EDGAR HTML
 
First Trust
Exchange-Traded Fund VI
 
Prospectus 
FUND NAME
TICKER SYMBOL
EXCHANGE
Emerging Markets Equity Select ETF
RNEM
Nasdaq
Large Cap US Equity Select ETF
RNLC
Nasdaq
Mid Cap US Equity Select ETF
RNMC
Nasdaq
Small Cap US Equity Select ETF
RNSC
Nasdaq
US Equity Dividend Select ETF
RNDV
Nasdaq
Each of the funds listed above (each a “Fund,” and collectively, the “Funds”) lists and principally trades its shares on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq” or the “Exchange”). 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 VI (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
August 1, 2023
Summary Information
Emerging Markets Equity Select ETF (RNEM)
Investment Objective
The Emerging Markets Equity Select 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 Nasdaq Riskalyze Emerging MarketsTM 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
0.75%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.75%
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be: 
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$77
$240
$417
$930
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 65% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in the securities 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 owned and was developed and sponsored by Nitrogen Wealth, Inc. (the “Index Provider”). The Index Provider is a financial technology company that develops platforms to capture quantitative measurements of client and portfolio risk for investment advisors. The Index Provider has retained Nasdaq, Inc. to calculate and maintain the Index. Nasdaq, Inc. may, from time to time, exercise reasonable discretion as it deems appropriate in order to ensure Index integrity.
The Index is designed to select low volatility securities issued by companies operating in emerging market countries. According to the Index Provider, to be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a security must be a constituent of the Nasdaq Emerging Markets Large Mid CapTM Index (the “Base Index”) and meet a minimum three-month average daily dollar trading volume threshold. The Base Index is a comprehensive, rules-based index designed to measure stock market performance of companies operating
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in emerging market countries, as determined by Nasdaq, Inc. Nasdaq, Inc. classifies a country as “emerging” based on a number of criteria, including national income per capita, national market capitalization and national trading volume. Emerging market countries are generally characterized by lower market efficiency and less strict standards in accounting and securities regulation than developed market countries. Nasdaq, Inc. classifies a company as operating in a country primarily by its country of incorporation, domicile and primary exchange listing. The Index may include securities that are denominated in non-U.S. currencies. The Index may be composed of, but not limited to, common stocks, depositary receipts, preferred shares and real estate investment trusts (“REITs”).
According to the Index Provider, security selection for the Index will be conducted in the following manner:
1.
The selection universe for the Index begins with all eligible securities in the Base Index.
2.
The Base Index’s industry weights are calculated and assigned to the Index.
3.
Securities are then ranked by trailing twelve month price volatility, a measure of the security’s volatility over the preceding year, within their respective countries.
4.
The 25 securities with the lowest volatility from each country are selected for inclusion in the Index. If fewer than 25 securities qualify from a particular country, all securities are selected from that country for inclusion in the Index.
5.
Securities within the same country and industry are equally weighted and then adjusted so that no security weight exceeds 3% of the Index.
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 June 30, 2023, the Index was composed of 240 securities with market capitalization ranges from $1.46 billion to $225.49 billion. As of June 30, 2023 the Fund had significant investments in financial companies, information technology companies, Indian issuers, Taiwanese issuers and Asian issuers, although this may change from time to time. The Fund's investments will change as the Index changes and, as a result, the Fund may have significant investments in jurisdictions or investment sectors that it may not have had as of June 30, 2023. 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 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.
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 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.
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Emerging Markets Equity Select ETF (RNEM)
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 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.
CURRENCY RISK. Changes in currency exchange rates affect the value of investments denominated in a foreign currency, and therefore the value of such investments in the Fund’s portfolio. The Fund’s net asset value could decline if a currency to which the Fund has exposure depreciates against the U.S. dollar or if there are delays or limits on repatriation of such currency. Currency exchange rates can be very volatile and can change quickly and unpredictably. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning.
CURRENT MARKET CONDITIONS RISK. Current market conditions risk is the risk that a particular investment, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value due to current market conditions. As a means to fight inflation, which remains at elevated levels, the Federal Reserve and certain foreign central banks have raised interest rates and expect to continue to do so, and the Federal Reserve has announced that it intends to reverse previously implemented quantitative easing. U.S. regulators have proposed several changes to market and issuer regulations which would directly impact the Fund, and any regulatory changes could adversely impact the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment strategies or make certain investments. Recent and potential future bank failures could result in disruption to the broader banking industry or markets generally and reduce confidence in financial institutions and the economy as a whole, which may also heighten market volatility and reduce liquidity. The ongoing adversarial political climate in the United States, as well as political and diplomatic events both domestic and abroad, have and may continue to have an adverse impact the U.S. regulatory landscape, markets and investor behavior, which could have a negative impact on the Fund’s investments and operations. Other unexpected political, regulatory and diplomatic events within the U.S. and abroad may affect investor and consumer confidence and may adversely impact financial markets and the broader economy. For example, 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 have and could continue to have a significant impact on certain Fund investments as well as Fund performance and liquidity. The economies of the United States and its trading partners, as well as the financial markets generally, may be adversely impacted by trade disputes and other matters. For example, the United States has imposed trade barriers and restrictions on China. In addition, the Chinese government is engaged in a longstanding dispute with Taiwan, continually threatening an invasion. If the political climate between the United States and China does not improve or continues to deteriorate, if China were to attempt invading Taiwan, or if other geopolitical conflicts develop or worsen, economies, markets and individual securities may be adversely affected, and the value of the Fund’s assets may go down. The COVID-19 global pandemic, or any future public health crisis, and the ensuing policies enacted by governments and central banks have caused and may continue to cause significant volatility and uncertainty in global financial markets, negatively impacting global growth prospects. While vaccines have been developed, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging future variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. Advancements in technology may also adversely impact markets and the overall performance of the Fund. For instance, the economy may be significantly impacted by the advanced development and increased regulation of artificial intelligence. These events, and any other future events, may adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio investments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets.
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.
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Emerging Markets Equity Select ETF (RNEM)
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.
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. The Index the Fund seeks to track 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.
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.
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Emerging Markets Equity Select ETF (RNEM)
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.
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 large 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”) or the Securities and Exchange Board of India ("SEBI"). 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
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Emerging Markets Equity Select ETF (RNEM)
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.
LARGE CAPITALIZATION COMPANIES RISK. Large capitalization companies may grow at a slower rate and be less able to adapt to changing market conditions than smaller capitalization companies. Thus, the return on investment in securities of large capitalization companies may be less than the return on investment in securities of small and/or mid capitalization companies. The performance of large capitalization companies also tends to trail the overall market during different market cycles.
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 investment, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by real or perceived adverse economic, political, and regulatory factors 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, market manipulation, government defaults, government shutdowns, regulatory actions, political changes, diplomatic developments, the imposition of sanctions and other similar measures, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, natural disasters, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares, the liquidity of an investment, and may 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, the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen and the returns on investment may fluctuate.
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. Additionally, in order to comply with its investment strategies and policies, the Fund portfolio may deviate from the composition of the Index. Accordingly, the Fund's return may underperform the return of 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.
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.
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Emerging Markets Equity Select ETF (RNEM)
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.
PREFERRED SECURITIES RISK. Preferred securities combine some of the characteristics of both common stocks and bonds. Preferred securities are typically subordinated to bonds and other debt securities in a company’s capital structure in terms of priority to corporate income, subjecting them to greater credit risk than those debt securities. Generally, holders of preferred securities have no voting rights with respect to the issuing company unless preferred dividends have been in arrears for a specified number of periods, at which time the preferred security holders may obtain limited rights. In certain circumstances, an issuer of preferred securities may defer payment on the securities and, in some cases, redeem the securities prior to a specified date. Preferred securities may also be substantially less liquid than other securities, including common stock.
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.
TAIWAN RISK. The Fund is subject to certain risks specifically associated with investments in the securities of Taiwanese issuers. Taiwan 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 Taiwan or for U.S. authorities to pursue. Taiwan’s geographic proximity and history of political contention with China have resulted in ongoing tensions between the two countries. These tensions may materially affect the Taiwanese economy and its securities market. Taiwan’s economy is export-oriented, so it depends on an open world trade regime and remains vulnerable to fluctuations in the world economy. Rising labor costs and increasing environmental consciousness have led some labor-intensive industries to relocate to countries with cheaper work forces, and continued labor outsourcing may adversely affect the Taiwanese economy.
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
9
Emerging Markets Equity Select ETF (RNEM)
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.
Emerging Markets Equity Select ETF
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31 (1)
 
(1)
The Fund's calendar year-to-date total return based on net asset value for the period 12/31/22 to 06/30/23 was 12.99%.
10
Emerging Markets Equity Select ETF (RNEM)
During the periods shown in the chart above: 
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
15.30%
December 31, 2020
-27.84%
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, 2022 
 
1 Year
5 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
-8.12%
-1.66%
0.49%
6/20/2017
Return After Taxes on Distributions
-9.28%
-2.87%
-0.82%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
-4.85%
-1.74%
-0.17%
Nasdaq Riskalyze Emerging MarketsTM Index (reflects no
deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
-6.46%
0.24%
2.45%
Nasdaq Emerging Large Mid CapTM Index (reflects no deduction
for fees, expenses or taxes)
-15.11%
-0.29%
2.58%
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses or taxes)
-20.09%
-1.40%
1.50%
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
•
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
•
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President 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 2017, except for Erik Russo, who has served as a part of the portfolio management team since 2020.
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
11
Emerging Markets Equity Select ETF (RNEM)
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, registered investment adviser, bank or other financial intermediary (collectively, “intermediaries”), 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.
12
Summary Information
Large Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNLC)
Investment Objective
The Large Cap US Equity Select 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 Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large CapTM 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
0.60%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.60%
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be: 
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$61
$192
$335
$750
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 30% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in the securities 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 owned and was developed and sponsored by Nitrogen Wealth, Inc. (the “Index Provider”). The Index Provider is a financial technology company that develops platforms to capture quantitative measurements of client and portfolio risk for investment advisors. The Index Provider has retained Nasdaq, Inc. to calculate and maintain the Index. Nasdaq, Inc. may, from time to time, exercise reasonable discretion as it deems appropriate in order to ensure Index integrity.
The Index is designed to select dividend-paying securities issued by large capitalization U.S. companies. According to the Index Provider, to be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a security must be a constituent of the Nasdaq US 500 Large CapTM Index (the “Base Index”) and have paid a dividend in the trailing twelve months (based on ex-date). The Base Index is a comprehensive, rules-based index designed to measure stock market performance of large capitalization U.S. companies, as determined by
13
Large Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNLC)
Nasdaq, Inc. The securities of companies represented in the Index generally have market capitalizations that are consistent with the name of the Index. The Index may be composed of, but not limited to, common stocks and real estate investment trusts (“REITs”).
According to the Index Provider, security selection for the Index will be conducted in the following manner:
1.
The selection universe for the Index begins with all eligible securities in the Base Index.
2.
The Base Index’s industry weights are calculated and assigned to the Index.
3.
Issuers that have not paid a dividend in the trailing 12 months are screened out.
4.
Each security within an industry is given an equal weight.
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 June 30, 2023, the Index was composed of 376 securities with market capitalization ranges from $8.64 billion to $3.05 trillion. As of June 30, 2023, the Fund had significant investments in information technology companies, although this may change from time to time. The Fund's investments will change as the Index changes and, as a result, the Fund may have significant investments in jurisdictions or investment sectors that it may not have had as of June 30, 2023. 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 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.
CURRENT MARKET CONDITIONS RISK. Current market conditions risk is the risk that a particular investment, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value due to current market conditions. As a means to fight inflation, which remains at elevated levels, the Federal Reserve and certain foreign central banks have raised interest rates and expect to continue to do so, and the Federal Reserve has announced that it intends to reverse previously implemented quantitative easing. U.S. regulators have proposed several changes to market and issuer regulations which would directly impact the Fund, and any regulatory changes could adversely impact the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment strategies or make certain investments. Recent and potential future bank failures could result in disruption to the broader banking industry or markets generally and reduce confidence in financial institutions and the economy as a whole, which may also heighten market volatility and reduce liquidity. The ongoing adversarial political climate in the United States, as well as political and diplomatic events both domestic and abroad, have and may continue to have an adverse impact the U.S. regulatory landscape, markets and investor behavior, which could have a negative impact on the Fund’s investments and operations. Other unexpected political, regulatory and diplomatic events within the U.S. and abroad may affect investor and consumer confidence and may adversely impact financial markets and the broader economy. For example, 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 have and could continue to have a significant impact on certain Fund investments as well as Fund performance and liquidity. The economies of the United States and its trading partners, as well as the financial markets generally, may be adversely impacted by trade disputes and other matters. For example, the United States has imposed trade barriers and restrictions on China. In addition, the Chinese government is engaged in a longstanding dispute with Taiwan, continually threatening an invasion. If the political climate between the United States and China does not improve or continues to deteriorate, if China were to attempt invading Taiwan, or if other geopolitical conflicts develop or worsen, economies, markets and individual securities may be adversely affected, and the value of the Fund’s assets may go down. The COVID-19 global pandemic, or any future public health crisis, and the ensuing policies enacted by governments and central banks have caused
14
Large Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNLC)
and may continue to cause significant volatility and uncertainty in global financial markets, negatively impacting global growth prospects. While vaccines have been developed, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging future variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. Advancements in technology may also adversely impact markets and the overall performance of the Fund. For instance, the economy may be significantly impacted by the advanced development and increased regulation of artificial intelligence. These events, and any other future events, may adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio investments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets.
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.
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
15
Large Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNLC)
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.
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.
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.
LARGE CAPITALIZATION COMPANIES RISK. Large capitalization companies may grow at a slower rate and be less able to adapt to changing market conditions than smaller capitalization companies. Thus, the return on investment in securities of large capitalization companies may be less than the return on investment in securities of small and/or mid capitalization companies. The performance of large capitalization companies also tends to trail the overall market during different market cycles.
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 investment, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by real or perceived adverse economic, political, and regulatory factors or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value
16
Large Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNLC)
or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, market manipulation, government defaults, government shutdowns, regulatory actions, political changes, diplomatic developments, the imposition of sanctions and other similar measures, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, natural disasters, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares, the liquidity of an investment, and may 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, the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen and the returns on investment may fluctuate.
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. Additionally, in order to comply with its investment strategies and policies, the Fund portfolio may deviate from the composition of the Index. Accordingly, the Fund's return may underperform the return of 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.
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.
17
Large Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNLC)
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.
Large Cap US Equity Select ETF
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31 (1)
 
(1)
The Fund's calendar year-to-date total return based on net asset value for the period 12/31/22 to 06/30/23 was 9.26%.
During the periods shown in the chart above: 
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
20.28%
June 30, 2020
-23.80%
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.
18
Large Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNLC)
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2022 
 
1 Year
5 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
-14.09%
8.34%
9.35%
6/20/2017
Return After Taxes on Distributions
-14.63%
7.64%
8.66%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
-8.35%
6.22%
7.08%
Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large CapTM Index (reflects no deduction
for fees, expenses or taxes)
-13.64%
9.00%
10.02%
Nasdaq US 500 Large CapTM Index (reflects no deduction for
fees, expenses or taxes)
-19.45%
9.24%
10.38%
S&P 500® Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or
taxes)
-18.11%
9.42%
10.52%
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
•
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
•
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President 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 2017, except for Erik Russo, who has served as a part of the portfolio management team since 2020.
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.
19
Large Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNLC)
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, bank or other financial intermediary (collectively, “intermediaries”), 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.
20
Summary Information
Mid Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNMC)
Investment Objective
The Mid Cap US Equity Select 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 Nasdaq Riskalyze US Mid CapTM 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
0.60%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.60%
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be: 
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$61
$192
$335
$750
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 51% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in the securities 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 owned and was developed and sponsored by Nitrogen Wealth, Inc. (the “Index Provider”). The Index Provider is a financial technology company that develops platforms to capture quantitative measurements of client and portfolio risk for investment advisors. The Index Provider has retained Nasdaq, Inc. to calculate and maintain the Index. Nasdaq, Inc. may, from time to time, exercise reasonable discretion as it deems appropriate in order to ensure Index integrity.
The Index is designed to select dividend-paying securities issued by mid capitalization U.S. companies. According to the Index Provider, to be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a security must be a constituent of the Nasdaq US 600 Mid CapTM Index (the “Base Index”) and have paid a dividend in the trailing twelve months (based on ex-date). The Base Index is a comprehensive, rules-based index designed to measure stock market performance of mid capitalization U.S. companies, as determined by
21
Mid Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNMC)
Nasdaq, Inc. The securities of companies represented in the Index generally have market capitalizations that are consistent with the name of the Index. The Index may be composed of, but not limited to, common stocks and real estate investment trusts (“REITs”).
According to the Index Provider, security selection for the Index will be conducted in the following manner:
1.
The selection universe for the Index begins with all eligible securities in the Base Index.
2.
The Base Index’s industry weights are calculated and assigned to the Index.
3.
Issuers that have not paid a dividend in the trailing 12 months are screened out.
4.
Each security within an industry is given an equal weight.
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 June 30, 2023, the Index was composed of 347 securities with market capitalization ranges from $1.85 billion to $39.35 billion. As of June 30, 2023, the Fund had significant investments in industrials companies. The Fund's investments will change as the Index changes and, as a result, the Fund may have significant investments in jurisdictions or investment sectors that it may not have had as of June 30, 2023. 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 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.
CURRENT MARKET CONDITIONS RISK. Current market conditions risk is the risk that a particular investment, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value due to current market conditions. As a means to fight inflation, which remains at elevated levels, the Federal Reserve and certain foreign central banks have raised interest rates and expect to continue to do so, and the Federal Reserve has announced that it intends to reverse previously implemented quantitative easing. U.S. regulators have proposed several changes to market and issuer regulations which would directly impact the Fund, and any regulatory changes could adversely impact the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment strategies or make certain investments. Recent and potential future bank failures could result in disruption to the broader banking industry or markets generally and reduce confidence in financial institutions and the economy as a whole, which may also heighten market volatility and reduce liquidity. The ongoing adversarial political climate in the United States, as well as political and diplomatic events both domestic and abroad, have and may continue to have an adverse impact the U.S. regulatory landscape, markets and investor behavior, which could have a negative impact on the Fund’s investments and operations. Other unexpected political, regulatory and diplomatic events within the U.S. and abroad may affect investor and consumer confidence and may adversely impact financial markets and the broader economy. For example, 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 have and could continue to have a significant impact on certain Fund investments as well as Fund performance and liquidity. The economies of the United States and its trading partners, as well as the financial markets generally, may be adversely impacted by trade disputes and other matters. For example, the United States has imposed trade barriers and restrictions on China. In addition, the Chinese government is engaged in a longstanding dispute with Taiwan, continually threatening an invasion. If the political climate between the United States and China does not improve or continues to deteriorate, if China were to attempt invading Taiwan, or if other geopolitical conflicts develop or worsen, economies, markets and individual securities may be adversely affected, and the value of the Fund’s assets may go down. The COVID-19 global pandemic, or any future public health crisis, and the ensuing policies enacted by governments and central banks have caused
22
Mid Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNMC)
and may continue to cause significant volatility and uncertainty in global financial markets, negatively impacting global growth prospects. While vaccines have been developed, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging future variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. Advancements in technology may also adversely impact markets and the overall performance of the Fund. For instance, the economy may be significantly impacted by the advanced development and increased regulation of artificial intelligence. These events, and any other future events, may adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio investments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets.
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.
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
23
Mid Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNMC)
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.
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 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 investment, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by real or perceived adverse economic, political, and regulatory factors 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, market manipulation, government defaults, government shutdowns, regulatory actions, political changes, diplomatic developments, the imposition of sanctions and other similar measures, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, natural disasters, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares, the liquidity of an investment, and
24
Mid Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNMC)
may 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, the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen and the returns on investment may fluctuate.
MID CAPITALIZATION COMPANIES RISK. Mid capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse general market or economic developments and thus may experience greater price volatility than more established large capitalization companies. Securities of mid capitalization companies may also be less liquid than securities of large capitalization companies and may have more limited trading volumes. 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. Additionally, in order to comply with its investment strategies and policies, the Fund portfolio may deviate from the composition of the Index. Accordingly, the Fund's return may underperform the return of 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.
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.
25
Mid Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNMC)
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 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.
Mid Cap US Equity Select ETF
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31 (1)
 
(1)
The Fund's calendar year-to-date total return based on net asset value for the period 12/31/22 to 06/30/23 was 6.78%.
During the periods shown in the chart above: 
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
24.70%
December 31, 2020
-32.34%
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.
26
Mid Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNMC)
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2022 
 
1 Year
5 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
-9.02%
6.34%
7.52%
6/20/2017
Return After Taxes on Distributions
-9.67%
5.66%
6.84%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
-5.36%
4.63%
5.60%
Nasdaq Riskalyze US Mid CapTM Index (reflects no deduction for
fees, expenses or taxes)
-8.53%
6.99%
8.18%
Nasdaq US 600 Mid CapTM Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses or taxes)
-18.53%
5.74%
7.27%
S&P MidCap 400® Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses or taxes)
-13.06%
6.71%
7.85%
Russell 3000® Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or
taxes)
-19.21%
8.79%
9.94%
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
•
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
•
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President 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 2017, except for Erik Russo, who has served as a part of the portfolio management team since 2020.
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.
27
Mid Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNMC)
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, bank or other financial intermediary (collectively, “intermediaries”), 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.
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Summary Information
Small Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNSC)
Investment Objective
The Small Cap US Equity Select 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 Nasdaq Riskalyze US Small CapTM 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
0.60%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.60%
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be: 
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$61
$192
$335
$750
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 72% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in the securities 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 owned and was developed and sponsored by Nitrogen Wealth, Inc. (the “Index Provider”). The Index Provider is a financial technology company that develops platforms to capture quantitative measurements of client and portfolio risk for investment advisors. The Index Provider has retained Nasdaq, Inc. to calculate and maintain the Index. Nasdaq, Inc. may, from time to time, exercise reasonable discretion as it deems appropriate in order to ensure Index integrity.
The Index is designed to select dividend-paying securities issued by small capitalization U.S. companies. According to the Index Provider, to be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a security must be a constituent of the Nasdaq US 700 Small CapTM Index (the “Base Index”) and have paid a dividend in the trailing twelve months (based on ex-date). The Base Index is a comprehensive, rules-based index designed to measure stock market performance of small capitalization U.S. companies, as determined by Nasdaq, Inc. The securities of companies represented in the Index generally have market capitalizations that
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Small Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNSC)
are consistent with the name of the Index. The Index may be composed of, but not limited to, common stocks and real estate investment trusts (“REITs”).
According to the Index Provider, security selection for the Index will be conducted in the following manner:
1.
The selection universe for the Index begins with all eligible securities in the Base Index.
2.
The Base Index’s industry weights are calculated and assigned to the Index.
3.
Issuers that have not paid a dividend in the trailing 12 months are screened out.
4.
Each security within an industry is given an equal weight.
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 June 30, 2023, the Index was composed of 318 securities with market capitalization ranges from $593.79 million to $5.72 billion. The Fund's investments will change as the Index changes and, as a result, the Fund may have significant investments in jurisdictions or investment sectors that it may not have had as of June 30, 2023. 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 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.
CURRENT MARKET CONDITIONS RISK. Current market conditions risk is the risk that a particular investment, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value due to current market conditions. As a means to fight inflation, which remains at elevated levels, the Federal Reserve and certain foreign central banks have raised interest rates and expect to continue to do so, and the Federal Reserve has announced that it intends to reverse previously implemented quantitative easing. U.S. regulators have proposed several changes to market and issuer regulations which would directly impact the Fund, and any regulatory changes could adversely impact the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment strategies or make certain investments. Recent and potential future bank failures could result in disruption to the broader banking industry or markets generally and reduce confidence in financial institutions and the economy as a whole, which may also heighten market volatility and reduce liquidity. The ongoing adversarial political climate in the United States, as well as political and diplomatic events both domestic and abroad, have and may continue to have an adverse impact the U.S. regulatory landscape, markets and investor behavior, which could have a negative impact on the Fund’s investments and operations. Other unexpected political, regulatory and diplomatic events within the U.S. and abroad may affect investor and consumer confidence and may adversely impact financial markets and the broader economy. For example, 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 have and could continue to have a significant impact on certain Fund investments as well as Fund performance and liquidity. The economies of the United States and its trading partners, as well as the financial markets generally, may be adversely impacted by trade disputes and other matters. For example, the United States has imposed trade barriers and restrictions on China. In addition, the Chinese government is engaged in a longstanding dispute with Taiwan, continually threatening an invasion. If the political climate between the United States and China does not improve or continues to deteriorate, if China were to attempt invading Taiwan, or if other geopolitical conflicts develop or worsen, economies, markets and individual securities may be adversely affected, and the value of the Fund’s assets may go down. The COVID-19 global pandemic, or any future public health crisis, and the ensuing policies enacted by governments and central banks have caused and may continue to cause significant volatility and uncertainty in global financial markets, negatively impacting global growth prospects. While vaccines have been developed, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging future
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Small Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNSC)
variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. Advancements in technology may also adversely impact markets and the overall performance of the Fund. For instance, the economy may be significantly impacted by the advanced development and increased regulation of artificial intelligence. These events, and any other future events, may adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio investments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets.
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.
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.
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Small Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNSC)
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 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 investment, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by real or perceived adverse economic, political, and regulatory factors 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, market manipulation, government defaults, government shutdowns, regulatory actions, political changes, diplomatic developments, the imposition of sanctions and other similar measures, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, natural disasters, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares, the liquidity of an investment, and may 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, the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen and the returns on investment may fluctuate.
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. Additionally, in order to comply with its investment strategies and policies, the Fund portfolio may deviate from the composition of the Index. Accordingly, the Fund's return may underperform the return of the Index.
32
Small Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNSC)
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.
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.
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Small Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNSC)
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 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.
Small Cap US Equity Select ETF
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31 (1)
 
(1)
The Fund's calendar year-to-date total return based on net asset value for the period 12/31/22 to 06/30/23 was 7.19%.
During the periods shown in the chart above: 
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
32.04%
December 31, 2020
-32.76%
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.
34
Small Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNSC)
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2022 
 
1 Year
5 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
-12.92%
5.31%
6.52%
6/20/2017
Return After Taxes on Distributions
-13.62%
4.57%
5.75%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
-7.66%
3.79%
4.75%
Nasdaq Riskalyze US Small CapTM Index (reflects no deduction
for fees, expenses or taxes)
-12.45%
5.99%
7.22%
Nasdaq US 700 Small CapTM Index (reflects no deduction for
fees, expenses or taxes)
-20.95%
5.37%
6.81%
S&P SmallCap 600® Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses or taxes)
-16.10%
5.88%
7.38%
Russell 3000® Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or
taxes)
-19.21%
8.79%
9.94%
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
•
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
•
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President 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 2017, except for Erik Russo, who has served as a part of the portfolio management team since 2020.
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.
35
Small Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNSC)
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, bank or other financial intermediary (collectively, “intermediaries”), 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.
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Summary Information
US Equity Dividend Select ETF (RNDV)
Investment Objective
The US Equity Dividend Select 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 Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large Cap Select DividendTM 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
0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.50%
Example
The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain at current levels. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be: 
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$51
$160
$280
$628
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 52% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in the securities 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 owned and was developed and sponsored by Nitrogen Wealth, Inc. (the “Index Provider”). The Index Provider is a financial technology company that develops platforms to capture quantitative measurements of client and portfolio risk for investment advisors. The Index Provider has retained Nasdaq, Inc. to calculate and maintain the Index. Nasdaq, Inc. may, from time to time, exercise reasonable discretion as it deems appropriate in order to ensure Index integrity.
The Index is designed to select dividend-paying securities issued by U.S. companies to create a diversified portfolio offering an above-average yield. According to the Index Provider, to be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a security must: (i) be a constituent of the Nasdaq US 500 Large CapTM Index (the “Base Index”); (ii) have paid a dividend in the trailing twelve months (based on ex-date); and (iii) have a trailing twelve-month dividend yield higher than the index yield of the Base Index. The
37
US Equity Dividend Select ETF (RNDV)
Base Index is a comprehensive, rules-based index designed to measure stock market performance of large capitalization U.S. companies, as determined by Nasdaq, Inc. The Index may be composed of, but not limited to, common stocks and real estate investment trusts (“REITs”).
According to the Index Provider, security selection for the Index will be conducted in the following manner:
1.
The selection universe for the Index begins with all eligible securities in the Base Index.
2.
The Base Index’s industry weights are calculated and assigned to the Index.
3.
Issuers that have not paid a dividend in the trailing 12 months or have a dividend yield lower than the Base Index’s yield are screened out.
4.
Securities with higher dividend yields are given a greater weight in the Index relative to the other remaining securities in the industry.
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 June 30, 2023, the Index was composed of 230 securities with market capitalization ranges from $8.64 billion to $463.04 billion. As of June 30, 2023, the Fund had significant investments in information technology companies, although this may change from time to time. The Fund's investments will change as the Index changes and, as a result, the Fund may have significant investments in jurisdictions or investment sectors that it may not have had as of June 30, 2023. 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 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.
CURRENT MARKET CONDITIONS RISK. Current market conditions risk is the risk that a particular investment, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value due to current market conditions. As a means to fight inflation, which remains at elevated levels, the Federal Reserve and certain foreign central banks have raised interest rates and expect to continue to do so, and the Federal Reserve has announced that it intends to reverse previously implemented quantitative easing. U.S. regulators have proposed several changes to market and issuer regulations which would directly impact the Fund, and any regulatory changes could adversely impact the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment strategies or make certain investments. Recent and potential future bank failures could result in disruption to the broader banking industry or markets generally and reduce confidence in financial institutions and the economy as a whole, which may also heighten market volatility and reduce liquidity. The ongoing adversarial political climate in the United States, as well as political and diplomatic events both domestic and abroad, have and may continue to have an adverse impact the U.S. regulatory landscape, markets and investor behavior, which could have a negative impact on the Fund’s investments and operations. Other unexpected political, regulatory and diplomatic events within the U.S. and abroad may affect investor and consumer confidence and may adversely impact financial markets and the broader economy. For example, 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 have and could continue to have a significant impact on certain Fund investments as well as Fund performance and liquidity. The economies of the United States and its trading partners, as well as the financial markets generally, may be adversely impacted by trade disputes and other matters. For example, the United States has imposed trade barriers and restrictions on China. In addition, the Chinese government is engaged in a longstanding dispute with Taiwan, continually threatening an invasion. If the political climate between the United States and China does not improve or continues to deteriorate, if China were to attempt invading Taiwan, or if other geopolitical conflicts develop or worsen, economies, markets
38
US Equity Dividend Select ETF (RNDV)
and individual securities may be adversely affected, and the value of the Fund’s assets may go down. The COVID-19 global pandemic, or any future public health crisis, and the ensuing policies enacted by governments and central banks have caused and may continue to cause significant volatility and uncertainty in global financial markets, negatively impacting global growth prospects. While vaccines have been developed, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging future variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. Advancements in technology may also adversely impact markets and the overall performance of the Fund. For instance, the economy may be significantly impacted by the advanced development and increased regulation of artificial intelligence. These events, and any other future events, may adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio investments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets.
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.
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
39
US Equity Dividend Select ETF (RNDV)
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.
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.
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.
LARGE CAPITALIZATION COMPANIES RISK. Large capitalization companies may grow at a slower rate and be less able to adapt to changing market conditions than smaller capitalization companies. Thus, the return on investment in securities of large capitalization companies may be less than the return on investment in securities of small and/or mid capitalization companies. The performance of large capitalization companies also tends to trail the overall market during different market cycles.
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 investment, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by real or perceived adverse economic, political, and regulatory factors 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, market
40
US Equity Dividend Select ETF (RNDV)
manipulation, government defaults, government shutdowns, regulatory actions, political changes, diplomatic developments, the imposition of sanctions and other similar measures, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, natural disasters, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares, the liquidity of an investment, and may 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, the bid/ask spread on the Fund’s shares may widen and the returns on investment may fluctuate.
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. Additionally, in order to comply with its investment strategies and policies, the Fund portfolio may deviate from the composition of the Index. Accordingly, the Fund's return may underperform the return of 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.
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.
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US Equity Dividend Select ETF (RNDV)
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.
US Equity Dividend Select ETF
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31 (1)
 
(1)
The Fund's calendar year-to-date total return based on net asset value for the period 12/31/22 to 06/30/23 was 3.83%.
During the periods shown in the chart above: 
Best Quarter
 
Worst Quarter
 
18.46%
June 30, 2020
-26.70%
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.
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US Equity Dividend Select ETF (RNDV)
Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2022 
 
1 Year
5 Years
Since
Inception
Inception
Date
Return Before Taxes
-7.34%
8.33%
9.41%
6/20/2017
Return After Taxes on Distributions
-8.31%
7.09%
8.18%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
-4.36%
5.94%
6.84%
Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large Cap Select DividendTM Index (reflects
no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
-6.94%
8.92%
10.00%
Nasdaq US 500 Large CapTM Index (reflects no deduction for
fees, expenses or taxes)
-19.45%
9.24%
10.38%
S&P 500® Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or
taxes)
-18.11%
9.42%
10.52%
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
•
David G. McGarel, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of First Trust
•
Jon C. Erickson, Senior Vice President 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 2017, except for Erik Russo, who has served as a part of the portfolio management team since 2020.
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.
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US Equity Dividend Select ETF (RNDV)
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, bank or other financial intermediary (collectively, “intermediaries”), 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.
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Additional Information on the Funds' Investment Objectives and Strategies
Each Fund is a series of First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI 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 (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in the securities that comprise its Index. Nitrogen Wealth, Inc. serves as the index provider for the indices tracked by the Funds. Nitrogen Wealth, Inc. may be referred to throughout this prospectus as the “Index Provider.”
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, 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. Certain fundamental policies of the Funds are set forth in the Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”) under “Investment Objective and Policies.”
Nasdaq Riskalyze Emerging MarketsTM Index
According to the Index Provider, Nasdaq Riskalyze Emerging MarketsTM Index is designed to select low volatility securities issued by companies operating in emerging market countries. The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted semi-annually in April and October.
Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large CapTM Index
According to the Index Provider, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large CapTM Index is designed to select dividend-paying securities issued by large capitalization U.S. companies. The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly in January, April, July and October.
Nasdaq Riskalyze US Mid CapTM Index
According to the Index Provider, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Mid CapTM Index is designed to select dividend-paying securities issued by mid capitalization U.S. companies. The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly in January, April, July and October.
Nasdaq Riskalyze US Small CapTM Index
According to the Index Provider, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Small CapTM Index is designed to select dividend-paying securities issued by small capitalization U.S. companies. The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly in January, April, July and October.
Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large Cap Select DividendTM Index
According to the Index Provider, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large Cap Select DividendTM Index is designed to select dividend-paying securities issued by U.S. companies to create a diversified portfolio offering an above-average yield. The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly in January, April, July and October.
More information regarding each Index, including additional detail on the Index methodology, may be found on the Index Provider’s website. Neither the Funds, the Board, First Trust, or any of their affiliates, are responsible for the information set forth on the Index Provider’s website. Information from the 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.
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Fund Investments
Principal Investments
Equity Securities
The Funds invest in equity securities, including common stocks, depositary receipts and preferred securities. 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. Preferred securities, which generally pay fixed or adjustable-rate dividends or interest to investors, have preference over common stock in the payment of dividends or interest and the liquidation of a company’s assets, which means that a company typically must pay dividends or interest on its preferred securities before paying any dividends on its common stock. Preferred securities are generally junior to all forms of the company’s debt, including both senior and subordinated debt.
Real Estate Investment Trusts
The Funds may invest in real estate investment trusts ("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 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, the Funds invest substantially all of their assets to meet their 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 objective. A Fund may adopt a defensive strategy when the portfolio managers believe securities in which such 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.
Investment Companies
Certain Funds may invest in the securities of other investment companies, including exchange-traded funds ("ETFs"). ETFs are managed registered investment companies which invest in various types of securities. ETFs issue shares of common stock that are traded on a securities exchange. ETFs trade on a securities exchange and their shares may, at times, trade at a premium or discount to their net asset value. Each Fund’s ability to invest in other investment companies is limited by the 1940 Act and the related rules and interpretations.
As a shareholder in a pooled investment vehicle, a Fund will bear its ratable share of that vehicle’s expenses, and would remain subject to payment of the fund’s advisory and administrative fees with respect to assets so invested. Shareholders would therefore be subject to duplicative expenses to the extent a Fund invests in other pooled investment vehicles. In addition, a Fund will incur brokerage costs when purchasing and selling shares of money market funds and ETFs. Securities of other pooled investment vehicles may be leveraged, in which case the value and/or yield of such securities will tend to be more volatile than securities of unleveraged vehicles.
Each Fund, except for the Emerging Markets Equity Select ETF, 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.
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.,
46
securities that cannot be disposed of by a Fund within seven days in the ordinary course of business at approximately the amount at which the Fund has valued the securities).
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 disclosure pertaining to the Principal Risks set forth above as well as 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 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.
CURRENCY RISK. Certain Funds invest in securities denominated in a non-U.S. currency. Changes in currency exchange rates affect the value of investments denominated in a foreign currency, the value of dividends and interest earned from such securities and gains and losses realized on the sale of such securities. A Fund’s net asset value could decline if a currency to which the Fund has exposure depreciates against the U.S. dollar or if there are delays or limits on repatriation of such currency. Currency exchange rates can be very volatile and can change quickly and unpredictably. Changes in currency exchange rates may affect a Fund's net asset value, the value of dividends and interest earned, and gains and losses realized on the sale of securities. An increase in the strength of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies may cause the value of a Fund to decline. Certain non-U.S. currencies may be particularly volatile, and non-U.S. governments may intervene in the currency markets,
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causing a decline in value or liquidity in a Fund's non-U.S. holdings whose value is tied to the affected non-U.S. currency. Additionally, the prices of non-U.S. securities that are traded in U.S. dollars are often indirectly influenced by currency fluctuations.
CURRENT MARKET CONDITIONS RISK. Current market conditions risk is the risk that a particular investment, or shares of a Fund in general, may fall in value due to current market conditions.
As a means to fight inflation, which remains at elevated levels, the Federal Reserve and certain foreign central banks have raised interest rates and expect to continue to do so, and the Federal Reserve has announced that it intends to reverse previously implemented quantitative easing. U.S. regulators have proposed several changes to market and issuer regulations which would directly impact the Funds. While it is hard to predict whether any of these regulations will be adopted, due to the current scope of proposed regulations, any regulatory changes could adversely impact a Fund’s ability to achieve its investment strategies or make certain investments. Regulatory changes may also increase Fund operational costs, which could impact overall performance. Certain market factors may result in central banks changing their approach in the future. Recent and potential future bank failures could result in disruption to the broader banking industry or markets generally and reduce confidence in financial institutions and the economy as a whole, which may also heighten market volatility and reduce liquidity.
The ongoing adversarial political climate in the United States, as well as political and diplomatic events both domestic and abroad, such as presidential, congressional and gubernatorial elections in the U.S., global elections and governmental changes and the U.S. government’s failure to agree on a long-term budget and deficit reduction plan, have and may continue to have an adverse impact on the U.S. regulatory landscape, markets and investor behavior, which could have a negative impact on a Fund’s investments and operations. The potential result of a U.S. federal government shutdown may also significantly impact investor and consumer behavior, which may adversely impact the markets and global economy. Global and domestic authorities and regulators have previously responded to serious economic disruptions with ranging fiscal and monetary policy changes, including but not limited to, direct capital infusions into companies, new monetary programs and dramatically lower interest rates. Any change in these policies, or the ineffectiveness of these policies, could increase volatility in securities markets, which may adversely impact a Fund’s investments and performance. Any market disruptions could also delay a Fund from making sound investment decisions in a timely manner. If a Fund concentrates its investments in a region enduring geopolitical market disruption, it may face higher risk of loss, although the increasing interconnectivity between global economies and financial markets can lead to events or conditions in one country, region or financial market adversely impacting a different country, region or financial market.
Other unexpected political, regulatory and diplomatic events within the U.S. and abroad may affect investor and consumer confidence and may adversely impact financial markets and the broader economy. For example, 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 have and could continue to have a significant impact on certain Fund investments as well as Fund performance and liquidity. The economies of the United States and its trading partners, as well as the financial markets generally, may be adversely impacted by trade disputes and other matters. For example, the United States has imposed trade barriers and restrictions on China. In addition, the Chinese government is engaged in a longstanding dispute with Taiwan, continually threatening an invasion. If the political climate between the United States and China does not improve or continues to deteriorate, if China were to attempt invading Taiwan, or if other geopolitical conflicts develop or worsen, economies, markets and individual securities may be adversely affected, and the value of a Fund’s assets may go down. The COVID-19 global pandemic, or any future public health crisis, and the ensuing policies enacted by governments and central banks have caused and may continue to cause significant volatility and uncertainty in global financial markets, negatively impacting global growth prospects. While vaccines have been developed, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging future variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others.
Advancements in technology may also adversely impact markets and the overall performance of a Fund. For instance, the economy may be significantly impacted by the advanced development and increased regulation of artificial intelligence. As the use of technology grows, liquidity and market movements may be affected. As artificial intelligence is used more widely, the profitability and growth of Fund holdings may be impacted, which could significantly impact the overall performance of a Fund.
These events, and any other future events, may adversely affect the prices and liquidity of a Fund’s portfolio investments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets.
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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 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 companies operating in emerging market countries. Investments in securities issued by governments and companies operating in emerging market countries involve additional risks relating to political, economic, or regulatory conditions not associated with investments in securities and instruments issued by U.S. companies or by companies operating in other developed market countries. This is due to, among other things, the potential for greater market volatility, lower trading volume, a lack of liquidity, potential for market manipulation, higher levels of inflation, political and economic instability, greater risk of a market shutdown and more governmental limitations on foreign investments in emerging market countries than are typically found in more developed market countries. Moreover, emerging market countries often have less uniformity in accounting and reporting requirements, unsettled securities laws, less reliable securities valuations and greater risks associated with custody of securities than developed markets. In addition, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which regulates auditors of U.S. public companies, is unable to inspect audit
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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.
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.
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.
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
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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 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
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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. Certain Funds are subject to 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.
LARGE CAPITALIZATION COMPANIES RISK. Certain Funds may invest in the securities of large capitalization companies. Large capitalization companies may grow at a slower rate and be less able to adapt to changing market conditions than smaller capitalization companies. Thus, the return on investment in securities of large capitalization companies may be less than the return on investment in securities of small and/or mid capitalization companies. The performance of large capitalization companies also tends to trail the overall market during different market cycles.
LOW VOLATILITY RISK. Certain Funds utilize a low volatility style of investing. 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
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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 investment, or shares of a Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by real or perceived adverse economic, political, and regulatory factors 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. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, market manipulation, government defaults, government shutdowns, regulatory actions, political changes, diplomatic developments, the imposition of sanctions and other similar measures, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, natural disasters, or other events could have a significant negative impact on a Fund and its investments. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of a Fund’s shares, the liquidity of an investment, and may 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, the bid/ask spread on a Fund’s shares may widen and the returns on investment may fluctuate.
MID CAPITALIZATION COMPANIES RISK. Mid capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse general market or economic developments and thus may experience greater price volatility than more established large capitalization companies. Securities of mid capitalization companies may also be less liquid than securities of large capitalization companies and may have more limited trading volumes. Accordingly, such companies are generally subject to greater market risk than larger, more established companies.
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. Additionally, in order to comply with its investment strategies and policies, a Fund’s portfolio may deviate from the composition of the Index. Accordingly, a Fund's return may underperform the return of its Index.
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.
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. The 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 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.
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PREFERRED SECURITIES RISK. Certain Funds may invest in preferred securities. Preferred securities combine some of the characteristics of both common stocks and bonds. Preferred securities are typically subordinated to bonds and other debt securities in a company’s capital structure in terms of priority to corporate income, subjecting them to greater credit risk than those debt securities. Preferred securities often include provisions that permit the issuer, at its discretion, to defer distributions for a stated period without any adverse consequences to the issuer. If a Fund owns a preferred security that is deferring its distributions, a Fund may be required to report income for federal income tax purposes although it has not yet received such income in cash. Generally, holders of preferred securities have no voting rights with respect to the issuing company unless preferred dividends have been in arrears for a specified number of periods, at which time the preferred security holders may elect a number of directors to the issuer’s board of director. Generally, once the issuer pays all the arrearages, the preferred security holders no longer have voting rights. In certain circumstances, an issuer of preferred securities may redeem the securities prior to a specified date. For instance, for certain types of preferred securities, a redemption may be triggered by a change in federal income tax or securities laws or a change in regulatory trademark. As with redemption provisions of debt securities, a special redemption by the issuer may negatively impact the return of the preferred security held by a Fund. Preferred securities may also be substantially less liquid than other securities, including common stock.
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.
REIT RISK. Certain Funds may 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. Certain Funds may invest in the securities of small and/or mid capitalization companies. The stock price of small and/or mid capitalization companies may be more volatile than those of larger companies and therefore 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 effects due to the loss or inexperience of
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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.
TAIWAN RISK. Certain Funds invest significantly in the securities of Taiwanese issuers. Taiwan’s geographic proximity and history of political contention with China have resulted in ongoing tensions between the two countries, including the continual risk of military conflict with China. These tensions may materially affect the Taiwanese economy and its securities market. Taiwan’s economy is export-oriented, so it depends on an open world trade regime and remains vulnerable to fluctuations in the world economy. Rising labor costs and increasing environmental consciousness have led some labor-intensive industries to relocate to countries with cheaper work forces, and continued labor outsourcing may adversely affect the Taiwanese economy. Taiwan’s economy also is intricately linked with economies of other Asian countries, which are often emerging market economies that often experience over-extensions of credit, frequent and pronounced currency fluctuations, devaluations and restrictions, rising unemployment and fluctuations in inflation. Political and social unrest in other Asian countries could cause further economic and market uncertainty in Taiwan. In particular, the Taiwanese economy is dependent on the economies of Japan and China, and also the United States, and a reduction in purchases by any of them of Taiwanese products and services or negative changes in their economies would likely have an adverse impact on the Taiwanese economy. Lastly, Taiwan is a small island state with few raw material resources and limited land area and thus it relies heavily on imports for its commodity needs. Any fluctuations or shortages in the commodity markets could have a negative impact on the Taiwanese economy.
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 a Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. A Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the 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.
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 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.
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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. Certain Funds may effect a portion of creation 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.
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.
INTERNATIONAL CLOSED MARKET TRADING RISK. Because securities held by a Fund trade on non-U.S. exchanges that are closed when a Fund’s primary listing exchange is open, there are likely to be deviations between the current price of an underlying security and the last quoted price for the underlying security (i.e., a Fund’s quote from the closed foreign market) used for purposes of calculating a Fund's net asset value, resulting in premiums or discounts to a Fund’s net asset value that may be greater than those experienced by other exchange-traded funds. In addition, shareholders may not be able to purchase and sell shares of a Fund on days when the net asset value of the Fund could be significantly affected by events in the relevant foreign markets.
INVESTMENT COMPANIES RISK. Certain Funds may invest in securities of other investment companies. As a shareholder in another investment company, the Funds will bear its ratable share of that investment company’s expenses, and would remain subject to payment of the Funds’ advisory and administrative fees with respect to assets so invested. Shareholders would therefore be subject to duplicative expenses to the extent the Funds invest in other investment companies. In addition, the Funds will incur brokerage costs when purchasing and selling shares of exchange-traded investment companies.
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.
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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.
RESTRICTED SECURITIES RISK. Certain Funds may invest in restricted securities. Restricted securities are securities that cannot be offered for public resale unless registered under the applicable securities laws or that have a contractual restriction that prohibits or limits their resale. Restricted securities include private placement securities that have not been registered under the applicable securities laws, such as Rule 144A securities, and securities of U.S. and non-U.S. issuers that are issued pursuant to Regulation S. Private placements are generally subject to strict restrictions on resale. Restricted securities may be illiquid as they generally are not listed on an exchange and may have no active trading market. A Fund may be unable to sell a restricted security on short notice or may be able to sell them only at a price below current value. It may be more difficult to determine a market value for a restricted security. Also, a Fund may get limited information about the issuer of a restricted security, so it may be less able to predict a loss. In addition, if Fund management receives material non-public information about the issuer, a Fund may as a result be unable to sell the securities. Certain restricted securities may involve a high degree of business and financial risk and may result in substantial losses.
SECURITIES LENDING RISK. The Funds may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves exposure to certain risks, including counterparty risk, collateral risk and operational risk. Counterparty risk is the risk that the borrower may fail to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. As a result, to the extent a Fund engages in securities lending, in such transactions it may suffer a loss and experience delays in recovering the lent securities. Any delay in the return of securities on loan may restrict the ability of a Fund to meet delivery or payment obligations. Collateral risk is the risk that the collateral received may be realized at a value lower than the value of the securities lent, whether due to inaccurate pricing of the collateral, adverse market movements in the value of the collateral, intra-day increases in the value of the securities lent, a deterioration in the credit rating of the collateral issuer, or the illiquidity of the market in which the collateral is traded. Securities lending also entails operational risks, such as settlement failures or delays in the settlement of instructions. Such failures or delays may restrict the ability of a Fund to meet delivery or payment obligations. Lastly, securities lending activities may result in adverse tax consequences for a Fund and its shareholders. For instance, substitute payments for dividends received by a Fund for securities loaned out by the Fund will not be considered qualified dividend income. A Fund could lose money if its short-term investment of the collateral declines in value over the period of the loan.
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 10 mutual fund portfolios, 10 exchange-traded funds consisting of 211 series and 14 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.
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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, David G. McGarel, Jon C. Erickson, Roger F. Testin, Stan Ueland, Chris A. Peterson and Erik Russo.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 unitary management fee based on each Fund's average daily net assets at the rate set forth below and is responsible for expenses of the Funds, including the cost of transfer agency, custody, fund administration, license fees, legal, audit and other services. The annual unitary management fee does not cover fee payments under the Investment Management Agreement, interest, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses, brokerage commissions and other expenses connected with the execution of portfolio transactions, distribution and service fees payable pursuant to a Rule 12b-1 plan, if any, and extraordinary expenses. 
Fund
Management Fee
Emerging Markets Equity Select ETF
0.75%
Large Cap US Equity Select ETF
0.60%
Mid Cap US Equity Select ETF
0.60%
Small Cap US Equity Select ETF
0.60%
US Equity Dividend Select ETF
0.50%
As approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees, the management fee paid to First Trust will be reduced at certain levels of Fund net assets (“breakpoints”). See the Funds' Statement of Additional Information for more information on the breakpoints.
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A discussion regarding the basis for the Board's approval of the amendment to the Investment Management Agreement incorporating the breakpoints is available in the Funds' Annual Report to Shareholders for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023.
A discussion regarding the basis of the Board’s approval of the continuation of the Investment Management Agreement is available in the Funds' Semi-Annual Report to Shareholders for the fiscal period ended September 30, 2022.
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.
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 the Funds may effect
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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 its 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 the Funds. The Funds distribute their 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 ("IRS") could disagree with any conclusions set forth in this section. 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 continue to qualify as a “regulated investment company” (a “RIC”) under the federal tax laws. If a Fund qualifies as a RIC and distributes its income as required by the tax law, the Fund generally will not pay federal income taxes.
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 the 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, even if you sell the shares at a loss from your original investment.A “return of capital” is a return, in whole or in part, of the funds that you previously invested in the Fund. A return of capital distribution should not be considered part of 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.
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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.
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 a Fund because the dividends received deduction is generally not available for distributions from RICs. 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.
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 tax rate. 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 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 RICs 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.
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 brokerage fees, if any. 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 IRS, 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.
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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
If your Fund invests in non-U.S. securities, the tax statement that you receive may include an item showing non-U.S. taxes the Fund paid to other countries. In this case, dividends taxed to you will include your share of the taxes the Fund paid to other countries. You may be able to deduct or receive a tax credit for your share of these taxes.
Non-U.S. Investors
If you are a non-U.S. investor (i.e., an investor other than a U.S. citizen or resident or a U.S. corporation, partnership, estate or trust), you should be aware that, generally, subject to applicable tax treaties, distributions from a Fund will be characterized as dividends for federal income tax purposes (other than dividends which the 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 the Fund as capital gain dividends may not be subject to U.S. federal income taxes, including withholding taxes, provided that the Fund makes certain elections and certain other conditions are met. Distributions from 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. For tax years after December 31, 2022, amounts paid to or recognized by a non-U.S. affiliate that are excluded from tax under the portfolio interest, capital gain dividends, short-term capital gains or tax-exempt interest dividend exceptions or applicable treaties, may be taken into consideration in determining whether a corporation is an “applicable corporation” subject to a 15% minimum tax on adjusted financial statement income.
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.
It is the responsibility of the entity through which you hold your shares to determine the applicable withholding.
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
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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 July 31, 2024. 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 (“NAV”) is determined as of the close of regular 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, a Fund’s NAV will be determined as of that time. Each Fund’s NAV is calculated by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (i.e., the value of its total assets less total liabilities) by the total number of outstanding shares of the Fund, generally rounded to the nearest cent.
Section 2(a)(41) of the 1940 Act provides that when a market quotation is readily available for a fund’s portfolio investment, it must be valued at the market value. Rule 2a-5 under the 1940 Act (“Rule 2a-5”) defines a readily available market quotation as “a quoted price (unadjusted) in active markets for identical investments that the fund can access at the measurement date, provided that a quotation will not be readily available if it is not reliable.” If a market quotation is not “readily available,” then the portfolio investment must be fair valued as determined in good faith by a fund’s board of trustees.
Rule 2a-5 permits a fund’s board of trustees to designate the fund’s investment adviser as its “valuation designee” to perform fair value determinations, subject to certain conditions. Accordingly, the Funds’ Board has designated First Trust as its valuation designee (the “Valuation Designee”) pursuant to Rule 2a-5 and has directed the Valuation Designee to perform the functions required in Rule 2a-5(a) subject to the requirements of Rule 2a-5(b) on behalf of all portfolio investments of the Funds, subject to the Board’s oversight. First Trust has established a pricing committee (the “Pricing Committee”) to assist in the administration of the duties of the Valuation Designee. The Valuation Designee has adopted valuation procedures for the First Trust Funds (the “Valuation Procedures”), a brief summary of which is set forth below.
The Pricing Committee has identified certain portfolio investments that are routinely categorized as having a readily available market quotation. The market value of an investment with a readily available market quotation is typically determined on the basis of official closing prices or last reported sale prices or equivalent price, although this can vary based on investment type and/or the availability of such prices.
The Pricing Committee has also identified certain portfolio investments that are routinely categorized as fair valued investments. In general, for such investments, the Funds’ accounting agent will obtain all pricing data for use in valuing such investments from a pricing service provider approved by the Pricing Committee (each, a “Pricing Service Provider”), subject to the oversight of the Pricing Committee. Pricing Service Providers typically value non-exchange-traded instruments utilizing a range of market-based inputs and assumptions. For example, when available, Pricing Service Providers may utilize inputs such as benchmark yields, reported trades, broker-dealer quotes, spreads, and transactions for comparable instruments. In pricing certain instruments, a Pricing Service Provider may consider information about an instrument’s issuer or market activity. Pricing Service Provider valuations of non-exchange-traded instruments generally represent the service’s good faith opinion as to what the holder of an instrument would receive in an orderly transaction for an institutional round lot position under current market conditions. Certain exchange-traded options, such as FLEX Options, are typically valued using a model-based price provided by a Pricing Service Provider.
Portfolio investments trading on foreign exchanges or over-the-counter markets that close prior to the close of the NYSE may be fair valued using a systematic fair valuation model provided by a Pricing Service Provider. If these foreign securities meet certain criteria in relation to the valuation model, their valuation is systematically adjusted to reflect the impact of movement in the U.S. market after the close of certain foreign markets.
If no price is available from a Pricing Service Provider or if the Pricing Committee has reason to question the accuracy or the reliability of a price supplied for a portfolio investment or the use of amortized cost, the Pricing Committee will determine the fair value of such portfolio investment in a manner that it believes most appropriately reflects the fair value of the portfolio investment on the valuation date (a “Special Fair Value Pricing Situation”). In a Special Fair Value Pricing Situation, the Pricing Committee will determine a fair value price subject to the process outlined in the Valuation Procedures and based on a consideration of all available information to the Pricing Committee at the time of the determination.
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Additionally, for foreign securities, if an extraordinary market event occurs between the time the last “current” market quotation is available for a security in a Fund’s portfolio and the time the Fund’s NAV is determined that calls into doubt whether that earlier market quotation represents fair value at the time the Fund’s NAV is determined, the Pricing Committee will determine the fair valuation as set forth in the Valuation Procedures.
Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of a portfolio investment and is the amount a Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that investment in an arm’s-length transaction. Valuing a Fund’s investments using fair value pricing will result in prices that may differ from current market valuations, if any, and that may not be the prices at which those investments could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used. While the Valuation Procedures and Valuation Designee’s processes are intended to result in a Fund’s NAV calculation that fairly reflects the values as of the time of pricing, the fair value determined for a portfolio instrument may be materially different from the value that could be realized upon the sale of that instrument.
Foreign currencies are translated into U.S. dollars at the exchange rate of such currencies against the U.S. dollar as provided by a Pricing Service Provider. All assets denominated in foreign currencies will be converted into U.S. dollars at the exchange rates in effect at the time of valuation.
Fund Service Providers
The Bank of New York Mellon, 240 Greenwich Street, New York, New York 10286, acts as the administrator, fund accounting agent, transfer agent and custodian for the Funds. Chapman and Cutler LLP, 320 S. Canal St., Chicago, Illinois 60606, serves as legal counsel to the Funds. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. located at 50 Post Office Square, Boston, Massachusetts, 02110 shall remain custodian for certain identified assets of Emerging Markets Equity Select ETF that are currently subject to transfer restrictions.
Index Provider
The Indices are compiled by the Index Provider. The Index Provider is not affiliated with the Funds, First Trust or FTP. 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 the Index Provider. First Trust also licenses from the Index Provider the Index Provider’s intellectual property to create ETF-based model portfolios that may be available on the Index Provider’s platform and to provide risk-based scores to ETFs advised by First Trust. Nasdaq, Inc. will serve as the calculation agent for the Indices (the “Index Calculation Agent”). The Index Calculation Agent is responsible for the management of the day-to-day operations of the Indices, including calculating the value of the Index every 15 seconds, widely disseminating the Index values every 15 seconds and tracking corporate actions, some of which result 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.
The Products are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Nasdaq, Inc., Nitrogen Wealth, Inc. or their affiliates (Nasdaq, Nitrogen Wealth with their respective 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 Products. The Corporations make no representation or warranty, express or implied to the owners of the Products or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the Products particularly, or the ability of the Nasdaq Riskalyze Emerging MarketsTM Index, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large CapTM Index, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Mid CapTM Index, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Small CapTM Index and Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large Cap Select DividendTM Index to track general stock market performance. The Corporations' only relationship to Emerging Markets Equity Select ETF, Large Cap US Equity Select ETF, Mid Cap US Equity Select ETF, Small Cap US Equity Select ETF and US Equity Dividend Select ETF (“Licensee”) is in the licensing of the Nasdaq®, and certain trade names of the Corporations and the use of the Nasdaq Riskalyze Emerging MarketsTM Index,
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Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large CapTM Index, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Mid CapTM Index, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Small CapTM Index and Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large Cap Select DividendTM Index which are determined, composed and calculated by Nasdaq without regard to Licensee or the Products. Nasdaq has no obligation to take the needs of the Licensee or the owners of the Products into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Nasdaq Riskalyze Emerging MarketsTM Index, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large CapTM Index, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Mid CapTM Index, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Small CapTM Index and Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large Cap Select DividendTM Index. The Corporations are not responsible for and have not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices at, or quantities of the Products to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the Products are to be converted into cash. The Corporations have no liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Products.
The Corporations do not guarantee the accuracy and/or uninterrupted calculation of the Nasdaq Riskalyze Emerging MarketsTM Index, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large CapTM Index, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Mid CapTM Index, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Small CapTM Index and Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large Cap Select DividendTM Index or any data included therein. The Corporations make no warranty, express or implied, as to results to be obtained by Licensee, owners of the products, or any other person or entity from the use of the Nasdaq Riskalyze Emerging MarketsTM Index, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large CapTM Index, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Mid CapTM Index, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Small CapTM Index and Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large Cap Select DividendTM Index 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 Riskalyze Emerging MarketsTM Index, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large CapTM Index, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Mid CapTM Index, Nasdaq Riskalyze US Small CapTM Index and Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large Cap Select DividendTM Index 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.
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 indices. The information presented for each Fund is for the period indicated.
"Average annual total returns" represent the average annual change in the value of an investment over the period indicated. “Cumulative total returns” represent the total change in value of an investment over the period indicated. The return information shown under “Annual Total Return” in 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 a 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 a Fund and the market return is based on the market price per share of a 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 a 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 a Fund at the time the Fund's net asset value is calculated. Prior to January 1, 2019, the price used was the midpoint between the highest bid and the lowest offer on the stock exchange on which shares of 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 the Fund's inception, for the period from inception to the first day of secondary market trading in shares of a Fund, the net asset value of a Fund is used as a proxy for the secondary market trading price to calculate market returns. Market and net asset value returns assume that all distributions have been reinvested in a 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 a 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
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a Fund. The investment return and principal value of shares of a Fund will vary with changes in market conditions. Shares of a 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.
Emerging Markets Equity Select ETF (RNEM)
Total Returns as of March 31, 2023 
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
Inception
(6/20/2017)
5 Years
Inception
(6/20/2017)
Fund Performance
Net Asset Value
-4.97%
-1.03%
1.25%
-5.06%
7.42%
Market Price
-5.34%
-1.25%
1.19%
-6.08%
7.06%
Index Performance
Nasdaq Riskalyze Emerging MarketsTM Index
-3.56%
1.00%
3.18%
5.08%
19.85%
Nasdaq Emerging Large Mid CapTM Index
-8.71%
0.16%
3.10%
0.78%
19.30%
MSCI Emerging Markets Index
-10.70%
-0.88%
2.12%
-4.32%
12.88%
 
Large Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNLC)
Total Returns as of March 31, 2023 
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
Inception
(6/20/2017)
5 Years
Inception
(6/20/2017)
Fund Performance
Net Asset Value
-5.57%
9.28%
9.70%
55.83%
70.70%
Market Price
-5.62%
9.26%
9.70%
55.68%
70.69%
Index Performance
Nasdaq Riskalyze US Large CapTM Index
-5.02%
9.96%
10.37%
60.75%
76.88%
Nasdaq US 500 Large CapTM Index
-8.29%
11.04%
11.34%
68.84%
86.01%
S&P 500® Index
-7.73%
11.19%
11.43%
69.94%
86.93%
 
Mid Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNMC)
Total Returns as of March 31, 2023 
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
Inception
(6/20/2017)
5 Years
Inception
(6/20/2017)
Fund Performance
Net Asset Value
-4.47%
7.09%
7.54%
40.87%
52.19%
Market Price
-4.48%
7.08%
7.53%
40.75%
52.13%
Index Performance
Nasdaq Riskalyze US Mid CapTM Index
-3.94%
7.74%
8.19%
45.20%
57.63%
Nasdaq US 600 Mid CapTM Index
-9.77%
6.73%
7.78%
38.46%
54.18%
S&P MidCap 400® Index
-5.12%
7.67%
8.20%
44.72%
57.70%
Russell 3000® Index
-8.58%
10.45%
10.81%
64.37%
81.00%
 
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Small Cap US Equity Select ETF (RNSC)
Total Returns as of March 31, 2023 
 
 
Average Annual
Cumulative
 
1 Year
5 Years
Inception
(6/20/2017)
5 Years
Inception
(6/20/2017)
Fund Performance
Net Asset Value
-6.28%
6.80%
7.15%
38.97%