subject to sharp price declines. This industry is relatively nascent and under-researched in comparison to more established and mature sectors, and should therefore be regarded as having greater investment risk.
COMMUNICATION SERVICES COMPANIES RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in communication services companies. Communication services companies may be subject to specific risks associated with legislative or regulatory changes, adverse market conditions, and/or increased competition. Communication services companies are particularly vulnerable to rapid advancements in technology, the innovation of competitors, rapid product obsolescence and government regulation and competition, both domestically and internationally. Communication services companies also rely on the use of intellectual property such as patents, copyrights and trademarks owned internationally or licensed through third-parties. Legal check-ups or claims regarding infringement of intellectual property could cause an adverse effect on the reputation of the company. Additionally, fluctuating domestic and international demand, shifting demographics and often unpredictable changes in consumer tastes can drastically affect a communication services company’s profitability. While all companies may be susceptible to network security breaches, certain communication services companies may be particular targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or consumer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.
COMMUNITY BANK RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in community banks. Community banks were significantly impacted by the downturn in the United States and world economies that began with the decline in the subprime mortgage lending market in the United States. These conditions have brought about legislative and regulatory changes, changes in short-term and long-term interest rates, inflation and changes in government monetary and fiscal policies, all of which have had a significant impact on the banking business. Community banks may also be affected by anticipated government fiscal policy initiatives relating to the current period of historically low interest rates and the market reaction to those initiatives. Unlike larger national or other regional banks that are more geographically diversified, a community bank’s financial performance may be highly dependent upon the business environment in certain geographic regions of the United States and may be adversely impacted by any downturn or unfavorable economic or employment developments in its local market and the United States as a whole. In particular, this environment impacts the ability of borrowers to pay interest on and repay principal of outstanding loans and the value of collateral securing those loans. Also, the securities of community banks are often subject to low trading volume and low analyst coverage.
CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY COMPANIES RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in consumer discretionary companies. Consumer discretionary companies, such as retailers, media companies and consumer services companies, provide non-essential goods and services. These companies manufacture products and provide discretionary services directly to the consumer, and the success of these companies is tied closely to the performance of the overall domestic and international economy, interest rates, competition and consumer confidence. Success depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Consumer discretionary companies may also be strongly affected by social trends and marketing campaigns. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability. Changes in demographics and consumer tastes can also affect the demand for, and success of, consumer discretionary products in the marketplace. Consumer discretionary companies have historically been characterized as relatively cyclical and therefore more volatile in times of change.
CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Funds are susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause a Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause a Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. These risks typically are not covered by insurance. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber incidents include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (e.g., through “hacking” or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data or causing operational disruption. Cyber attacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (i.e., efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Cyber security failures by or breaches of the systems of the Advisor, distributor and other service providers (including, but not limited to, sub-advisors, index providers, fund accountants, custodians, transfer agents and administrators), market makers, authorized participants or the issuers of securities in which a Fund invests, have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in: financial losses; interference with a Fund’s ability to calculate its net asset value; disclosure of confidential trading information; impediments to trading; submission of erroneous trades or erroneous creation or redemption orders; the inability of a Fund or its service providers to transact business; violations of applicable privacy and other laws; regulatory fines penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs; or additional compliance costs. Substantial costs may be incurred by a Fund in order to resolve or prevent cyber incidents in the future. While the Funds have established business
127

continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent, such cyber attacks, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified and that prevention and remediation efforts will not be successful. Furthermore, the Funds cannot control the cyber security plans and systems put in place by service providers to the Funds, issuers in which the Funds invest, market makers or authorized participants. However, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, and the Funds and their shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.
DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS RISK. Certain Funds invest in depositary receipts. Depositary receipts are securities issued by a bank or trust company reflecting ownership of underlying securities issued by a foreign company. An investment in depositary receipts involves further risks due to certain unique features. Any distributions paid to the holders of depositary receipts are usually subject to a fee charged by the depositary. Holders of depositary receipts may have limited voting rights pursuant to a deposit agreement between the underlying issuer and the depositary. In certain cases, the depositary will vote the shares deposited with it as directed by the underlying issuer’s board of directors. Furthermore, investment restrictions in certain countries may adversely impact the value of depositary receipts because such restrictions may limit the ability to convert shares into depositary receipts and vice versa. Such restrictions may cause shares of the underlying issuer to trade at a discount or premium to the market price of the depositary receipt. Moreover, if depositary receipts are converted into shares, the laws in certain countries may limit the ability of a non-resident to trade the shares and to reconvert the shares to depositary receipts. Depositary receipts may be “sponsored” or “unsponsored.” Sponsored depositary receipts are established jointly by a depositary and the underlying issuer, whereas unsponsored depositary receipts may be established by a depositary without participation by the underlying issuer. Holders of unsponsored depositary receipts generally bear all the costs associated with establishing the unsponsored depositary receipts. In addition, the issuers of the securities underlying unsponsored depositary receipts are not obligated to disclose material information in the U.S. and, therefore, there may be less information available regarding such issuers and there may not be a correlation between such information and the market value of the depositary receipts.
DIVIDENDS RISK. Certain Funds invest in dividend-paying securities. A Fund’s investment in dividend-paying securities could cause the Fund to underperform similar funds that invest without consideration of an issuer’s track record of paying dividends. Companies that issue dividend-yielding securities are not required to continue to pay dividends on such securities. Therefore, there is the possibility that such companies could reduce or eliminate the payment of dividends in the future especially if the companies are facing an economic downturn, which could negatively affect a Fund’s performance.
EMERGING MARKETS RISK. Certain Funds invest in securities issued by emerging market governments and companies incorporated in emerging market countries. Investments in securities issued by governments and companies operating in emerging market countries involve additional risks relating to political, economic, or regulatory conditions not associated with investments in securities and instruments issued by U.S. companies or by companies operating in other developed market countries. This is due to, among other things, the potential for greater market volatility, lower trading volume, a lack of liquidity, potential for market manipulation, higher levels of inflation, political and economic instability, greater risk of a market shutdown and more governmental limitations on foreign investments in emerging market countries than are typically found in more developed market countries. Moreover, emerging market countries often have less uniformity in accounting and reporting requirements, unsettled securities laws, less reliable securities valuations and greater risks associated with custody of securities than developed markets. In addition, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which regulates auditors of U.S. public companies, is unable to inspect audit work papers in certain emerging market countries. Emerging market countries often have greater risk of capital controls through such measures as taxes or interest rate control than developed markets. Certain emerging market countries may also lack the infrastructure necessary to attract large amounts of foreign trade and investment. Local securities markets in emerging market countries may trade a small number of securities and may be unable to respond effectively to increases in trading volume, potentially making prompt liquidation of holdings difficult or impossible. Settlement procedures in emerging market countries are frequently less developed and reliable than those in the U.S. and other developed market countries. In addition, significant delays may occur in registering the transfer of securities. Settlement or registration problems may make it more difficult for a Fund to value its portfolio securities and could cause the Fund to miss attractive investment opportunities. Investing in emerging market countries involves a higher risk of expropriation, nationalization, confiscation of assets and property or the imposition of restrictions on foreign investments and on repatriation of capital invested by certain emerging market countries. Enforcing legal rights may be made difficult, costly and slow in emerging markets as there may be additional problems enforcing claims against non-U.S. governments. As such, the rights and remedies associated with emerging market investment securities may be different than those available for investments in more developed markets. For example, it may be more difficult for shareholders to bring derivative litigation or for U.S. regulators to bring enforcement actions against issuers in emerging markets.
128

In addition, due to the differences in regulatory, accounting, audit and financial recordkeeping standards, including financial disclosures, less information about emerging market companies is publicly available and information that is available may be unreliable or outdated. This may affect the Index Provider’s ability to compute and construct the Index and may further impede the Advisor’s ability to accurately evaluate the index data provided. This potential for error in index construction and index data could affect the overall performance of a Fund.
ENERGY COMPANIES RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in energy companies. The success of energy companies may be cyclical and highly dependent on energy prices. The market value of securities issued by energy companies may decline for many reasons, including, among other things, changes in the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, capital expenditures on exploration and production of energy sources, exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, tax treatment, energy conservation efforts, increased competition and technological advances. Energy companies may be subject to substantial government regulation and contractual fixed pricing, which may increase the cost of doing business and limit the earnings of these companies. A significant portion of the revenues of these companies may depend on a relatively small number of customers, including governmental entities and utilities. As a result, governmental budget constraints may have a material adverse effect on the stock prices of energy companies. Energy companies may also operate in, or engage in transactions involving, countries with less developed regulatory regimes or a history of expropriation, nationalization or other adverse policies. Energy companies also face a significant risk of liability from accidents resulting in injury or loss of life or property, pollution or other environmental problems, equipment malfunctions or mishandling of materials and a risk of loss from terrorism, political strife or natural disasters. Energy companies can be significantly affected by the supply of, and demand for, specific products (e.g., oil and natural gas) and services, exploration and production spending, government subsidization, world events and general economic conditions. Energy companies may have relatively high levels of debt and may be more likely than other companies to restructure their businesses if there are downturns in energy markets or in the global economy.
EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of a Fund's shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors' perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting the issuers occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market. Additionally, holders of an issuer's common stock may be subject to greater risks than holders of its preferred stock and debt securities because common stockholders' claims are subordinated to those of holders of preferred stocks and debt securities upon the bankruptcy of an issuer.
FINANCIAL COMPANIES RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in financial companies. Financial companies are subject to extensive governmental regulation and intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge, the amount and types of capital they must maintain and, potentially, their size. Governmental regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences for financial companies, including effects not intended by such regulation. The impact of more stringent capital requirements, or recent or future regulation in various countries, on any individual financial company or on financial companies as a whole cannot be predicted. Certain risks may impact the value of investments in financial companies more severely than those of investments in other issuers, including the risks associated with companies that operate with substantial financial leverage. Financial companies may also be adversely affected by volatility in interest rates, loan losses and other customer defaults, decreases in the availability of money or asset valuations, credit rating downgrades and adverse conditions in other related markets. Insurance companies in particular may be subject to severe price competition and/or rate regulation, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability. Financial companies are also a target for cyber attacks and may experience technology malfunctions and disruptions as a result.
HEALTH CARE COMPANIES RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in health care companies. Health care companies, such as companies providing medical and health care goods and services, companies engaged in manufacturing medical equipment, supplies and pharmaceuticals, as well as operating healthcare facilities and the provision of managed healthcare, may be affected by government regulations and government health care programs, increases or decreases in the cost of medical products and services and product liability claims, among other factors. Many health care companies are heavily dependent on patent protection, and the expiration of a company’s patent may adversely affect that company’s profitability. Research and development costs of bringing new drugs to market are substantial, and there is no guarantee that a proposed product will ever come to market. Health care companies are also subject to competitive forces that may result in price discounting, may be thinly capitalized and susceptible to product obsolescence.
129

INDEX CONCENTRATION RISK. A Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. To the extent that a Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in a single asset class or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if a Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes a Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject a Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified. There may be instances in which the Index, for a variety of reasons including changes in the prices of individual securities held by a Fund, has a larger exposure to a small number of stocks or a single stock relative to the rest of the stocks in the Index. Under such circumstances, a Fund will not deviate from the Index except in rare circumstances or in an immaterial way and therefore the Fund’s returns would be more greatly influenced by the returns of the stock(s) with the larger exposure.
INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. Each Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, a Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking ETFs or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving a Fund’s shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund’s shares. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for a Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, a Fund’s net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund’s market price may be below the Fund’s net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity. To the extent buying or selling activity increases, a Fund can be exposed to increased brokerage costs and adverse tax consequences and the market price of the Fund can be negatively affected.
INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile an Index accurately, or that an Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in an Index, and do not guarantee that an Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage each Fund consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate an Index accurately. Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by a Fund and its shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of an Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When a Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by a Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose a Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile an Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where an Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors. For example, during a period where an Index contains incorrect constituents, a Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact a Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in an Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither a Fund nor the Advisor can offer assurances that an Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause an Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of an Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to an Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.
INDIA RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in the securities of Indian issuers. Investment in Indian securities involves risks in addition to those associated with investments in securities of issuers in more developed countries, which may adversely affect the value of a Fund’s assets. Such heightened risks include, among others, political and legal uncertainty, greater government control over the economy, currency fluctuations or blockage and the risk of nationalization or expropriation of assets. In addition, religious and border disputes persist in India. Moreover, India has experienced civil unrest and hostilities with neighboring countries, including Pakistan, and the Indian government has confronted separatist movements in several Indian states. In addition, inflation in India remains at very high levels. High inflation may lead to the adoption of corrective measures designed to moderate growth, regulate prices of staples and other commodities and otherwise contain inflation. Such measures could inhibit economic activity in India. The securities market of India is characterized by a small number of listed companies that have significantly smaller market capitalizations, greater price volatility, greater delays and possibility
130

of disruptions in settlement transactions, greater political uncertainties and greater dependence on international trade or development assistance and substantially less liquidity than companies in more developed markets. The securities industry in India is also subject less governmental regulation than in other countries. Indian issuers are subject to less regulation and scrutiny with regard to financial reporting, accounting and auditing than U.S. companies. Therefore, information regarding Indian corporations may be less reliable and all material information may not be available. Certain restrictions on foreign investment may decrease the liquidity of a Fund’s portfolio or subject the Fund to higher transaction costs. Investments in Indian securities may also be limited or prevented, at times, due to the limits on foreign ownership imposed by the RBI. The Indian government has exercised, and continues to exercise, significant influence over many aspects of the Indian economy, and the number of public sector enterprises in India is substantial. Accordingly, Indian government actions in the future could have a significant effect on the Indian economy, which could affect the prices and yields of securities in a Fund’s portfolio. In addition, the economy of India may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as the rate of growth of gross domestic product, the rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payments position. Agriculture occupies a more prominent position in the Indian economy than in the U.S. economy, and therefore the Indian economy is more susceptible to adverse changes in weather. Furthermore, monsoons and other natural disasters in India and surrounding regions also can affect the value of a Fund’s investments.
INDUSTRIALS COMPANIES RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in industrials companies. The value of securities issued by industrials companies may be adversely affected by supply and demand related to their specific products or services and industrials sector products in general. The products of manufacturing companies may face obsolescence due to rapid technological developments and frequent new product introduction. World events and changes in government regulations, import controls, economic conditions and exchange rates may adversely affect the performance of companies in the industrials sector. Industrials companies may be adversely affected by liability for environmental damage and product liability claims. Industrials companies may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced by unpredictable factors. Industrials companies, particularly aerospace and defense companies, may also be adversely affected by government spending policies because companies in this sector tend to rely to a significant extent on government demand for their products and services.
INFLATION RISK. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money. As inflation increases, the present value of a Fund’s assets and distributions may decline. Inflation creates uncertainty over the future real value (after inflation) of an investment. Inflation rates may change frequently and drastically as a result of various factors, including unexpected shifts in the domestic or global economy, and a Fund’s investments may not keep pace with inflation, which may result in losses to Fund investors.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in information technology companies. Information technology companies produce and provide hardware, software and information technology systems and services. Information technology companies are generally subject to the following risks: rapidly changing technologies and existing product obsolescence; short product life cycles; fierce competition; aggressive pricing and reduced profit margins; the loss of patent, copyright and trademark protections; cyclical market patterns; evolving industry standards; and frequent new product introductions and new market entrants. Information technology companies may be smaller and less experienced companies, with limited product lines, markets or financial resources and fewer experienced management or marketing personnel. Information technology company stocks, particularly those involved with the internet, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that are often unrelated to their operating performance. In addition, information technology companies are particularly vulnerable to federal, state and local government regulation, and competition and consolidation, both domestically and internationally, including competition from foreign competitors with lower production costs. Information technology companies also face competition for services of qualified personnel and heavily rely on patents and intellectual property rights and the ability to enforce such rights to maintain a competitive advantage.
INTERNET COMPANIES RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in Internet companies. Internet companies are subject to rapid changes in technology, hacking or other cyber security events, worldwide competition, rapid obsolescence of products and services, loss of patent protections, cyclical market patterns, evolving industry standards, frequent new product introductions and the considerable risk of owning small capitalization companies that have recently begun operations. Many Internet companies have incurred large losses since their inception and may continue to incur large losses in the hope of capturing market share and generating future revenues. Accordingly, many such companies expect to incur significant operating losses for the foreseeable future, and may never be profitable. The markets in which many Internet companies compete face rapidly evolving industry standards, frequent new service and product announcements, introductions and enhancements and changing customer demands. The failure of an Internet company to adapt to such changes could have a material adverse effect on the company's business. In addition, the widespread adoption of new Internet, networking, telecommunications
131

technologies, or other technological changes could require substantial expenditures by an Internet company to modify or adapt its services or infrastructure, which could have a material adverse effect on an Internet company's business.
IPO RISK. Certain Funds invest in companies that have recently conducted an IPO. Shares issued by such companies are often subject to extreme price volatility and speculative trading due to factors such as the absence of a prior public market, unseasoned trading, the small number of shares available for trading and limited information about the issuer’s business model, quality of management, earnings growth potential and other criteria used to evaluate its investment prospects. Such stocks may have exhibited price appreciation in connection with the IPO that is not sustained, and it is not uncommon for stocks to decline in value in the period following the IPO. In addition, the market for IPO shares can be speculative and/or inactive for extended periods of time. The limited number of shares available for trading in some IPOs may make it more difficult for the Fund to buy or sell significant amounts of shares without an unfavorable impact on prevailing prices. Investors in IPO shares can be affected by substantial dilution in the value of their shares, by sales of additional shares and by concentration of control in existing management and principal shareholders.
LOW VOLATILITY RISK. Certain Funds seek to invest in low volatility stocks. Although subject to the risks of common stocks, low volatility stocks are seen as having a lower risk profile than the overall markets. However, a portfolio comprised of low volatility stocks may not produce investment exposure that has lower variability to changes in such stocks’ price levels. Low volatility stocks are likely to underperform the broader market during periods of rapidly rising stock prices and may reduce a Fund’s participation in market gains.
MARKET CAPITALIZATION DEVIATION RISK. Certain Funds seek to hold securities with a market capitalization that falls within a specific range. However, because of possible corporate action or market movement, there can be no assurance that the securities held by a Fund will stay within the Fund’s intended market capitalization range. As a result, a Fund may be exposed to additional risk or investors may not be given the opportunity to invest fully in a certain market capitalization range.
MARKET MAKER RISK. The Funds face numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market markers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of a Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. A Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between a Fund’s net asset value and the price at which the Fund’s shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund’s shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of a Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of a Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments due to short-term market movements or any longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on a Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of reasonably normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. Additionally, in February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine which has caused and could continue to cause significant market disruptions and volatility within the markets in Russia, Europe, and the United States. The hostilities and sanctions resulting from those hostilities could have a significant impact on certain Fund investments as well as Fund performance. These events also adversely affect the prices and liquidity of a Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of a Fund’s shares and result in increased market volatility. During any such events, a Fund’s shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
MICRO-CAP COMPANIES RISK. First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund invests in micro-capitalization companies. Micro-capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse general market or economic developments, may be less
132

liquid, and may experience greater price volatility than larger, more established companies as a result of several factors, including limited trading volume, products or financial resources, management inexperience and less publicly available information. Accordingly, such companies are generally subject to greater market risk than larger, more established companies.
MLP RISK. Certain Funds may invest in securities issued by MLPs. Investments in securities of MLPs involve certain risks different from or in addition to the risks of investing in common stocks, including for example risks related to the limited ability of investors to control an MLP and to vote on matters affecting the MLP, risks related to potential conflicts of interest between an MLP and the MLP's general partner, the risk that an MLP will generate insufficient cash flow to meet its current operating requirements, the risk that an MLP will issue additional securities or engage in other transactions that will have the effect of diluting the interests of existing investors, and risks related to the general partner's right to require investors to sell their common units at an undesirable time or price. MLP common units can be affected by macro-economic and other factors affecting the stock market in general, changes or anticipated changes in interest rates, investor sentiment towards MLPs or the energy sector generally, changes in a particular issuer's financial condition, or unfavorable or unanticipated poor performance of a particular issuer (in the case of MLPs, generally measured in terms of distributable cash flow). Prices of common units of individual MLPs also can be affected by other factors unique to the partnership or company, including earnings power and coverage ratios. Certain MLP securities may trade in relatively low volumes due to their smaller capitalizations or other factors, which may cause them to have a high degree of price volatility and lack sufficient market liquidity to enable a Fund to effect a sale at an advantageous time or price. Because many MLPs pay out most of their operating cash flows, the MLPs rely on capital markets for access to equity and debt financing to fund growth through organization. If market conditions limit an MLPs access to capital markets, the MLPs growth prospects could diminish and its costs of capital increase, which would decrease the value of the common units held by a Fund.
MLP TAX RISK. A Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective relies in part upon the level of taxable income it receives from the MLPs in which it invests, a factor over which a Fund has no control. The benefit a Fund derives from its investment in MLPs is largely dependent on their being treated as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Partnerships do not pay U.S. federal income tax at the partnership level. Rather, each partner is allocated a share of the partnership’s income, gains, losses, deductions and expenses. A change in current tax law or a change in the underlying business mix of a given MLP could result in an MLP being treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, which would result in the MLP being required to pay U.S. federal income tax (as well as state and local income taxes) on its taxable income at the applicable corporate tax rate. This would have the effect of reducing the amount of cash available for distribution by an MLP and could result in a significant reduction in the value of a Fund’s investment. The classification of an MLP as a corporation for U. S. federal income tax purposes would have the effect of reducing the amount of cash available for distribution by the MLP and causing any such distributions received by a Fund to be taxed as dividend income to the extent of the MLP’s current or accumulated earnings and profits. To the extent a distribution received by a Fund from an MLP is treated as a return of capital, the Fund’s adjusted tax basis in the interests of the MLP may be reduced, which will result in an increase in the amount of income or gain (or decrease in the amount of loss) that will be recognized by the Fund for tax purposes upon the sale of any such interests or upon subsequent distributions in respect of such interests. Furthermore, any return of capital distribution received from an MLP may require a Fund to restate the character of its distributions and amend any shareholder tax reporting previously issued. On March 15, 2018, the FERC changed its long-standing tax allowance policy which no longer permits MLPs to include in their cost of service an income tax allowance. This has had a negative impact on the performance of some MLPs affected by this decision. This policy change and any similar policy changes in the future could adversely impact an MLP’s business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows and ability to pay cash distributions or dividends.
NATURAL GAS COMPANIES RISK. One of natural gas companies’ primary risks is the competitive risk associated with the prices of alternative fuels, such as coal and oil. For example, major natural gas customers such as industrial users and electric power generators often have the ability to switch between the use of coal, oil or natural gas. During periods when competing fuels are less expensive, the revenues of gas utility companies may decline with a corresponding impact on earnings. After years of booming production, natural gas firms have recently begun scaling back after record low prices and huge surpluses. Weather is another risk that may affect natural gas companies. Mild weather contributes to a scaled back demand for natural gas and declining stock prices for natural gas companies. Additionally, natural gas companies are sensitive to increased interest rates because of the capital intensive nature of their business.
Furthermore, there are additional risks and hazards that are inherent to natural gas companies that may cause the price of natural gas to widely fluctuate. The exploration for, and production of, natural gas is an uncertain process with many risks. The cost of drilling, completing and operating wells for natural gas is often uncertain, and a number of factors can delay or prevent drilling operations or production, including:
unexpected drilling conditions;
133

pressure or irregularities in formations;
equipment failures or repairs;
fires or other accidents;
adverse weather conditions;
pipeline ruptures or spills; and
shortages or delays in the availability of drilling rigs and the delivery of equipment.
NON-CORRELATION RISK. A Fund’s return may not match the return of its Index for a number of reasons. A Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to its Index and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, a Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in its Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.
NON-DIVERSIFICATION RISK. As a “non-diversified” fund, a Fund may hold a smaller number of portfolio securities than many other funds and may be more sensitive to any single economic, business, political or regulatory occurrence than a diversified fund. To the extent a Fund invests in a relatively small number of issuers due to the high percentage of the Fund’s assets invested in that security, a decline in the market value of a particular security held by the Fund may affect its value more than if it invested in a larger number of issuers. The value of a Fund’s shares may be more volatile than the values of shares of more diversified funds.
NON-U.S. SECURITIES RISK. Certain Funds invest in non-U.S. securities. An investment in securities of non-U.S. companies involves risks not associated with domestic issuers. Investment in non-U.S. securities may involve higher costs than investment in U.S. securities, including higher transaction and custody costs as well as the imposition of additional taxes by non-U.S. governments. Non-U.S. investments may also involve risks associated with the level of currency exchange rates, less complete financial information about the issuers, less market liquidity, more market volatility and political instability. Future political and economic developments, the possible imposition of withholding taxes on dividend income, the possible seizure or nationalization of non-U.S. holdings, the imposition of sanctions by foreign governments, the possible establishment of capital controls, exchange controls or freezes on the convertibility of currency or the adoption of other governmental restrictions might adversely affect an investment in non-U.S. securities. Additionally, non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less stringent regulation, and to different accounting, auditing and recordkeeping requirements. The U.S. and non-U.S. markets often rise and fall at different times or by different amounts due to economic or other regional developments particular to a given country or region.
OPERATIONAL RISK. Each Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of a Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. Each Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect each Fund's ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Funds and the Funds’ investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Funds are not actively managed. Each Fund invests in securities included in or representative of its Index regardless of investment merit. The Funds generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that an Index is no longer calculated, the corresponding Index license is terminated or the identity or character of an Index is materially changed, the applicable Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.
PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in pharmaceutical companies. Pharmaceuticals companies may be affected by industry competition, dependency on a limited number of products, obsolescence of products, government approvals and regulations, loss or impairment of intellectual property rights and litigation regarding product liability. Pharmaceutical are subject to competitive forces that may make it difficult to raise prices of their products and may result in price discounting. The profitability of some pharmaceuticals companies may be dependent on a relatively limited number of products. The research and development costs required to bring a new product to market are substantial with no guarantee that the product will ever become profitable. Many new products are subject to gaining the approval of the FDA, which can be long and costly. Many pharmaceutical companies are heavily dependent on patents and intellectual property rights. The loss or impairment of these rights may adversely affect the profitability of these companies. Pharmaceuticals companies may also be subject to extensive litigation based on product liability and similar claims.
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. Certain Funds have an investment strategy that may frequently involve buying and selling portfolio securities. High portfolio turnover may result in a Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs, including brokerage
134

commissions, dealer mark-ups and other costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause a Fund’s performance to be less than expected.
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of a Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. First Trust cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of a Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), First Trust believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained absent disruptions to the creation and redemption mechanism, extreme market volatility or potential lack of authorized participants. During stressed market conditions, the market for a Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for a Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of a Fund’s shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen.
REAL ESTATE COMPANIES RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in real estate companies. Real estate companies include REITs and other companies involved in the operation and development of commercial, residential and industrial real estate. An investment in a real estate company may be subject to risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including the possibility of declines in the value of real estate, losses from casualty or condemnation, and changes in local and general economic conditions, supply and demand, interest rates, environmental liability, zoning laws, regulatory limitations on rents, property taxes, and operating expenses. Some real property companies have limited diversification because they invest in a limited number of properties, a narrow geographic area, or a single type of property. The performance of real estate companies has historically been cyclical and particularly sensitive to the overall economy and market changes, including declines in the value of real estate or, conversely, saturation of the real estate market, economic downturns and defaults by borrowers or tenants during such periods, increases in competition, possible lack of mortgage funds or other limits to accessing the credit or capital markets, and changes in interest rates.
REIT RISK. Certain Funds invest in REITs. REITs typically own and operate income-producing real estate, such as residential or commercial buildings, or real-estate related assets, including mortgages. As a result, investments in REITs are subject to the risks associated with investing in real estate, which may include, but are not limited to: fluctuations in the value of underlying properties; defaults by borrowers or tenants; market saturation; changes in general and local operating expenses; and other economic, political or regulatory occurrences affecting companies in the real estate sector. Additionally, investing in REITs involves certain other risks related to their structure and focus, which include, but are not limited to, dependency upon management skills, limited diversification, the risks of locating and managing financing for projects, heavy cash flow dependency, possible default by borrowers, the costs and potential losses of self-liquidation of one or more holdings, the risk of a possible lack of mortgage funds and associated interest rate risks, overbuilding, property vacancies, increases in property taxes and operating expenses, changes in zoning laws, losses due to environmental damages, changes in neighborhood values and appeal to purchasers, the possibility of failing to maintain exemptions from registration under the 1940 Act, failure to satisfy the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for maintaining REIT status and, in many cases, relatively small market capitalization, which may result in less market liquidity and greater price volatility for a REIT’s shares. REITs are also subject to the risk that the real estate market may experience an economic downturn generally, which may have a material effect on the real estate in which the REITs invest and their underlying portfolio securities.
SMALLER COMPANIES RISK. The stock price of small and/or mid capitalization companies may be more volatile than those of larger companies and therefore a Fund’s share price may be more volatile than those of funds that invest a larger percentage of their assets in stocks issued by large capitalization companies. Stock prices of small and/or mid capitalization companies are also generally more vulnerable than those of large capitalization companies to adverse business and economic developments. Securities of small and/or mid capitalization companies may be thinly traded, making it difficult for a Fund to buy and sell them. In addition, small and/or mid capitalization companies are typically less financially stable than larger, more established companies and may reinvest a high proportion of their earnings in their business and may not pay dividends. Small and/or mid capitalization companies may also depend on a small number of essential personnel who may also be less experienced than the management of larger companies, making these companies more vulnerable to experiencing adverse
135

effects due to the loss or inexperience of personnel. Small and/or mid capitalization companies also normally have less diverse product lines than those of large capitalization companies and are more susceptible to adverse developments concerning their products.
TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on an Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on an Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to an Exchange’s “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of an Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of a Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. A Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on an Exchange in the event a Fund’s assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.
UTILITY COMPANIES RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in utility companies. Utility companies include companies producing or providing gas, electricity or water. The risks inherent in the utilities sector include a variety of factors that may adversely affect the business or operations of utility companies, including: high interest costs associated with capital construction and improvement programs; difficulty in raising adequate capital on reasonable terms in periods of high inflation and unsettled capital markets; governmental regulation of rates that the issuer can charge to customers; costs associated with compliance with, and adjusting to changes to, environmental and other regulations; effects of economic slowdowns and surplus capacity; increased competition from other providers of utilities services; costs associated with the reduced availability of certain types of fuel, occasionally reduced availability and high costs of natural gas for resale, and the effects of energy conservation policies. Some utility companies also face risks associated with the effects of a national energy policy and lengthy delays, and greatly increased costs and other problems, associated with the design, construction, licensing, regulation and operation of nuclear facilities for electric generation, including, among other considerations: the problems associated with the use of radioactive materials and the disposal of radioactive wastes; technological innovations that may render existing plants, equipment or products obsolete; difficulty in obtaining regulatory approval of new technologies; lack of compatibility of telecommunications equipment; potential impacts of terrorist activities on the utilities industry and its customers; and the impact of natural or man-made disasters. Utility companies may also be subject to regulation by various governmental authorities and may be affected by the imposition of special tariffs and changes in tax laws, regulatory policies and accounting standards. Deregulation is subjecting utility companies to greater competition and may adversely affect profitability. As deregulation allows utilities to diversify outside of their original geographic regions and their traditional lines of business, utility companies may engage in riskier ventures. There is no assurance that regulatory authorities will, in the future, grant rate increases, or that such increases will be adequate to permit the payment of dividends on stocks issued by a utility company.
VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES RISK. In China, direct ownership of companies in certain sectors by foreign individuals and entities is prohibited. In order to allow for foreign investment in these businesses, many Chinese companies have created VIE structures to enable indirect foreign ownership. In such an arrangement, a Chinese operating company typically establishes an offshore shell company in another jurisdiction, such as the Cayman Islands. That shell company enters into service and other contracts with the Chinese issuer or operating company to obtain economic exposure to the Chinese company, then issues shares on an exchange outside of mainland China, and U.S. investors hold stock in the non-Chinese shell company rather than directly in the Chinese issuer or operating company. This arrangement allows U.S. investors, such as a Fund, to obtain economic exposure to the Chinese issuer or operating company through contractual means rather than through formal equity ownership. Because neither the shell company nor the Fund owns actual equity interests in the Chinese operating company, they do not have the voting rights or other types of control that an equity holder would expect to benefit from. Although VIEs are a longstanding industry practice and well known to officials and regulators in China, VIEs are not formally recognized under Chinese law. Intervention by the Chinese government with respect to VIEs could significantly affect the Chinese company’s performance and the enforceability of the VIE’s contractual arrangements that establish the links between the Chinese company and the shell company in which a Fund invests. This could considerably impact the financial condition of the shell company in which a Fund invests by limiting its ability to consolidate the financial results of the Chinese operating company into its own financial statements, as well as make the value of the shares held by the Fund effectively worthless. Further, if Chinese officials prohibit the existence of VIEs, the market value of a Fund’s associated holdings would likely suffer significant, and possibly permanent effects, which could negatively impact the Fund’s net asset value and could result in substantial losses. Further, it is uncertain whether any new laws, rules or regulations relating to VIE structures will be adopted or, if adopted, what impact they would have on the value of a Fund’s shares.
VIEs are also subject to the investment risks associated with the underlying Chinese issuer or operating company. Chinese companies are not subject to the same degree of regulatory requirements or accounting standards and oversight as companies in more developed countries. As a result, information about the Chinese securities and VIEs in which a Fund invests may be less reliable and incomplete. There also may be significant obstacles to obtaining information necessary for investigations
136

into or litigation against Chinese companies and VIEs, and shareholders may have limited legal remedies, which could negatively impact a Fund. Additionally, U.S.-listed VIEs may be delisted if they do not meet U.S. accounting standards and auditor oversight requirements. Delisting would significantly decrease the liquidity and value of the securities, decrease the ability of a Fund to invest in such securities and may increase the cost of the Fund if required to seek alternative markets in which to invest in such securities.
WATER COMPANIES RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in water companies. Water companies can be significantly affected by the availability of water, the level of rainfall and the occurrence of other climatic and environmental events, changes in water consumption and water conservation. Water companies may also be negatively affected by changes in governmental regulation and spending, technological advances and increases in inflation, interest rates or the cost of raw materials. Water companies may be subject to liability for environmental damage, depletion of resources, conflicts with local communities over water rights and mandated expenditures for safety and pollution control.
Non-Principal Risks
BORROWING AND LEVERAGE RISK. If a Fund borrows money, it must pay interest and other fees, which may reduce the Fund’s returns. Any such borrowings are intended to be temporary. However, under certain market conditions, including periods of decreased liquidity, such borrowings might be outstanding for longer periods of time. As prescribed by the 1940 Act, a Fund will be required to maintain specified asset coverage of at least 300% with respect to any bank borrowing immediately following such borrowing and at all times thereafter. A Fund may be required to dispose of assets on unfavorable terms if market fluctuations or other factors reduce the Fund’s asset coverage to less than the prescribed amount.
CASH TRANSACTIONS RISK. The Funds may, under certain circumstances, effect a portion of creations and redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind securities. As a result, an investment in such a Fund may be less tax-efficient than an investment in an ETF that effects its creations and redemptions only in-kind. ETFs are able to make in-kind redemptions and avoid being taxed on gains on the distributed portfolio securities at the fund level. A Fund that effects redemptions for cash may be required to sell portfolio securities in order to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. Any recognized gain on these sales by a Fund will generally cause the Fund to recognize a gain it might not otherwise have recognized, or to recognize such gain sooner than would otherwise be required if it were to distribute portfolio securities only in-kind. The Funds intend to distribute these gains to shareholders to avoid being taxed on this gain at the fund level and otherwise comply with the special tax rules that apply to it. This strategy may cause shareholders to be subject to tax on gains they would not otherwise be subject to, or at an earlier date than if they had made an investment in a different ETF. Moreover, cash transactions may have to be carried out over several days if the securities market is relatively illiquid and may involve considerable brokerage fees and taxes. These brokerage fees and taxes, which will be higher than if a Fund sold and redeemed its shares in-kind, will be passed on to those purchasing and redeeming Creation Units in the form of creation and redemption transaction fees. In addition, these factors may result in wider spreads between the bid and the offered prices of a Fund’s shares than for ETFs that distribute portfolio securities in-kind.
EXPENSE REIMBURSEMENT AND RECOUPMENT RISK. The Advisor has entered into an agreement with the Trust in which the Advisor has agreed to waive certain fees and/or reimburse certain of the Funds for expenses exceeding an agreed upon amount. This agreement may be terminated by the Trust on behalf of a Fund at any time and by the Advisor only after April 30, 2023 upon 60 days’ written notice. The Advisor is also entitled to recoup from the Funds any waived fees or reimbursed amounts pursuant to the agreement for a period of up to three years from the date of waiver or reimbursement. Any such recoupment or modification or termination of the agreement could negatively affect the Funds’ returns.
FAILURE TO QUALIFY AS A REGULATED INVESTMENT COMPANY RISK. If, in any year, a Fund fails to qualify as a regulated investment company under the applicable tax laws, that Fund would be taxed as an ordinary corporation. In such circumstances, a Fund could be required to recognize unrealized gains, pay substantial taxes and interest and make substantial distributions before requalifying as a regulated investment company that is accorded special tax treatment.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RISK. Each Fund relies on a license and related sublicense that permits a Fund to use its Index and associated trade names, trademarks and service marks (the “Intellectual Property”) in connection with the Fund’s name and investment strategies. Such license and related sublicense may be terminated by the Index Provider, and, as a result, a Fund may lose its ability to use the Intellectual Property. There is also no guarantee that the Index Provider has all rights to license the Intellectual Property for use by a Fund. Accordingly, in the event the license is terminated or the Index Provider does not have rights to license the Intellectual Property, it may have a significant effect on the operation of a Fund.
137

ISSUER SPECIFIC CHANGES RISK. The value of an individual security or particular type of security can be more volatile than the market as a whole and can perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.
LEGISLATION/LITIGATION RISK. From time to time, various legislative initiatives are proposed in the United States and abroad, which may have a negative impact on certain companies in which a Fund invests. In addition, litigation regarding any of the issuers of the securities owned by a Fund, or industries represented by these issuers, may negatively impact the value of the securities. Such legislation or litigation may cause a Fund to lose value or may result in higher portfolio turnover if the Advisor determines to sell such a holding.
REPURCHASE AGREEMENT RISK. Certain Funds may enter into repurchase agreements. A repurchase agreement is an agreement to purchase a security from a party at one price and a simultaneous agreement to sell it back to the original party at an agreed-upon price, typically representing the purchase price plus interest. Repurchase agreements may be viewed as loans made by a Fund which are collateralized by the securities subject to repurchase. A Fund's investment return on such transactions will depend on the counterparty's willingness and ability to perform its obligations under a repurchase agreement. If a Fund's counterparty should default on its obligations and a Fund is delayed or prevented from recovering the collateral, or if the value of the collateral is insufficient, a Fund may have to borrow cash, subject to certain legal limits, or realize a loss.
Fund Organization
Each Fund is a series of the Trust, an investment company registered under the 1940 Act. Each Fund is treated as a separate fund with its own investment objectives and policies. The Trust is organized as a Massachusetts business trust. The Board is responsible for the overall management and direction of the Trust. The Board elects the Trust’s officers and approves all significant agreements, including those with the Advisor, distributor, custodian and fund administrative and accounting agent.
Management of the Funds
First Trust Advisors L.P., 120 East Liberty Drive, Wheaton, Illinois 60187, is the investment advisor to the Funds. In this capacity, First Trust is responsible for the selection and ongoing monitoring of the securities in each Fund’s portfolio and certain other services necessary for the management of the portfolios.
First Trust is a limited partnership with one limited partner, Grace Partners of DuPage L.P., and one general partner, The Charger Corporation. Grace Partners of DuPage L.P. is a limited partnership with one general partner, The Charger Corporation, and a number of limited partners. The Charger Corporation is an Illinois corporation controlled by James A. Bowen, the Chief Executive Officer of First Trust. First Trust discharges its responsibilities subject to the policies of the Funds.
First Trust serves as advisor or sub-advisor for 8 mutual fund portfolios, 10 exchange-traded funds consisting of 195 series and 15 closed-end funds. It is also the portfolio supervisor of certain unit investment trusts sponsored by First Trust Portfolios L.P. (“FTP”), an affiliate of First Trust, 120 East Liberty Drive, Wheaton, Illinois 60187. FTP specializes in the underwriting, trading and distribution of unit investment trusts and other securities. FTP is the principal underwriter of the shares of each Fund.
There is no one individual primarily responsible for portfolio management decisions for the Funds. Investments are made under the direction of the Investment Committee. The Investment Committee consists of Daniel J. Lindquist, Jon C. Erickson, David G. McGarel, Roger F. Testin, Stan Ueland, Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo.
Mr. Lindquist is Chairman of the Investment Committee and presides over Investment Committee meetings. Mr. Lindquist is responsible for overseeing the implementation of each Fund’s investment strategy. Mr. Lindquist was a Senior Vice President of First Trust and FTP from September 2005 to July 2012 and is now a Managing Director of First Trust and FTP. Mr. Lindquist is a recipient of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Mr. Erickson joined First Trust in 1994 and is a Senior Vice President of First Trust and FTP. As the head of First Trust’s Equity Research Group, Mr. Erickson is responsible for determining the securities to be purchased and sold by funds that do not utilize quantitative investment strategies. Mr. Erickson is a recipient of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Mr. McGarel is the Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and a Managing Director of First Trust and FTP. As First Trust’s Chief Investment Officer, Mr. McGarel consults with the other members of the Investment Committee on market conditions and First Trust’s general investment philosophy. Mr. McGarel was a Senior Vice President of First Trust and FTP from January 2004 to July 2012. Mr. McGarel is a recipient of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
138

Mr. Testin is a Senior Vice President of First Trust and FTP. Mr. Testin is the head of First Trust’s Portfolio Management Group. Mr. Testin has been a Senior Vice President of First Trust and FTP since November 2003. Mr. Testin is a recipient of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Mr. Ueland joined First Trust as a Vice President in August 2005 and has been a Senior Vice President of First Trust and FTP since September 2012. At First Trust, he plays an important role in executing the investment strategies of each portfolio of exchange-traded funds advised by First Trust.
Mr. Peterson is a Senior Vice President and head of First Trust’s strategy research group. He joined First Trust in January of 2000. Mr. Peterson is responsible for developing and implementing quantitative equity investment strategies. Mr. Peterson received his B.S. in Finance from Bradley University in 1997 and his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2005. He has over 20 years of financial services industry experience and is a recipient of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Mr. Russo is a Vice President of First Trust. He is responsible for implementing the investment strategies of each portfolio of exchange-traded funds advised by First Trust in his role as a Portfolio Manager. Mr. Russo joined First Trust in January of 2010.
For additional information concerning First Trust, including a description of the services provided to the Funds, see the Funds' SAI. Additional information about the compensation of Investment Committee members, other accounts managed by members of the Investment Committee and ownership by members of the Investment Committee of shares of the Funds is provided in the SAI.
Management Fee
Pursuant to an investment management agreement between First Trust and the Trust, on behalf of the Funds (the "Investment Management Agreement"), First Trust manages each Fund’s assets. First Trust is paid an annual management fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets at the rate set forth in the table below. Additionally, First Trust and the Trust, on behalf of the Funds, have entered into an Expense Reimbursement, Fee Waiver and Recovery Agreement (“Recovery Agreement”) pursuant to which First Trust has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse Fund expenses to the extent that the operating expenses of each such Fund (excluding interest expense, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, if any, taxes and extraordinary expenses) exceed the amounts set forth in the table below as a percentage of such Fund’s average daily net assets (the “Expense Caps”) at least through April 30, 2023 (the "Expense Cap Termination Date"). Each Fund is responsible for all of its expenses, including management fees, costs of transfer agency, custody, fund administration, legal, audit and other services, interest, taxes, brokerage commissions and other expenses related to the execution of portfolio transactions, paying for its sublicensing fees related to the Fund’s Index, any distribution fees or expenses, and extraordinary expenses. Pursuant to the Recovery Agreement, expenses borne and fees waived by First Trust are subject to recovery by First Trust for up to three years from the date the fee or expense was incurred by the Fund, but no recovery payment will be made by the Fund at any time if it would result in the Fund’s expenses exceeding (i) the applicable expense limitation in place for the most recent fiscal year for which such expense limitation was in place, (ii) the applicable expense limitation in place at the time the fees were waived or expenses were reimbursed, or (iii) the current expense limitation.
The table below sets forth the annual management fee that First Trust may receive from each Fund. In addition, the table sets forth each Fund’s Expense Cap and Expense Cap Termination Date. The table also shows the amounts paid by each Fund to First Trust for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 (net of fees waived and expense reimbursements) as a percentage of a Fund’s average daily net assets.
Fund
Annual
Management Fee
(% of average
daily net assets)
Annual
Expense Cap
(% of average
daily net assets)
Expense Cap
Termination
Date
Management Fee
Paid for the Year
Ended 12/31/2021
(% of average
daily net assets)
First Trust Capital Strength ETF
0.50%
0.65%
April 30, 2023
0.50%
First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund
0.40%
0.60%
April 30, 2023
0.40%
First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund
0.50%
0.60%
April 30, 2023
0.39%
First Trust Chindia ETF
0.40%
0.60%
April 30, 2023
0.40%
First Trust Natural Gas ETF
0.40%
0.60%
April 30, 2023
0.33%
First Trust Water ETF
0.40%
0.60%
April 30, 2023
0.40%
First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund
0.30%
0.45%
April 30, 2023
0.29%
139

Fund
Annual
Management Fee
(% of average
daily net assets)
Annual
Expense Cap
(% of average
daily net assets)
Expense Cap
Termination
Date
Management Fee
Paid for the Year
Ended 12/31/2021
(% of average
daily net assets)
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund
0.40%
0.60%
April 30, 2023
0.40%
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index
Fund
0.40%
0.60%
April 30, 2023
0.38%
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund
0.40%
0.60%
April 30, 2023
0.40%
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund
0.40%
0.60%
April 30, 2023
0.36%
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index
Fund
0.40%
0.60%
April 30, 2023
0.37%
First Trust NYSE® Arca® Biotechnology Index Fund
0.40%
0.60%
April 30, 2023
0.40%
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund
0.30%
0.50%
April 30, 2023
0.29%
First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF
0.40%
0.60%
April 30, 2023
0.40%
First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund
0.50%
0.70%
April 30, 2023
0.50%
A discussion regarding the basis of the Board’s approval of the continuation of the Investment Management Agreement is available in the Semi-Annual Report to Shareholders for the fiscal period ended June 30, 2021.
How to Buy and Sell Shares
Most investors buy and sell shares of a Fund in secondary market transactions through brokers. Shares of each Fund are listed for trading on the secondary market on one or more national securities exchanges. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like other publicly traded shares. There is no minimum investment when buying shares on an Exchange. Although shares are generally purchased and sold in “round lots” of 100 shares, brokerage firms typically permit investors to purchase or sell shares in smaller “odd lots,” at no per-share price differential. When buying or selling shares through a broker, investors should expect to pay brokerage commissions, investors may receive less than the net asset value of the shares because shares are bought and sold at market prices rather than at net asset value, and investors may pay some or all of the bid-ask spread for each transaction (purchase or sale) of Fund shares. Share prices are reported in dollars and cents per share.
Under normal circumstances, a Fund will pay out redemption proceeds to a redeeming authorized participant within two days after the authorized participant’s redemption request is received, in accordance with the process set forth in a Fund’s SAI and in the agreement between the authorized participant and the Fund’s distributor. However, each Fund reserves the right, including under stressed market conditions, to take up to seven days after the receipt of a redemption request to pay an authorized participant, all as permitted by the 1940 Act. If a Fund has foreign investments in a country where a local market holiday, or series of consecutive holidays, or the extended delivery cycles for transferring foreign investments to redeeming authorized participants prevents the Fund from delivering such foreign investments to an authorized participant in response to a redemption request, a Fund may take up to 15 days after the receipt of the redemption request to deliver such investments to the authorized participant.
For purposes of the 1940 Act, each Fund is treated as a registered investment company and the acquisition of shares by other registered investment companies and companies relying on Sections 3(c)(1) or 3(c)(7) of the 1940 Act is subject to the restrictions of Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act and the related rules and interpretations.
Book Entry
Shares are held in book-entry form, which means that no share certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) or its nominee is the record owner of all outstanding shares of a Fund and is recognized as the owner of all shares for all purposes.
Investors owning shares are beneficial owners as shown on the records of DTC or its participants. DTC serves as the securities depository for all shares. Participants in DTC include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and other institutions that directly or indirectly maintain a custodial relationship with DTC. As a beneficial owner of shares, you are not entitled to receive physical delivery of share certificates or to have shares registered in your name, and you are not considered a registered owner of shares. Therefore, to exercise any right as an owner of shares, you must rely upon the procedures of DTC and its participants. These procedures are the same as those that apply to any other stocks that you hold in book-entry or “street name” form.
140

Share Trading Prices
The trading price of shares of a Fund on the secondary market is based on market price and may differ from such Fund’s daily net asset value and can be affected by market forces of supply and demand, economic conditions and other factors.
Frequent Purchases and Redemptions of the Funds' Shares
The Funds impose no restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions (“market timing”). In determining not to approve a written, established policy, the Board evaluated the risks of market timing activities by the Funds' shareholders. The Board considered that the Funds' shares can only be purchased and redeemed directly from the Funds in Creation Units by broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (i.e., authorized participants (“APs”)) and that the vast majority of trading in the Funds' shares occurs on the secondary market. Because the secondary market trades do not involve the Funds directly, it is unlikely those trades would cause many of the harmful effects of market timing, including dilution, disruption of portfolio management, increases in the Funds' trading costs and the realization of capital gains. With respect to trades directly with the Funds, to the extent effected in-kind (i.e., for securities), those trades do not cause any of the harmful effects that may result from frequent cash trades. To the extent that a Fund may effect the purchase or redemption of Creation Units in exchange wholly or partially for cash, the Board noted that such trades could result in dilution to a Fund and increased transaction costs, which could negatively impact the Funds' ability to achieve their investment objective. However, the Board noted that direct trading by APs is critical to ensuring that the shares trade at or close to net asset value. In addition, the Funds impose fixed and variable transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units to cover the custodial and other costs incurred by the Funds in effecting trades. Finally, the Advisor monitors purchase and redemption orders from APs for patterns of abusive trading and the Funds reserve the right to not accept orders from APs that the Advisor has determined may be disruptive to the management of the Funds.
Dividends, Distributions and Taxes
Dividends from net investment income from the Funds, if any, are declared and paid quarterly by each Fund. Each Fund distributes its net realized capital gains, if any, to shareholders at least annually.
Distributions in cash may be reinvested automatically in additional whole shares only if the broker through whom you purchased shares makes such option available. Such shares will generally be reinvested by the broker based upon the market price of those shares and investors may be subject to customary brokerage commissions charged by the broker.
Federal Tax Matters
This section summarizes some of the main U.S. federal income tax consequences of owning shares of the Funds. This section is current as of the date of this prospectus. Tax laws and interpretations change frequently, and these summaries do not describe all of the tax consequences to all taxpayers. For example, these summaries generally do not describe your situation if you are a corporation, a non-U.S. person, a broker-dealer, or other investor with special circumstances. In addition, this section does not describe your state, local or non-U.S. tax consequences.
This federal income tax summary is based in part on the advice of counsel to the Funds. The Internal Revenue Service could disagree with any conclusions set forth in this section. In addition, counsel to the Funds may not have been asked to review, and may not have reached a conclusion with respect to, the federal income tax treatment of the assets to be included in the Funds. The following disclosure may not be sufficient for you to use for the purpose of avoiding penalties under federal tax law.
As with any investment, you should seek advice based on your individual circumstances from your own tax advisor.
Fund Status
Each Fund intends to qualify as a “regulated investment company” under the federal tax laws. If a Fund qualifies as a regulated investment company and distributes its income as required by the tax law, the Fund generally will not pay federal income taxes.
An adverse federal income tax audit of a partnership that a Fund invests in could result in the Fund being required to pay federal income tax or pay a deficiency dividend (without having received additional cash).
141

Distributions
The Funds' distributions are generally taxable. After the end of each year, you will receive a tax statement that separates the distributions of a Fund into two categories: ordinary income distributions and capital gain dividends. Ordinary income distributions are generally taxed at your ordinary tax rate, however, as further discussed below certain ordinary income distributions received from a Fund may be taxed at the capital gains tax rates. Some portion of the ordinary income distributions that are attributable to dividends received by a Fund from shares in certain real estate investment trusts may be designated by the Fund as eligible for a deduction for qualified business income, provided certain holding period requirements are satisfied. Generally, you will treat all capital gain dividends as long-term capital gains regardless of how long you have owned your shares.
To determine your actual tax liability for your capital gain dividends, you must calculate your total net capital gain or loss for the tax year after considering all of your other taxable transactions, as described below. In addition, the Funds may make distributions that represent a return of capital for tax purposes and thus will generally not be taxable to you; however, such distributions may reduce your tax basis in your shares, which could result in you having to pay higher taxes in the future when shares are sold or redeemed, even if you sell or redeem the shares at a loss from your original investment. A “return of capital” is a return, in whole or in part, of the funds that you previously invested in the Fund. A return of capital distribution should not be considered part of a Fund’s dividend yield or total return of an investment in Fund shares. The tax status of your distributions from a Fund is not affected by whether you reinvest your distributions in additional shares or receive them in cash. The income from a Fund that you must take into account for federal income tax purposes is not reduced by amounts used to pay a deferred sales fee, if any. The tax laws may require you to treat distributions made to you in January as if you had received them on December 31 of the previous year.
Income from a Fund may also be subject to a 3.8% “Medicare tax.” This tax generally applies to your net investment income if your adjusted gross income exceeds certain threshold amounts, which are $250,000 in the case of married couples filing joint returns and $200,000 in the case of single individuals.
Capital Gains and Losses and Certain Ordinary Income Dividends
If you are an individual, the maximum marginal stated federal tax rate for net capital gain is generally 20% (15% or 0% for taxpayers with taxable incomes below certain thresholds). Some capital gains, including some portion of your capital gain dividends, may be taxed at a higher maximum stated federal tax rate. Some portion of your capital gain dividends may be attributable to the Fund’s interest in a master limited partnership which may be subject to a maximum marginal stated federal tax rate of 28%, rather than the rates set forth above. In addition, capital gain received from assets held for more than one year that is considered “unrecaptured section 1250 gain” (which may be the case, for example, with some capital gains attributable to equity interests in real estate investment trusts that constitute interests in entities treated as real estate investment trusts for federal income tax purposes) is taxed at a maximum marginal stated federal tax rate of 25%. In the case of capital gain dividends, the determination of which portion of the capital gain dividend, if any, is subject to the 28% tax rate or the 25% tax rate, will be made based on rules prescribed by the United States Treasury. Capital gains may also be subject to the Medicare tax described above.
Net capital gain equals net long-term capital gain minus net short-term capital loss for the taxable year. Capital gain or loss is long-term if the holding period for the asset is more than one year and is short-term if the holding period for the asset is one year or less. You must exclude the date you purchase your shares to determine your holding period. However, if you receive a capital gain dividend from a Fund and sell your share at a loss after holding it for six months or less, the loss will be recharacterized as long-term capital loss to the extent of the capital gain dividend received. The tax rates for capital gains realized from assets held for one year or less are generally the same as for ordinary income. The Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, treats certain capital gains as ordinary income in special situations.
An election may be available to you to defer recognition of the gain attributable to a capital gain dividend if you make certain qualifying investments within a limited time. You should talk to your tax advisor about the availability of this deferral election and its requirements.
Ordinary income dividends received by an individual shareholder from a regulated investment company such as the Funds are generally taxed at the same rates that apply to net capital gain (as discussed above), provided certain holding period requirements are satisfied and provided the dividends are attributable to qualifying dividends received by the Funds themselves. Distributions with respect to shares in real estate investment trusts and foreign corporations are qualifying dividends only in limited circumstances. Each Fund will provide notice to its shareholders of the amount of any distribution which may be taken into account as a dividend which is eligible for the capital gains tax rates.
142

Dividends Received Deduction
A corporation that owns shares generally will not be entitled to the dividends received deduction with respect to many dividends received from the Funds because the dividends received deduction is generally not available for distributions from regulated investment companies. However, certain ordinary income dividends on shares that are attributable to qualifying dividends received by the Funds from certain corporations may be reported by the Funds as being eligible for the dividends received deduction.
Sale of Shares
If you sell or redeem your shares, you will generally recognize a taxable gain or loss. To determine the amount of this gain or loss, you must subtract your tax basis in your shares from the amount you receive in the transaction. Your tax basis in your shares is generally equal to the cost of your shares, generally including sales charges. In some cases, however, you may have to adjust your tax basis after you purchase your shares. An election may be available to you to defer recognition of capital gain if you make certain qualifying investments within a limited time. You should talk to your tax advisor about the availability of this deferral election and its requirements.
Taxes on Purchase and Redemption of Creation Units
If you exchange securities for Creation Units, you will generally recognize a gain or a loss. The gain or loss will be equal to the difference between the market value of the Creation Units at the time and your aggregate basis in the securities surrendered and the cash component paid. If you exchange Creation Units for securities, you will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between your basis in the Creation Units and the aggregate market value of the securities received and the cash redemption amount. The Internal Revenue Service, however, may assert that a loss realized upon an exchange of securities for Creation Units or Creation Units for securities cannot be deducted currently under the rules governing “wash sales,” or on the basis that there has been no significant change in economic position.
Treatment of Fund Expenses
Expenses incurred and deducted by the Funds will generally not be treated as income taxable to you.
Non-U.S. Tax Credit
Because the Funds may invest in non-U.S. securities, the tax statement that you receive may include an item showing non-U.S. taxes a Fund paid to other countries. In this case, dividends taxed to you will include your share of the taxes a Fund paid to other countries. You may be able to deduct or receive a tax credit for your share of these taxes.
Non-U.S. Investors
If you are a non-U.S. investor (i.e., an investor other than a U.S. citizen or resident or a U.S. corporation, partnership, estate or trust), you should be aware that, generally, subject to applicable tax treaties, distributions from a Fund will be characterized as dividends for federal income tax purposes (other than dividends which a Fund properly reports as capital gain dividends) and will be subject to U.S. federal income taxes, including withholding taxes, subject to certain exceptions described below. However, distributions received by a non-U.S. investor from a Fund that are properly reported by a Fund as capital gain dividends may not be subject to U.S. federal income taxes, including withholding taxes, provided that a Fund makes certain elections and certain other conditions are met. Distributions from a Fund that are properly reported by the Fund as an interest-related dividend attributable to certain interest income received by the Fund or as a short-term capital gain dividend attributable to certain net short-term capital gain income received by the Fund may not be subject to U.S. federal income taxes, including withholding taxes when received by certain non-U.S. investors, provided that the Fund makes certain elections and certain other conditions are met.
Distributions may be subject to a U.S. withholding tax of 30% in the case of distributions to (i) certain non-U.S. financial institutions that have not entered into an agreement with the U.S. Treasury to collect and disclose certain information and are not resident in a jurisdiction that has entered into such an agreement with the U.S. Treasury and (ii) certain other non-U.S. entities that do not provide certain certifications and information about the entity’s U.S. owners. This withholding tax is also currently scheduled to apply to the gross proceeds from the disposition of securities that produce U.S. source interest or dividends. However, proposed regulations may eliminate the requirement to withhold on payments of gross proceeds from dispositions.
143

Investments in Certain Non-U.S. Corporations
If a Fund holds an equity interest in any “passive foreign investment companies” (“PFICs”), which are generally certain non-U.S. corporations that receive at least 75% of their annual gross income from passive sources (such as interest, dividends, certain rents and royalties or capital gains) or that hold at least 50% of their assets in investments producing such passive income, a Fund could be subject to U.S. federal income tax and additional interest charges on gains and certain distributions with respect to those equity interests, even if all the income or gain is timely distributed to its shareholders. A Fund will not be able to pass through to its shareholders any credit or deduction for such taxes. A Fund may be able to make an election that could ameliorate these adverse tax consequences. In this case, a Fund would recognize as ordinary income any increase in the value of such PFIC shares, and as ordinary loss any decrease in such value to the extent it did not exceed prior increases included in income. Under this election, a Fund might be required to recognize in a year income in excess of its distributions from PFICs and its proceeds from dispositions of PFIC stock during that year, and such income would nevertheless be subject to the distribution requirement and would be taken into account for purposes of the 4% excise tax. Dividends paid by PFICs are not treated as qualified dividend income.
Distribution Plan
FTP serves as the distributor of Creation Units for the Funds on an agency basis. FTP does not maintain a secondary market in shares.
The Board has adopted a Distribution and Service Plan pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. In accordance with the Rule 12b-1 plan, the Funds are authorized to pay an amount up to 0.25% of their average daily net assets each year to reimburse FTP for amounts expended to finance activities primarily intended to result in the sale of Creation Units or the provision of investor services. FTP may also use this amount to compensate securities dealers or other persons that are APs for providing distribution assistance, including broker-dealer and shareholder support and educational and promotional services.
The Funds do not currently pay 12b-1 fees, and pursuant to a contractual arrangement, the Funds will not pay 12b-1 fees any time before April 30, 2023. However, in the event 12b-1 fees are charged in the future, because these fees are paid out of the Funds' assets, over time these fees will increase the cost of your investment and may cost you more than certain other types of sales charges.
Net Asset Value
Each Fund's net asset value is determined as of the close of trading (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time) on each day the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") is open for trading. If the NYSE closes early on a valuation day, the Fund’s net asset value will be determined as of that time. Net asset value per share is calculated for a Fund by taking the market price of the Fund’s total assets, including interest or dividends accrued but not yet collected, less all liabilities (including accrued expenses and dividends declared but unpaid), and dividing such amount by the total number of shares outstanding. The result, rounded to the nearest cent, is the net asset value per share. All valuations are subject to review by the Board or its delegate.
Each Fund's investments are valued daily at market value or, in the absence of market value with respect to any portfolio securities, at fair value, in accordance with valuation procedures adopted by the Board and in accordance with the 1940 Act. Portfolio securities listed on any exchange other than Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange Alternative Investment Market (“AIM”) are valued at the last sale price on the business day as of which such value is being determined. Securities listed on Nasdaq or AIM are valued at the official closing price on the business day as of which such value is being determined. If there has been no sale on such day, or no official closing price in the case of securities traded on Nasdaq or AIM, the securities are fair valued at the mean of the most recent bid and ask price on such day.
Portfolio securities traded on more than one securities exchange are valued at the last sale price or official closing price, as applicable, on the business day as of which such value is being determined at the close of the exchange representing the principal market for such securities. Portfolio securities traded in the over-the-counter market, but excluding securities trading on Nasdaq or AIM, are fair valued at the mean of the most recent bid and asked price, if available, and otherwise at the closing bid price. Short-term investments that mature in less than 60 days when purchased are fair valued at cost adjusted for amortization of premiums and accretion of discount, provided the Advisor’s Pricing Committee has determined that the use of amortized cost is an appropriate reflection of fair value given market and issuer-specific conditions existing at the time of the determination.
Certain securities may not be able to be priced by pre-established pricing methods. Such securities may be valued by the Board or its delegate, the Advisor’s Pricing Committee, at fair value. The use of fair value pricing by a Fund is governed by valuation
144

procedures adopted by the Board and in accordance with the provisions of the 1940 Act. These securities generally include, but are not limited to, certain restricted securities (securities which may not be publicly sold without registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) for which a pricing service is unable to provide a market price; securities whose trading has been formally suspended; a security whose market or fair value price is not available from a pre-established pricing source; a security with respect to which an event has occurred that is likely to materially affect the value of the security after the market has closed but before the calculation of the Fund's net asset value or make it difficult or impossible to obtain a reliable market quotation; and a security whose price, as provided by the pricing service, does not, in the opinion of the Advisor's Pricing Committee, reflect the security’s fair value. As a general principle, the current fair value of a security would appear to be the amount which the owner might reasonably expect to receive for the security upon its current sale. When fair value prices are used, generally they will differ from the current market quotations or official closing prices on the applicable exchange. A variety of factors may be considered in determining the fair value of such securities. See the Funds' SAI for details.
Because foreign securities exchanges may be open on different days than the days during which an investor may buy or sell shares of a Fund, the value of such Fund's securities may change on days when investors are not able to buy or sell shares of the Fund. The value of securities denominated in foreign currencies is converted into U.S. dollars at the exchange rates in effect at the time of valuation. Any use of a different rate from the rates used by a Fund’s Index may adversely affect such Fund’s ability to track its Index.
Fund Service Providers
The Bank of New York Mellon, 240 Greenwich Street, New York, New York 10286, acts as the administrator, custodian and fund accounting and transfer agent for the Funds. Chapman and Cutler LLP, 320 S. Canal St., Chicago, Illinois 60606, serves as legal counsel to the Funds. First Trust serves as the fund reporting agent for the Funds.
Index Providers
The Indices are compiled by the Index Providers. The Index Providers are not affiliated with the Funds, FTP or First Trust. Each Fund is entitled to use the applicable Index pursuant to a sublicensing arrangement with First Trust, which in turn has a licensing agreement with each Index Provider. With the exception of the First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund, First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund and First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF, each Index Provider or its agent also serves as calculation agent for the Index they provide (each, an “Index Calculation Agent”). Each Index Calculation Agent is responsible for the management of the day-to-day operations of the applicable Index, including calculating the value of such Index every 15 seconds, widely disseminating the Index values every 15 seconds and tracking corporate actions resulting in Index adjustments.
Disclaimers
First Trust does not guarantee the accuracy and/or the completeness of the Indices or any data included therein, and First Trust shall have no liability for any errors, omissions or interruptions therein. First Trust makes no warranty, express or implied, as to results to be obtained by the Funds, owners of the shares of the Funds or any other person or entity from the use of the Indices or any data included therein. First Trust makes no express or implied warranties, and expressly disclaims all warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or use with respect to the Indices or any data included therein. Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall First Trust have any liability for any special, punitive, direct, indirect or consequential damages (including lost profits) arising out of matters relating to the use of the Indices, even if notified of the possibility of such damages.
First Trust Capital Strength ETF
The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Nasdaq, Inc. (“Nasdaq”) or its affiliates (Nasdaq with its affiliates are referred to as the “Corporations”). The Corporations have not passed on the legality or suitability of, or the accuracy or adequacy of descriptions and disclosures relating to, the Fund. The Corporations make no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the Fund particularly, or the ability of The Capital Strength IndexSM to track general stock market performance. The Corporations’ only relationship to First Trust with respect to the Fund is in the licensing of The Capital Strength IndexSM, and certain trade names of the Corporations and the use of The Capital Strength IndexSM, which are determined, composed and calculated by Nasdaq without regard to First Trust or the Fund. Nasdaq has no obligation to take the needs of First Trust or the owners of the Fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating The Capital Strength IndexSM. The
145

Corporations are not responsible for and have not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices at, or quantities of Fund Shares to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which Fund Shares are to be converted into cash. The Corporations have no liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Fund.
THE CORPORATIONS DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY AND/OR UNINTERRUPTED CALCULATION OF THE CAPITAL STRENGTH INDEXSM OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY LICENSEE, OWNERS OF THE PRODUCT(S) OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE CAPITAL STRENGTH INDEXSM OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE WITH RESPECT TO THE CAPITAL STRENGTH INDEXSM OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE CORPORATIONS HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund
First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund
The “Dow Jones Internet Composite IndexSM” and “Dow Jones Select MicroCap IndexSM” are products of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC (“SPDJI”), and have been licensed for use by First Trust. Dow Jones®, Dow Jones Internet Composite Index and Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index are trademarks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC (“Dow Jones”). The foregoing marks have been licensed to SPDJI and have been sublicensed for use for certain purposes by First Trust on behalf of the Funds. The First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund and First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by SPDJI, Dow Jones or their respective affiliates. SPDJI, Dow Jones and their respective affiliates make no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund and First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund and First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund particularly. The only relationship of SPDJI, Dow Jones or any of their respective affiliates to the Licensee with respect to the Indexes is the licensing of certain trademarks, trade names and service marks and of the Dow Jones Internet Composite Index and Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index which are determined, composed and calculated by SPDJI without regard to First Trust, First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund or First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund. SPDJI and Dow Jones have no obligation to take the needs of First Trust or the owners of the First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund or First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Dow Jones Internet Composite Index and Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index. SPDJI, Dow Jones and their respective affiliates are not responsible for and have not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices at, or quantities of the First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund or First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund or First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund are to be converted into cash. SPDJI, Dow Jones and their respective affiliates have no obligation or liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund or First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund. There is no assurance that investment products based on the Dow Jones Internet Composite Index and the Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index will accurately track index performance or provide positive investment returns. SPDJI is not an investment advisor. Inclusion of a security within an index is not a recommendation by SPDJI to buy, sell or hold such security, nor is it considered to be investment advice.
SPDJI, DOW JONES AND THEIR RESPECTIVE AFFILIATES DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF THE DOW JONES INTERNET COMPOSITE INDEX AND DOW JONES SELECT MICROCAP INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN AND SPDJI, DOW JONES AND THEIR RESPECTIVE AFFILIATES SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS, OR INTERRUPTIONS THEREIN. SPDJI, DOW JONES AND THEIR RESPECTIVE AFFILIATES MAKE NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY FIRST TRUST, OWNERS OF THE FIRST TRUST DOW JONES INTERNET INDEX FUND OR FIRST TRUST DOW JONES SELECT MICROCAP INDEX FUND, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE DOW JONES INTERNET COMPOSITE INDEX AND DOW JONES SELECT MICROCAP INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. SPDJI, DOW JONES AND THEIR RESPECTIVE AFFILIATES MAKE NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE WITH RESPECT TO THE DOW JONES INTERNET COMPOSITE INDEX AND DOW JONES SELECT MICROCAP INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL SPDJI, DOW JONES OR THEIR RESPECTIVE AFFILIATES HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR LOSSES, EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, WHETHER IN
146

CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE. THERE ARE NO THIRD PARTY BENEFICIARIES OF ANY AGREEMENTS OR ARRANGEMENTS BETWEEN SPDJI AND FIRST TRUST, OTHER THAN THE LICENSORS OF SPDJI.
First Trust Chindia ETF
First Trust Natural Gas ETF
First Trust Water ETF
The Funds are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Nasdaq, Inc., as Index Provider. The Index Provider makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the Funds or any member of the public regarding the advisability of trading in the Funds. The Index Provider’s only relationship to First Trust is the licensing of certain trademarks and trade names of the Index Provider and of the Indexes which are determined, composed and calculated by the Index Provider without regard to First Trust or the Funds. The Index Provider has no obligation to take the needs of First Trust or the owners of the Funds into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Indexes. The Index Provider is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices at, or quantities of the Funds to be listed or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the Funds are to be converted into cash. The Index Provider has no obligation or liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Funds.
THE INDEX PROVIDER DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN AND THE INDEX PROVIDER SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS OR INTERRUPTIONS THEREIN. THE INDEX PROVIDER MAKES NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY FIRST TRUST, OWNERS OF THE FUNDS, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. THE INDEX PROVIDER MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE WITH RESPECT TO THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE INDEX PROVIDER HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS), EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THERE ARE NO THIRD PARTY BENEFICIARIES OF ANY AGREEMENTS OR ARRANGEMENTS BETWEEN THE INDEX PROVIDER AND FIRST TRUST.
First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund
First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Morningstar Inc. Morningstar makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund in particular or the ability of the Morningstar Dividend Leaders IndexSM to track general stock market performance. Morningstar’s only relationship to First Trust is the licensing of: (i) certain service marks and service names of Morningstar; and (ii) the Morningstar Dividend Leaders IndexSM which is determined, composed and calculated by Morningstar without regard to First Trust or the First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund. Morningstar has no obligation to take the needs of First Trust or the owners of First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Morningstar Dividend Leaders IndexSM. Morningstar is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the prices and amount of the First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund or the timing of the issuance or sale of the First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund is converted into cash. Morningstar has no obligation or liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund.
MORNINGSTAR, INC. (“MORNINGSTAR”), DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF THE MORNINGSTAR® DIVIDEND LEADERS INDEXSM OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN AND MORNINGSTAR SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS OR INTERRUPTIONS THEREIN. MORNINGSTAR MAKES NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY FIRST TRUST, OWNERS OR USERS OF THE FIRST TRUST MORNINGSTAR DIVIDEND LEADERS INDEX FUND, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE MORNINGSTAR® DIVIDEND LEADERS INDEXSM OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. MORNINGSTAR MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE WITH RESPECT TO THE MORNINGSTAR® DIVIDEND LEADERS INDEXSM OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL MORNINGSTAR HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS), EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
147

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund
The Funds are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Nasdaq, Inc. (“Nasdaq”) or its affiliates (Nasdaq with its affiliates are referred to as the “Corporations”). The Corporations have not passed on the legality or suitability of, or the accuracy or adequacy of descriptions and disclosures relating to, the Funds. The Corporations make no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the Funds or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the Funds particularly, or the ability of the Nasdaq-100 Equal Weighted IndexSM, the Nasdaq-100 Ex-Tech Sector IndexSM and the Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector IndexSM to track general stock market performance. The Corporations’ only relationship to First Trust with respect to the Funds is in the licensing of the Nasdaq®, Nasdaq OMX®, Nasdaq-100®, Nasdaq-100 Index®, Nasdaq-100 Equal Weighted IndexSM, Nasdaq-100 Ex-Tech Sector IndexSM and Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector IndexSM trademarks, and certain trade names of the Corporations and the use of the Nasdaq-100 Equal Weighted IndexSM, Nasdaq-100 Ex-Tech Sector IndexSM and the Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector IndexSM which are determined, composed and calculated by Nasdaq without regard to First Trust or the Funds. Nasdaq has no obligation to take the needs of First Trust or the owners of the Funds into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Nasdaq-100 Equal Weighted IndexSM, Nasdaq-100 Ex-Tech Sector IndexSM or the Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector IndexSM. The Corporations are not responsible for and have not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices at, or quantities of Fund shares to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which Fund shares are to be converted into cash. The Corporations have no liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Funds.
THE CORPORATIONS DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY AND/OR UNINTERRUPTED CALCULATION OF THE NASDAQ-100 EQUAL WEIGHTED INDEXSM, THE NASDAQ-100 EX-TECH SECTOR INDEXSM AND THE NASDAQ-100 TECHNOLOGY SECTOR INDEXSM OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY LICENSEE, OWNERS OF THE PRODUCT(S) OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE NASDAQ-100 EQUAL WEIGHTED INDEXSM, THE NASDAQ-100 EX-TECH SECTOR INDEXSM AND THE NASDAQ-100 TECHNOLOGY SECTOR INDEXSM OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE WITH RESPECT TO THE NASDAQ-100 EQUAL WEIGHTED INDEXSM, THE NASDAQ-100 EX-TECH SECTOR INDEXSM AND THE NASDAQ-100 TECHNOLOGY SECTOR INDEXSM OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE CORPORATIONS HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund
The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Nasdaq, Inc. (“Nasdaq”), American Bankers Association (“ABA”) or their affiliates (Nasdaq and ABA, collectively with their affiliates, are referred to as the “Corporations”). The Corporations have not passed on the legality or suitability of, or the accuracy or adequacy of descriptions and disclosures relating to, the Fund. The Corporations make no representation or warranty, express or implied to the owners of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the Fund particularly, or the ability of the Nasdaq OMX® ABA Community Bank IndexSM to track general stock market performance. The Corporations’ only relationship to First Trust Advisors L.P. (“Licensee”) is in the licensing of the Nasdaq®, OMX®, Nasdaq OMX®, American Bankers Association, ABA, and Nasdaq OMX® ABA Community Bank IndexSM trademarks, and certain trade names and service marks of the Corporations and the use of the Nasdaq OMX ABA Community Bank IndexSM which is determined and composed by the Corporations without regard to Licensee or the Fund. The Corporations have no obligation to take the needs of the Licensee or the owners of the Fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Nasdaq OMX® ABA Community Bank IndexSM. The Corporations are not responsible for and have not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices at, or quantities of the Fund to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the Fund is to be converted into cash. The Corporations have no liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Fund.
THE CORPORATIONS DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY AND/OR UNINTERRUPTED CALCULATION OF THE NASDAQ OMX ABA COMMUNITY BANK INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY FIRST TRUST OR THE FUND, OWNERS OF THE FUND, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE NASDAQ OMX ABA COMMUNITY BANK INDEXSM OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE WITH RESPECT TO THE NASDAQ OMX ABA COMMUNITY BANK INDEXSM OR ANY DATA
148

INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE CORPORATIONS HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
All price history data for the Nasdaq OMX® ABA Community Bank IndexSM prior to its dissemination date, June 8, 2009 is indicative and Nasdaq OMX® makes no guarantee of the accuracy of back-tested data.
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund
The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Nasdaq, Inc., Clean Edge®, Inc. or their affiliates (Nasdaq, Inc. and Clean Edge®, Inc., collectively with their affiliates, are referred to herein as the “Corporations”). The Corporations have not passed on the legality or suitability of, or the accuracy or adequacy of descriptions and disclosures relating to, the Fund. The Corporations make no representation or warranty, express or implied to the owners of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the Fund particularly, or the ability of the Nasdaq® Clean Edge® Green Energy IndexSM to track general stock market or sector performance. The Corporations’ relationship to First Trust, with respect to the Fund, consists of: (i) the licensing of certain indexes, trade names, trademarks, and service marks and other proprietary data; (ii) the listing and trading of certain exchange-traded funds; and (iii) the calculating of intra-day portfolio values for the Fund’s shares. The Corporations neither recommend nor endorse any investment in the Index or the Fund based thereon. The Corporations are not responsible for and have not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices at, or quantities of the Fund to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the Fund is to be converted into cash. The Corporations have no liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Fund. Neither the Index nor the Fund should be construed as investment advice by the Corporations.
THE CORPORATIONS DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY AND/OR UNINTERRUPTED CALCULATION OF THE NASDAQ® CLEAN EDGE® GREEN ENERGY INDEXSM OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY LICENSEE, OWNERS OF THE FUND, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE NASDAQ® CLEAN EDGE® GREEN ENERGY INDEXSM OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE WITH RESPECT TO THE NASDAQ® CLEAN EDGE® GREEN ENERGY INDEXSM OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE CORPORATIONS HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
Nasdaq, Inc. and Clean Edge®, Inc. are not affiliates, but jointly own the Index and have cross-licensed to one another the rights in their respective marks in connection with the Index.
First Trust NYSE® Arca® Biotechnology Index Fund
Source ICE Data Indices, LLC (“ICE Data”), is used with permission. “NYSE®” and “NYSE® Arca®” are service/trade marks of ICE Data Indices, LLC or its affiliates and have been licensed, along with the NYSE® Arca Biotechnology Index (“Index”) for use by First Trust Advisors L.P. in connection with the First Trust NYSE® Arca® Biotechnology Index Fund (the “Product”). Neither First Trust Advisors L.P., First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund (the “Trust”) nor the Product, as applicable, is sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by ICE Data Indices, LLC, its affiliates or its Third Party Suppliers (“ICE Data and its Suppliers”). ICE Data and its Suppliers make no representations or warranties regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally, in the Product particularly, the Trust or the ability of the Index to track general stock market performance. ICE Data’s only relationship to First Trust Advisors L.P. is the licensing of certain trademarks and trade names and the Index or components thereof. The Index is determined, composed and calculated by ICE Data without regard to First Trust Advisors L.P. or the Product or its holders. ICE Data has no obligation to take the needs of First Trust Advisors L.P. or the holders of the Product into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Index. ICE Data is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of the Product to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the Product is to be priced, sold, purchased, or redeemed. Except for certain custom index calculation services, all information provided by ICE Data is general in nature and not tailored to the needs of First Trust Advisors L.P. or any other person, entity or group of persons. ICE Data has no obligation or liability in connection with the administration, marketing, or trading of the Product. ICE Data is not an investment advisor. Inclusion of a security within an index is not a recommendation by ICE Data to buy, sell, or hold such security, nor is it considered to be investment advice.
ICE DATA AND ITS SUPPLIERS DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES AND REPRESENTATIONS, EXPRESS AND/OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE, INCLUDING THE INDICES, INDEX DATA AND ANY INFORMATION INCLUDED IN, RELATED TO, OR DERIVED THEREFROM (“INDEX DATA”). ICE
149

DATA AND ITS SUPPLIERS SHALL NOT BE SUBJECT TO ANY DAMAGES OR LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE ADEQUACY, ACCURACY, TIMELINESS OR COMPLETENESS OF THE INDICES AND THE INDEX DATA, WHICH ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS AND YOUR USE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund
The S&P United States REIT Index is a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC (“SPDJI”). Standard & Poor’s® and S&P® are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (“SPFS”). The foregoing marks have been licensed for use by SPDJI and sublicensed by First Trust Advisors L.P. The First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by SPDJI or its affiliates, and SPDJI and its affiliates make no representation, warranty or condition regarding the advisability of buying, selling or holding shares of the Fund.
THE FUND IS NOT SPONSORED, ENDORSED, SOLD OR PROMOTED BY SPDJI, SPFS AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES (COLLECTIVELY, “SPDJI”). SPDJI DOES NOT MAKE ANY REPRESENTATION, CONDITION OR WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE OWNERS OF THE FUND OR ANY MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC REGARDING THE ADVISABILITY OF INVESTING IN SECURITIES GENERALLY OR IN THE FUND PARTICULARLY OR THE ABILITY OF THE S&P UNITED STATES REIT INDEX TO TRACK GENERAL STOCK MARKET PERFORMANCE. SPDJI’S ONLY RELATIONSHIP TO FIRST TRUST ADVISORS L.P. (“FTA”) IS THE LICENSING OF CERTAIN TRADEMARKS AND TRADE NAMES AND OF THE S&P UNITED STATES REIT INDEX WHICH IS DETERMINED, COMPOSED AND CALCULATED BY SPDJI WITHOUT REGARD TO FTA OR THE FUND. SPDJI HAS NO OBLIGATION TO TAKE THE NEEDS OF FTA OR THE OWNERS OF THE FUND INTO CONSIDERATION IN DETERMINING, COMPOSING OR CALCULATING THE S&P UNITED STATES REIT INDEX. SPDJI IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR AND HAS NOT PARTICIPATED IN THE DETERMINATION OF THE PRICES AND AMOUNT OF THE FUND OR THE TIMING OF THE ISSUANCE OR SALE OF THE FUND OR IN THE DETERMINATION OR CALCULATION OF THE EQUATION BY WHICH THE FUND SHARES ARE TO BE CONVERTED INTO CASH. SPDJI HAS NO OBLIGATION OR LIABILITY IN CONNECTION WITH THE ADMINISTRATION, MARKETING, OR TRADING OF THE FUND. THERE IS NO ASSURANCE THAT INVESTMENT PRODUCTS BASED ON THE S&P UNITED STATES REIT INDEX WILL ACCURATELY TRACK INDEX PERFORMANCE OR PROVIDE POSITIVE INVESTMENT RETURNS. S&P DOW JONES INDICES LLC IS NOT AN INVESTMENT ADVISOR. INCLUSION OF A SECURITY WITHIN AN INDEX IS NOT A RECOMMENDATION BY SPDJI TO BUY, SELL, OR HOLD SUCH SECURITY, NOR IS IT CONSIDERED TO BE INVESTMENT ADVICE.
SPDJI DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF THE S&P UNITED STATES REIT INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN AND SPDJI SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS, OR INTERRUPTIONS THEREIN. SPDJI MAKES NO WARRANTY, CONDITION OR REPRESENTATION, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY FTA, OWNERS OF THE FUND, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF S&P UNITED STATES REIT INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. SPDJI MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, REPRESENTATIONS OR CONDITIONS, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE AND ANY OTHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY OR CONDITION WITH RESPECT TO THE S&P UNITED STATES REIT INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL SPDJI HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS) RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THE S&P UNITED STATES REIT INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN, EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE. THERE ARE NO THIRD PARTY BENEFICIARIES OF ANY AGREEMENTS OR ARRANGEMENTS BETWEEN SPDJI AND FIRST TRUST, OTHER THAN THE LICENSORS OF SPDJI.
First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF
The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by IPOX®. IPOX® 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. IPOX®’s only relationship to First Trust is the licensing of certain trademarks and trade names of IPOX® and of the U.S. IPOX® 100 Index, which is determined, composed and calculated by IPOX® without regard to First Trust or the Fund.
IPOX® is a registered international trademark of IPOX® Schuster LLC and IPOX® Schuster, IPOX 100 and IPOX 30 are trademarks of IPOX Schuster LLC (www.ipox.com) and have been licensed for certain purposes from IPOX Schuster LLC to First Trust pursuant to the product license agreement.
A patent with respect to the IPOX® index methodology has been issued (U.S. Pat. No. 7,698,197). IPOX® is a registered international trademark of IPOX® Schuster LLC (www.ipox.com).
150

First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund
VALUE LINE PUBLISHING LLC’S (“VLP”) ONLY RELATIONSHIP TO FIRST TRUST IS VLP’S LICENSING TO FIRST TRUST OF CERTAIN VLP TRADEMARKS AND TRADE NAMES AND THE VALUE LINE® DIVIDEND INDEX (THE “INDEX”), WHICH IS COMPOSED BY VLP WITHOUT REGARD TO FIRST TRUST AND THE FIRST TRUST VALUE LINE® DIVIDEND INDEX FUND (THE “PRODUCT”) OR ANY INVESTOR. VLP HAS NO OBLIGATION TO TAKE THE NEEDS OF FIRST TRUST OR ANY INVESTOR IN THE PRODUCT INTO CONSIDERATION IN COMPOSING THE INDEX. THE PRODUCT’S RESULTS MAY DIFFER FROM THE HYPOTHETICAL OR PUBLISHED RESULTS OF THE INDEX. VLP IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR HOW FIRST TRUST MAKES USE OF INFORMATION SUPPLIED BY VLP. VLP IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR AND HAS NOT PARTICIPATED IN THE DETERMINATION OF THE PRICES AND COMPOSITION OF THE PRODUCT OR THE TIMING OF THE ISSUANCE FOR SALE OF THE PRODUCT OR IN THE CALCULATION OF THE EQUATIONS BY WHICH THE PRODUCT IS TO BE CONVERTED INTO CASH. VLP MAKES NO WARRANTY CONCERNING THE INDEX, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR ANY PERSON’S INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO, OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES ARISING FROM USAGE OF TRADE, COURSE OF DEALING OR COURSE OF PERFORMANCE, AND VLP MAKES NO WARRANTY AS TO THE POTENTIAL PROFITS OR ANY OTHER BENEFITS THAT MAY BE ACHIEVED BY USING THE INDEX OR ANY INFORMATION OR MATERIALS GENERATED THEREFROM. VLP DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE INDEX WILL MEET ANY REQUIREMENTS OR BE ACCURATE OR ERROR-FREE. VLP ALSO DOES NOT GUARANTEE ANY USES, INFORMATION, DATA OR OTHER RESULTS GENERATED FROM THE INDEX OR PRODUCT. VLP HAS NO OBLIGATION OR LIABILITY (I) IN CONNECTION WITH THE ADMINISTRATION, MARKETING OR TRADING OF THE PRODUCT; OR (II) FOR ANY LOSS, DAMAGE, COST OR EXPENSE SUFFERED OR INCURRED BY ANY INVESTOR OR OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY IN CONNECTION WITH THE PRODUCT, AND IN NO EVENT SHALL VLP BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR OTHER CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES IN CONNECTION WITH THE INDEX OR THE PRODUCT.
VALUE LINE, THE VALUE LINE INVESTMENT SURVEY, TIMELINESS AND SAFETY ARE TRADEMARKS OR REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF VALUE LINE, INC. THAT ARE LICENSED TO FIRST TRUST. THE PRODUCT IS NOT SPONSORED, RECOMMENDED, SOLD OR PROMOTED BY VALUE LINE PUBLISHING LLC, VALUE LINE, INC. OR ANY OF THEIR AFFILIATES. FIRST TRUST IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY VALUE LINE COMPANY.
VALUE LINE HAS NOT PASSED ON THE LEGALITY OR SUITABILITY OF, OR THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF DESCRIPTIONS AND DISCLOSURES RELATING TO THE PRODUCT.
Premium/Discount Information
Information showing the number of days the market price of the Funds' shares was greater (at a premium) and less (at a discount) than the Funds' net asset value for the most recently completed year, and the most recently completed calendar quarters since that year (or life of a Fund, if shorter), is available at https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/etf/home.aspx.
Total Return Information
The tables below compare the total return of each Fund to the total return of the Index on which it is based and each Fund’s benchmark index(es). The information presented for each Fund is for the period indicated. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by First Trust.
“Average annual total returns” represent the average annual change in the value of an investment over the period indicated. “Cumulative total returns” represent the total change in value of an investment over the period indicated. The return information shown under “Annual Total Return” in a Fund’s summary prospectus represents the average annual total returns of the Fund as of the calendar year end, while the information presented below is as of the Fund’s fiscal year end. The net asset value per share of each Fund is the value of one share of the Fund and is computed by dividing the value of all assets of the Fund (including accrued interest and dividends), less liabilities (including accrued expenses and dividends declared but unpaid), by the total number of outstanding shares. The net asset value return is based on the net asset value per share of each Fund and the market return is based on the market price per share of each Fund. The price used to calculate market return (“Market Price”) is determined by using the midpoint of the national best bid and offer price (“NBBO”) as of the time that each Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Under SEC rules, the NBBO consists of the highest displayed buy and lowest sell prices among the various exchanges trading each Fund at the time a Fund's net asset value is calculated. Prior to January 1, 2019, the price used was the midpoint between the highest bid and the lowest offer on the stock exchange on which shares of a Fund were listed for trading as of the time that a Fund's net asset value was calculated. Since the shares of each Fund typically do not trade in the secondary market until several days after a Fund's inception, for the period from inception to the first day of secondary market trading in shares of each Fund, the net asset value of each Fund is used as a proxy for the secondary market trading price to
151

calculate market returns. Market and net asset value returns assume that all distributions have been reinvested in each Fund at Market Price and net asset value, respectively. An index is a statistical composite that tracks a specified financial market or sector. Unlike each Fund, an index does not actually hold a portfolio of securities and therefore does 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 reflect the reinvestment of dividends on securities in the index. The returns shown in the table below do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of shares of each Fund. 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. The Funds’ past performance is no guarantee of future results.
First Trust Capital Strength ETF (FTCS)
Total Returns as of December 31, 2021
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(7/6/2006)
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(7/6/2006)
Fund Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net Asset Value
26.61%
17.09%
16.17%
11.36%
120.05%
347.51%
429.35%
Market Price
26.68%
17.08%
16.18%
11.36%
119.97%
347.96%
429.41%
Index Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Capital Strength IndexSM(1)
27.37%
17.82%
N/A
N/A
127.04%
N/A
N/A
S&P 500® Index
28.71%
18.47%
16.55%
11.14%
133.41%
362.57%
413.22%
(1)
 On June 4, 2013, the Fund’s underlying index changed from the Credit Suisse U.S. Value Index, Powered by HOLTTM to The Capital Strength IndexSM. Since the Fund’s new underlying index had an inception date of March 20, 2013, it was not in existence for some of the periods disclosed.
First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (FDN)
Total Returns as of December 31, 2021
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(6/19/2006)
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(6/19/2006)
Fund Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net Asset Value
6.43%
23.15%
21.48%
16.93%
183.27%
600.19%
1034.99%
Market Price
6.47%
23.14%
21.49%
16.93%
183.18%
600.31%
1035.18%
Index Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dow Jones Internet Composite IndexSM
6.97%
23.84%
22.15%
17.56%
191.28%
639.38%
1134.95%
S&P Composite 1500® Information
Technology Index
33.76%
31.35%
23.63%
17.11%
290.95%
734.38%
1062.31%
S&P 500® Index
28.71%
18.47%
16.55%
11.30%
133.41%
362.57%
427.80%
First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund (FDM)
Total Returns as of December 31, 2021
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(9/27/2005)
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(9/27/2005)
Fund Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net Asset Value
34.71%
9.22%
13.74%
8.52%
55.41%
262.28%
278.08%
Market Price
34.58%
9.19%
13.82%
8.53%
55.21%
264.95%
278.23%
Index Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dow Jones Select MicroCap IndexSM
35.60%
10.03%
14.52%
9.28%
61.30%
287.95%
323.16%
Russell 2000® Index
14.82%
12.02%
13.23%
9.29%
76.39%
246.52%
323.65%
152

First Trust Chindia ETF (FNI)
Total Returns as of December 31, 2021
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(5/8/2007)
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(5/8/2007)
Fund Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net Asset Value
-19.38%
12.64%
11.16%
7.11%
81.37%
188.01%
173.51%
Market Price
-19.41%
12.66%
11.18%
7.10%
81.45%
188.46%
173.33%
Index Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ISE ChIndiaTM Index
-18.94%
13.25%
11.71%
7.68%
86.26%
202.58%
195.60%
Russell 3000® Index
25.66%
17.97%
16.30%
10.33%
128.45%
352.85%
322.00%
MSCI Emerging Markets Index
-2.54%
9.87%
5.49%
3.91%
60.14%
70.62%
75.29%
First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)
Total Returns as of December 31, 2021
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(5/8/2007)
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(5/8/2007)
Fund Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net Asset Value
98.69%
-5.82%
-13.77%
-10.06%
-25.92%
-77.28%
-78.86%
Market Price
98.57%
-5.84%
-13.77%
-10.07%
-25.99%
-77.28%
-78.87%
Index Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ISE-Revere Natural GasTM Index
100.25%
-6.16%
-13.94%
-9.97%
-27.24%
-77.70%
-78.55%
S&P Composite 1500® Energy Index
55.15%
-2.23%
0.52%
1.30%
-10.66%
5.33%
20.80%
Russell 3000® Index
25.66%
17.97%
16.30%
10.33%
128.45%
352.85%
322.00%
First Trust Water ETF (FIW)
Total Returns as of December 31, 2021
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(5/8/2007)
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(5/8/2007)
Fund Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net Asset Value
31.89%
19.93%
17.30%
12.05%
148.10%
392.95%
429.36%
Market Price
31.87%
19.92%
17.32%
12.05%
148.00%
394.16%
429.39%
Index Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ISE Clean Edge Water Index
33.30%
20.68%
18.05%
12.78%
155.96%
425.78%
482.35%
Russell 3000® Index
25.66%
17.97%
16.30%
10.33%
128.45%
352.85%
322.00%
153

First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund (FDL)
Total Returns as of December 31, 2021
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(3/9/2006)
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(3/9/2006)
Fund Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net Asset Value
24.76%
9.34%
11.35%
7.80%
56.31%
193.15%
227.81%
Market Price
24.83%
9.33%
11.36%
7.80%
56.18%
193.23%
227.80%
Index Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Morningstar® Dividend Leaders IndexSM
25.55%
9.94%
11.95%
8.35%
60.61%
209.15%
255.39%
S&P 500® Index
28.71%
18.47%
16.55%
10.95%
133.41%
362.57%
416.98%
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)
Total Returns as of December 31, 2021
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(4/19/2006)
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(4/19/2006)
Fund Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net Asset Value
17.67%
21.27%
18.57%
12.54%
162.27%
449.39%
539.32%
Market Price
17.75%
21.26%
18.58%
12.54%
162.22%
449.76%
539.48%
Index Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nasdaq-100 Equal Weighted IndexSM
18.45%
22.02%
19.31%
13.24%
170.49%
484.43%
604.89%
S&P 500® Index
28.71%
18.47%
16.55%
10.81%
133.41%
362.57%
401.38%
NASDAQ-100 Index®
27.51%
28.63%
23.15%
16.46%
252.19%
702.29%
994.29%
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)
Total Returns as of December 31, 2021
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(2/8/2007)
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(2/8/2007)
Fund Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net Asset Value
11.80%
17.36%
16.16%
10.99%
122.66%
347.44%
372.43%
Market Price
11.84%
17.38%
16.17%
10.99%
122.82%
347.77%
372.55%
Index Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nasdaq-100 Ex-Tech Sector IndexSM
12.53%
18.08%
16.87%
11.68%
129.58%
375.35%
418.07%
Russell 1000® Index
26.45%
18.43%
16.54%
10.61%
132.93%
362.24%
348.88%
154

First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)
Total Returns as of December 31, 2021
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(4/19/2006)
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(4/19/2006)
Fund Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net Asset Value
26.94%
27.99%
22.96%
15.51%
243.47%
690.33%
861.46%
Market Price
27.03%
27.98%
22.97%
15.51%
243.31%
690.87%
861.71%
Index Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector IndexSM
27.71%
28.78%
23.74%
16.23%
254.15%
741.60%
961.04%
S&P 500® Index
28.71%
18.47%
16.55%
10.81%
133.41%
362.57%
401.38%
S&P 500® Information Technology Index
34.53%
32.13%
24.01%
16.29%
302.73%
760.29%
968.96%
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)
Total Returns as of December 31, 2021
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(6/29/2009)
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(6/29/2009)
Fund Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net Asset Value
34.08%
4.32%
11.82%
10.87%
23.56%
205.56%
263.51%
Market Price
34.02%
4.29%
11.89%
10.87%
23.40%
207.65%
263.61%
Index Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nasdaq OMX® ABA Community Bank
IndexSM
35.01%
5.00%
12.53%
11.59%
27.61%
225.68%
293.94%
S&P Composite 1500® Financials Index
34.55%
12.73%
15.97%
13.97%
82.09%
340.01%
413.14%
Russell 3000® Index
25.66%
17.97%
16.30%
16.20%
128.45%
352.85%
553.94%
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)
Total Returns as of December 31, 2021
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(2/8/2007)
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(2/8/2007)
Fund Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net Asset Value
-3.14%
35.28%
22.48%
9.11%
353.12%
659.78%
266.59%
Market Price
-3.18%
35.26%
22.52%
9.11%
352.76%
662.12%
266.58%
Index Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nasdaq® Clean Edge® Green Energy IndexSM
-2.64%
35.64%
22.44%
9.34%
359.13%
657.36%
278.11%
Russell 2000® Index
14.82%
12.02%
13.23%
8.49%
76.39%
246.52%
236.55%
155

First Trust NYSE® Arca® Biotechnology Index Fund (FBT)
Total Returns as of December 31, 2021
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(6/19/2006)
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(6/19/2006)
Fund Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net Asset Value
-3.64%
12.25%
17.38%
14.51%
78.19%
396.40%
720.83%
Market Price
-3.61%
12.24%
17.38%
14.51%
78.10%
396.68%
721.02%
Index Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
NYSE® Arca Biotechnology Index
-3.52%
12.75%
17.91%
15.10%
82.18%
419.27%
788.26%
S&P Composite 1500® Health Care Index
24.85%
17.70%
17.44%
12.85%
125.88%
399.07%
553.90%
Nasdaq® Biotechnology Index
0.02%
11.89%
16.36%
13.26%
75.37%
354.94%
592.23%
S&P 500® Index
28.71%
18.47%
16.55%
11.30%
133.41%
362.57%
427.80%
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)
Total Returns as of December 31, 2021
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(5/8/2007)
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(5/8/2007)
Fund Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net Asset Value
42.52%
10.00%
10.63%
6.15%
61.06%
174.58%
139.64%
Market Price
42.56%
10.00%
10.63%
6.15%
61.05%
174.67%
139.73%
Index Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
S&P United States REIT Index(1)
43.05%
10.57%
11.21%
N/A
65.24%
189.31%
N/A
FTSE EPRA/NAREIT North America Index
42.60%
10.00%
10.52%
6.27%
61.05%
171.96%
143.83%
Russell 3000® Index
25.66%
17.97%
16.30%
10.33%
128.45%
352.85%
322.00%
(1)
 On November 6, 2008, the Fund’s underlying index changed from the S&P REIT Composite Index to the S&P United States REIT Index. Effective December 31, 2008, the S&P REIT Composite Index was discontinued. Therefore, the Fund’s performance and historical total returns shown for the periods prior to November 6, 2008, are not necessarily indicative of the performance that the Fund, based on its current Index, would have generated. The inception date of the Index was June 30, 2008. Returns for the Index are only disclosed for those periods in which the Index was in existence for the whole period.
First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF (FPX)
Total Returns as of December 31, 2021
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(4/12/2006)
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(4/12/2006)
Fund Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net Asset Value
3.67%
18.42%
18.51%
13.07%
132.85%
446.63%
589.27%
Market Price
3.63%
18.39%
18.52%
13.07%
132.55%
446.85%
589.28%
Index Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
IPOX®-100 U.S. Index
4.19%
18.97%
19.14%
13.70%
138.34%
475.98%
652.76%
S&P 500® Index
28.71%
18.47%
16.55%
10.92%
133.41%
362.57%
409.92%
Russell 3000® Index
25.66%
17.97%
16.30%
10.79%
128.45%
352.85%
400.71%
156

First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund (FVD)
Total Returns as of December 31, 2021
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(8/19/2003)
5 Years
10 Years
Inception
(8/19/2003)
Fund Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net Asset Value
24.86%
11.41%
13.02%
10.33%
71.63%
240.05%
508.25%
Market Price
24.86%
11.39%
13.02%
10.33%
71.48%
240.12%
508.39%
Index Performance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Value Line® Dividend Index(1),(2)
25.85%
12.32%
13.95%
N/A
78.78%
269.07%
N/A
S&P 500® Index
28.71%
18.47%
16.55%
11.06%
133.41%
362.57%
587.10%
Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend IndexSM(2)
32.24%
11.02%
12.82%
N/A
68.69%
234.01%
N/A
(1)
 On December 15, 2006, the Fund acquired the assets and adopted the financial and performance history of First Trust Value Line® Dividend Fund (the “Predecessor FVD Fund,” a closed-end fund), which had an inception date of August 19, 2003. The inception date total returns at Net Asset Value (“NAV”) include the sales load of $0.675 per share on the initial offering. The investment goals, strategies and policies of the Fund are substantially similar to those of the Predecessor FVD Fund. The inception date of the Index was July 3, 2006. Returns for the Index are only disclosed for those periods in which the Index was in existence for the entire period. The cumulative total returns for the period from the reorganization date (12/15/06) through period end (12/31/21) were 276.05% and 277.93% at NAV and Market Value, respectively. That compares to an Index return of 324.04% for the same period. The average annual total returns for the period from the reorganization date (12/15/06) through period end (12/31/21) were 9.20% and 9.24% at NAV and Market Value, respectively. That compares to an Index return of 10.08% for the same period.NAV and Market Value returns assume that all dividend distributions have been reinvested in the Fund at NAV and Market Value, respectively. Prior to December 15, 2006, NAV and Market Value returns assumed that all dividend distributions were reinvested at prices obtained by the Dividend Reinvestment Plan of the Predecessor FVD Fund and the price used to calculate Market Value return was the AMEX (now known as the NYSE American) closing market price of the Predecessor FVD Fund.
(2)
 Performance data is not available for all the periods shown in the table because performance data does not exist for the periods shown.
157

Financial Highlights
The financial highlights table is intended to help you understand each Fund's financial performance for the periods shown. Certain information reflects financial results for a single share of each Fund. The total returns represent the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in a Fund (assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions). The information for the periods indicated has been derived from financial statements audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP, whose report, along with each Fund's financial statements, is included in each Fund's Annual Report to Shareholders dated December 31, 2021 and is incorporated by reference in each Fund's SAI, which is available upon request.
First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Financial Highlights
For a share outstanding throughout each period
First Trust Capital Strength ETF (FTCS)
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net asset value, beginning of period
$67.55
$60.37
$48.29
$50.95
$40.79
Income from investment operations:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income (loss)
0.91
0.63
0.76
0.60
0.59
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)
16.95
7.18
12.08
(2.65)
10.16
Total from investment operations
17.86
7.81
12.84
(2.05)
10.75
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income
(0.89)
(0.63)
(0.76)
(0.61)
(0.59)
Net asset value, end of period
$84.52
$67.55
$60.37
$48.29
$50.95
Total Return(a)
26.61%
13.07%
26.72%
(4.09)%
26.49%
Ratios/supplemental data:
 
 
 
 
 
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)
$9,491,932
$7,021,909
$3,392,623
$1,376,131
$624,099
Ratios to average net assets:
 
 
 
 
 
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets
0.55%
0.56%
0.58%
0.60%
0.61%
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets
0.55%
0.56%
0.58%
0.60%
0.61%
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets
1.23%
1.10%
1.46%
1.30%
1.33%
Portfolio turnover rate(b)
117%
133%
125%
117%
85%
(a)
Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year.
(b)
Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions and in-kind transactions.
158

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Financial Highlights
For a share outstanding throughout each period
First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (FDN)
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net asset value, beginning of period
$212.37
$139.12
$116.66
$109.82
$79.79
Income from investment operations:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income (loss)
(0.73)
(0.34)
(0.14)
(0.35)
(0.28)
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)
14.38
73.59
22.60
7.19
30.31
Total from investment operations
13.65
73.25
22.46
6.84
30.03
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income
Net asset value, end of period
$226.02
$212.37
$139.12
$116.66
$109.82
Total Return(a)
6.43%
52.65%
19.26%
6.23%
37.62%
Ratios/supplemental data:
 
 
 
 
 
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)
$9,967,573
$11,075,029
$7,853,367
$7,016,807
$5,490,820
Ratios to average net assets:
 
 
 
 
 
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets
0.51%
0.51%
0.52%
0.52%
0.53%
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets
0.51%
0.51%
0.52%
0.52%
0.53%
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net
assets
(0.30)%
(0.20)%
(0.10)%
(0.27)%
(0.32)%
Portfolio turnover rate(b)
19%
39%
28%
21%
22%
(a)
Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year.
(b)
Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions and in-kind transactions.
159

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Financial Highlights
For a share outstanding throughout each period
First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund (FDM)
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net asset value, beginning of period
$47.94
$51.09
$40.76
$47.21
$43.98
Income from investment operations:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income (loss)
0.64
0.80
0.66
0.56
0.42
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)
15.98
(3.15)
10.37
(6.50)
3.27
Total from investment operations
16.62
(2.35)
11.03
(5.94)
3.69
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income
(0.69)
(0.80)
(0.70)
(0.51)
(0.46)
Net asset value, end of period
$63.87
$47.94
$51.09
$40.76
$47.21
Total Return(a)
34.71%
(4.25)%
27.25%
(12.68)%
8.44%
Ratios/supplemental data:
 
 
 
 
 
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)
$188,737
$122,482
$156,067
$138,777
$97,012
Ratios to average net assets:
 
 
 
 
 
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets
0.69%
0.71%
0.70%
0.73%
0.71%
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets
0.60%
0.60%
0.60%
0.60%
0.60%
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets
1.10%
1.88%
1.42%
1.29%
0.89%
Portfolio turnover rate(b)
95%
95%
64%
75%
55%
(a)
Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by the investment advisor.
(b)
Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions and in-kind transactions.
160

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Financial Highlights
For a share outstanding throughout each period
First Trust Chindia ETF (FNI)
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net asset value, beginning of period
$59.07
$39.75
$30.93
$39.57
$27.39
Income from investment operations:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income (loss)
(0.12)
0.09
0.14
0.04
0.34
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)
(11.33)
19.42
8.81
(8.16)
12.61
Total from investment operations
(11.45)
19.51
8.95
(8.12)
12.95
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income
(0.19)
(0.13)
(0.52)
(0.77)
Net asset value, end of period
$47.62
$59.07
$39.75
$30.93
$39.57
Total Return(a)
(19.38)%
49.25%
28.96%
(20.68)%
47.36%
Ratios/supplemental data:
 
 
 
 
 
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)
$107,147
$256,949
$111,291
$133,007
$375,915
Ratios to average net assets:
 
 
 
 
 
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets
0.59%
0.60%
0.60%
0.59%
0.60%
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets
0.59%
0.60%
0.60%
0.59%
0.60%
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets
(0.03)%
0.20%
0.35%
1.06%
0.91%
Portfolio turnover rate(b)
43%
46%
26%
22%
35%
(a)
Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year.
(b)
Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions and in-kind transactions.
161

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Financial Highlights
For a share outstanding throughout each period
First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net asset value, beginning of period
$8.80
$12.05
$14.69
$22.75
$26.15
Income from investment operations:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income
0.20
0.10
0.10
0.02
(0.02)
Net realized and unrealized gain
8.47
(3.01)
(2.39)
(7.86)
(3.02)
Total from investment operations
8.67
(2.91)
(2.29)
(7.84)
(3.04)
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income
(0.30)
(0.11)
(0.23)
Return of capital
(0.34)
(0.24)
(0.22)
(0.13)
Total distributions
(0.30)
(0.34)
(0.35)
(0.22)
(0.36)
Net asset value, end of period
$17.17
$8.80
$12.05
$14.69
$22.75
Total Return(a)
98.69%
(23.22)%
(15.87)%
(34.77)%
(11.53)%
Ratios/supplemental data:
 
 
 
 
 
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)
$423,225
$103,429
$95,209
$88,874
$184,262
Ratios to average net assets:
 
 
 
 
 
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets
0.62%(b)
0.67%
0.65%
0.63%
0.64%(b)
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets
0.61%(b)
0.60%
0.60%
0.60%
0.63%(b)
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets
1.41%
1.48%
0.65%
0.07%
(0.11)%
Portfolio turnover rate(c)
42%
103%
61%
47%
53%
(a)
Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by the investment advisor.
(b)
For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2017, ratios reflect excise tax of 0.01% and 0.03%, respectively, which are not included in the expense cap.
(c)
Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions and in-kind transactions.
162

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Financial Highlights
For a share outstanding throughout each period
First Trust Water ETF (FIW)
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net asset value, beginning of period
$72.13
$59.91
$43.96
$48.58
$39.61
Income from investment operations:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income (loss)
0.36
0.38
0.32
0.35
0.54
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)
22.60
12.24
15.96
(4.65)
8.98
Total from investment operations
22.96
12.62
16.28
(4.30)
9.52
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income
(0.35)
(0.40)
(0.33)
(0.32)
(0.55)
Net asset value, end of period
$94.74
$72.13
$59.91
$43.96
$48.58
Total Return(a)
31.89%
21.20%
37.11%
(8.89)%
24.25%
Ratios/supplemental data:
 
 
 
 
 
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)
$1,605,791
$688,794
$536,168
$290,107
$298,775
Ratios to average net assets:
 
 
 
 
 
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets
0.53%
0.54%
0.55%
0.55%
0.56%
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets
0.53%
0.54%
0.55%
0.55%
0.56%
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets
0.47%
0.66%
0.61%
0.72%
1.26%
Portfolio turnover rate(b)
15%
15%
12%
11%
24%
(a)
Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year.
(b)
Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions and in-kind transactions.
163

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Financial Highlights
For a share outstanding throughout each period
First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund (FDL)
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net asset value, beginning of period
$29.59
$32.58
$27.24
$30.06
$27.75
Income from investment operations
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income (loss)
1.29
1.32
1.22
1.09
0.93
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)
5.95
(2.98)
5.34
(2.83)
2.34
Total from investment operations
7.24
(1.66)
6.56
(1.74)
3.27
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income
(1.29)
(1.33)
(1.22)
(1.08)
(0.96)
Net asset value, end of period
$35.54
$29.59
$32.58
$27.24
$30.06
Total Return(a)
24.76%
(4.42)%
24.36%
(5.87)%
11.93%
Ratios/supplemental data:
 
 
 
 
 
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)
$1,762,910
$1,399,483
$1,841,000
$1,386,483
$1,719,299
Ratios to average net assets:
 
 
 
 
 
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets
0.46%
0.46%
0.46%
0.47%
0.47%
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets
0.45%
0.45%
0.45%
0.45%
0.45%
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net
assets
3.90%
4.73%
4.06%
3.70%
3.18%
Portfolio turnover rate(b)
59%
63%
39%
39%
43%
(a)
Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by the investment advisor.
(b)
Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions and in-kind transactions.
164

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Financial Highlights
For a share outstanding throughout each period
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW)
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net asset value, beginning of period
$100.88
$73.78
$54.61
$57.88
$46.18
Income from investment operations:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income (loss)
0.28
0.34
0.36
0.32
0.24
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)
17.54
27.11
19.16
(3.29)(a)
11.74
Total from investment operations
17.82
27.45
19.52
(2.97)
11.98
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income
(0.28)
(0.35)
(0.35)
(0.30)
(0.28)
Net asset value, end of period
$118.42
$100.88
$73.78
$54.61
$57.88
Total Return(b)
17.67%
37.35%
35.78%
(5.16)%(a)
26.00%
Ratios/supplemental data:
 
 
 
 
 
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)
$1,391,414
$1,175,270
$907,438
$461,464
$529,632
Ratios to average net assets:
 
 
 
 
 
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets
0.57%
0.58%
0.59%
0.60%
0.60%
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets
0.57%
0.58%
0.59%
0.60%
0.60%
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets
0.25%
0.41%
0.56%
0.52%
0.45%
Portfolio turnover rate(c)
23%
28%
29%
27%
26%
(a)
The Fund received a reimbursement from the Advisor in the amount of $22,098 in connection with a trade error, which represents less than $0.01 per share. Since the Advisor reimbursed the Fund, there was no effect on the Fund's total return.
(b)
Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by the investment advisor.
(c)
Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions and in-kind transactions.
165

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Financial Highlights
For a share outstanding throughout each period
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (QQXT)
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net asset value, beginning of period
$79.43
$58.39
$45.66
$48.53
$40.44
Income from investment operations:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income (loss)
0.35
0.22
0.20
0.18
0.12
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)
9.00
21.04
12.73
(2.88)
8.13
Total from investment operations
9.35
21.26
12.93
(2.70)
8.25
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income
(0.31)
(0.22)
(0.20)
(0.17)
(0.16)
Net asset value, end of period
$88.47
$79.43
$58.39
$45.66
$48.53
Total Return(a)
11.80%
36.48%
28.35%
(5.58)%
20.41%
Ratios/supplemental data:
 
 
 
 
 
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)
$137,135
$146,938
$102,183
$77,618
$101,914
Ratios to average net assets:
 
 
 
 
 
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets
0.62%
0.62%
0.64%
0.64%
0.63%
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets
0.60%
0.60%
0.60%
0.60%
0.60%
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets
0.40%
0.34%
0.38%
0.34%
0.25%
Portfolio turnover rate(b)
25%
35%
31%
26%
25%
(a)
Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by the investment advisor.
(b)
Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions and in-kind transactions.
166

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Financial Highlights
For a share outstanding throughout each period
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC)
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net asset value, beginning of period
$138.14
$100.08
$67.97
$71.92
$52.62
Income from investment operations:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income (loss)
0.02
0.58
0.70
0.65
0.48
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)
37.19
38.09
32.09
(3.98)
19.39
Total from investment operations
37.21
38.67
32.79
(3.33)
19.87
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income
(0.03)
(0.61)
(0.68)
(0.62)
(0.57)
Net asset value, end of period
$175.32
$138.14
$100.08
$67.97
$71.92
Total Return(a)
26.94%
38.82%
48.36%
(4.70)%
37.86%
Ratios/supplemental data:
 
 
 
 
 
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)
$4,049,807
$3,349,911
$2,912,388
$1,950,669
$2,200,711
Ratios to average net assets:
 
 
 
 
 
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets
0.56%
0.57%
0.57%
0.57%
0.58%
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets
0.56%
0.57%
0.57%
0.57%
0.58%
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net
assets
0.01%
0.50%
0.82%
0.84%
0.76%
Portfolio turnover rate(b)
25%
31%
23%
21%
21%
(a)
Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by the investment advisor.
(b)
Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions and in-kind transactions.
167

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Financial Highlights
For a share outstanding throughout each period
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA)
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net asset value, beginning of period
$44.75
$51.91
$43.16
$52.34
$52.81
Income from investment operations:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income (loss)
1.01
1.11
1.04
0.81
0.74
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)
14.20
(7.13)
8.72
(9.17)
(0.46)
Total from investment operations
15.21
(6.02)
9.76
(8.36)
0.28
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income
(0.99)
(1.14)
(1.01)
(0.82)
(0.75)
Net asset value, end of period
$58.97
$44.75
$51.91
$43.16
$52.34
Total Return(a)
34.08%
(11.00)%
22.80%
(16.14)%
0.55%
Ratios/supplemental data:
 
 
 
 
 
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)
$117,947
$85,020
$142,752
$228,762
$314,032
Ratios to average net assets:
 
 
 
 
 
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets
0.63%
0.64%
0.60%
0.60%
0.60%
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets
0.60%
0.60%
0.60%
0.60%
0.60%
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets
1.82%
2.75%
1.98%
1.50%
1.37%
Portfolio turnover rate(b)
23%
14%
15%
11%
14%
(a)
Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by the investment advisor.
(b)
Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions and in-kind transactions.
168

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Financial Highlights
For a share outstanding throughout each period
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (QCLN)
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net asset value, beginning of period
$70.17
$24.91
$17.63
$20.28
$15.47
Income from investment operations:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income (loss)
(0.13)
0.11
0.13
0.12
0.05
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)
(2.07)
45.36
7.36
(2.59)
4.85
Total from investment operations
(2.20)
45.47
7.49
(2.47)
4.90
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income
(0.01)
(0.21)
(0.21)
(0.11)
(0.09)
Return of capital
(0.07)
Total distributions
(0.01)
(0.21)
(0.21)
(0.18)
(0.09)
Net asset value, end of period
$67.96
$70.17
$24.91
$17.63
$20.28
Total Return(a)
(3.14)%
183.52%
42.69%
(12.22)%
31.73%
Ratios/supplemental data:
 
 
 
 
 
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)
$2,823,661
$1,999,803
$144,467
$83,731
$91,262
Ratios to average net assets:
 
 
 
 
 
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets
0.58%
0.60%
0.63%
0.65%
0.66%
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets
0.58%
0.60%
0.60%
0.60%
0.60%
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average %net assets
(0.24)%
0.04%
0.58%
0.59%
0.23%
Portfolio turnover rate(b)
28%
43%
26%
45%
32%
(a)
Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by the investment advisor. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by the investment advisor.
(b)
Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions and in-kind transactions.
169

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Financial Highlights
For a share outstanding throughout each period
First Trust NYSE® Arca® Biotechnology Index Fund (FBT)
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net asset value, beginning of period
$168.08
$148.84
$124.26
$124.52
$90.89
Income from investment operations:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income (loss)
(0.42)
(0.45)
(0.51)
(0.22)
(0.08)
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)
(5.69)
19.69
25.09
(0.04)
33.71
Total from investment operations
(6.11)
19.24
24.58
(0.26)
33.63
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income
Net asset value, end of period
$161.97
$168.08
$148.84
$124.26
$124.52
Total Return(a)
(3.64)%
12.93%
19.78%
(0.21)%
36.99%
Ratios/supplemental data:
 
 
 
 
 
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)
$1,708,757
$2,042,173
$1,800,927
$2,342,213
$1,207,811
Ratios to average net assets:
 
 
 
 
 
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets
0.55%
0.55%
0.55%
0.57%
0.56%
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets
0.55%
0.55%
0.55%
0.57%
0.56%
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net
assets
(0.23)%
(0.28)%
(0.25)%
(0.21)%
(0.08)%
Portfolio turnover rate(b)
39%
26%
31%
37%
36%
(a)
Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year.
(b)
Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions and in-kind transactions.
170

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Financial Highlights
For a share outstanding throughout each period
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net asset value, beginning of period
$23.23
$26.14
$21.63
$23.28
$23.07
Income from investment operations:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income (loss)
0.50
0.52
0.56
0.69
0.71
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)
9.33
(2.72)
4.55
(1.65)
0.16
Total from investment operations
9.83
(2.20)
5.11
(0.96)
0.87
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income
(0.47)
(0.71)
(0.60)
(0.69)
(0.66)
Net asset value, end of period
$32.59
$23.23
$26.14
$21.63
$23.28
Total Return(a)
42.52%
(8.10)%
23.67%
(4.19)%
3.79%
Ratios/supplemental data:
 
 
 
 
 
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)
$236,309
$74,344
$198,642
$115,696
$161,791
Ratios to average net assets:
 
 
 
 
 
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets
0.51%
0.52%
0.51%
0.52%
0.48%
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets
0.50%
0.50%
0.50%
0.50%
0.48%
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets
2.04%
2.04%
2.40%
3.05%
2.77%
Portfolio turnover rate(b)
6%
6%
10%
10%
7%
(a)
Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by the investment advisor.
(b)
Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions and in-kind transactions.
171

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Financial Highlights
For a share outstanding throughout each period
First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF (FPX)
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net asset value, beginning of period
$118.32
$80.41
$62.07
$68.18
$54.10
Income from investment operations:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income (loss)
0.08
0.24
0.58
0.52
0.43
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)
4.26
38.01
18.30
(6.08)
14.12
Total from investment operations
4.34
38.25
18.88
(5.56)
14.55
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income
(0.17)
(0.34)
(0.54)
(0.55)
(0.47)
Net asset value, end of period
$122.49
$118.32
$80.41
$62.07
$68.18
Total Return(a)
3.67%
47.76%
30.45%
(8.22)%
26.96%
Ratios/supplemental data:
 
 
 
 
 
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)
$1,855,705
$1,946,373
$1,330,835
$912,479
$981,732
Ratios to average net assets:
 
 
 
 
 
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets
0.57%
0.57%
0.58%
0.59%
0.59%
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets
0.57%
0.57%
0.58%
0.59%
0.59%
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets
0.07%
0.26%
0.79%
0.74%
0.71%
Portfolio turnover rate(b)
85%
75%
81%
57%
31%
(a)
Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year.
(b)
Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions and in-kind transactions.
172

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
Financial Highlights
For a share outstanding throughout each period
First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund (FVD)
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net asset value, beginning of period
$35.10
$36.03
$29.07
$30.84
$28.02
Income from investment operations:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income (loss)
0.74
0.79
0.73
0.73
0.63
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)
7.91
(0.91)
6.96
(1.77)
2.84
Total from investment operations
8.65
(0.12)
7.69
(1.04)
3.47
Distributions paid to shareholders from:
 
 
 
 
 
Net investment income
(0.75)
(0.81)
(0.73)
(0.73)
(0.65)
Net asset value, end of period
$43.00
$35.10
$36.03
$29.07
$30.84
Total Return(a)
24.86%
(0.04)%
26.60%
(3.44)%
12.48%
Ratios/supplemental data:
 
 
 
 
 
Net assets, end of period (in 000’s)
$12,954,187
$10,149,204
$9,665,219
$4,374,483
$4,194,830
Ratios to average net assets:
 
 
 
 
 
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets
0.67%
0.70%
0.71%
0.72%
0.72%
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets
0.67%
0.70%
0.70%
0.70%
0.70%
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net
assets
1.91%
2.47%
2.36%
2.40%
2.19%
Portfolio turnover rate(b)
47%
86%
53%
58%
50%
(a)
Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year. The total returns would have been lower if certain fees had not been waived and expenses reimbursed by the investment advisor.
(b)
Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions and in-kind transactions.
173

Other Information
Continuous Offering
Each Fund issues, on a continuous offering basis, its shares in one or more groups of a fixed number of Fund shares (each such group of such specified number of individual Fund shares, a “Creation Unit Aggregation”). The method by which Creation Unit Aggregations of Fund shares are created and traded may raise certain issues under applicable securities laws. Because new Creation Unit Aggregations of shares are issued and sold by a Fund on an ongoing basis, a “distribution,” as such term is used in the Securities Act, may occur at any point. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner which could render them statutory underwriters and subject them to the prospectus delivery requirement and liability provisions of the Securities Act.
For example, a broker-dealer firm or its client may be deemed a statutory underwriter if it takes Creation Unit Aggregations after placing an order with FTP, breaks them down into constituent shares and sells such shares directly to customers, or if it chooses to couple the creation of a supply of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for shares. A determination of whether one is an underwriter for purposes of the Securities Act must take into account all the facts and circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker-dealer or its client in the particular case, and the examples mentioned above should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could lead to a characterization as an underwriter.
Broker-dealer firms should also note that dealers who are not “underwriters” but are effecting transactions in shares, whether or not participating in the distribution of shares, are generally required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(a)(3) of the Securities Act is not available in respect of such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the 1940 Act. As a result, broker-dealer firms should note that dealers who are not underwriters but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted with ordinary secondary market transactions) and thus dealing with the shares that are part of an overallotment within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the Securities Act would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the Securities Act. Firms that incur a prospectus delivery obligation with respect to shares are reminded that, under the Securities Act Rule 153, a prospectus delivery obligation under Section 5(b)(2) of the Securities Act owed to a broker-dealer in connection with a sale on the applicable Exchange is satisfied by the fact that the prospectus is available from the applicable Exchange upon request. The prospectus delivery mechanism provided in Rule 153 is available with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange, a trading facility or an alternative trading system.
174

  
[THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.]

First Trust
Exchange-Traded Fund


First Trust Capital Strength ETF
First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund
First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund
First Trust Chindia ETF
First Trust Natural Gas ETF
First Trust Water ETF
First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund
First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund
First Trust NASDAQ® ABA Community Bank Index Fund
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund
First Trust NYSE® Arca® Biotechnology Index Fund
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund
First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF
First Trust Value Line® Dividend Index Fund
For More Information
For more detailed information on the Funds, several additional sources of information are available to you. The SAI, incorporated by reference into this prospectus, contains detailed information on the Funds' policies and operation. Additional information about the Funds' investments is available in the annual and semi-annual reports to shareholders. In the Funds’ annual reports, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly impacted the Funds' performance during the last fiscal year. The Funds’ most recent SAI, annual and semi-annual reports and certain other information are available free of charge by calling the Funds at (800) 621-1675, on the Funds' website at www.ftportfolios.com or through your financial advisor. Shareholders may call the toll-free number above with any inquiries.
You may obtain this and other information regarding the Funds, including the SAI and the Codes of Ethics adopted by First Trust, FTP and the Trust, directly from the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Information on the SEC’s website is free of charge. Visit the SEC’s online EDGAR database at www.sec.gov. You may also request information regarding the Funds by sending a request (along with a duplication fee) to the SEC by sending an electronic request to [email protected].
First Trust Advisors L.P.
120 East Liberty Drive, Suite 400
Wheaton, Illinois 60187
(800) 621-1675
www.ftportfolios.com
SEC File #: 333-125751
811-21774