First Trust Bloomberg Emerging Market Democracies ETF
$42.79−1.03 (−2.35%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.75%
- Fund size
- $40M
- 1Y return
- +61.2%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 2.69%
- Holdings
- 100
- Volume · 30D
- 0M sh
- NAV per share
- $42.24
- 52W range
The ETF.net EMDM Grade
Score 30 of 100 sits in the D band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.FScore 12Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.Not scoredRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.BScore 61Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.DScore 34Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.DScore 30Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.CScore 42Category rank
Our read on EMDM
DMost emerging-market funds sort companies by size. EMDM screens countries first: only markets clearing an electoral-democracy bar are eligible, and roughly 110 large and mid caps come from the survivors.
The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg Emerging Market Democracies Index. It normally invests at least 80% of net assets in securities comprising that Index and uses a replication strategy.
Why people hold it
- The filter runs at the country level, before any stock selection. Markets that fail the electoral-democracy test are out, so the country map looks nothing like a standard EM index.ftportfolios.com
- Ordinary plumbing under the theme: a 1940 Act ETF that replicates its Bloomberg index with at least 80% of net assets, holds roughly 110 stocks, and pays quarterly.
- The politics are outsourced to a published rulebook, not to a manager's read of the headlines. First Trust has tracked the index since the 2023 launch.
Worth knowing
- Cost is the sticking point: 0.75% a year, versus a 0.49% median across its emerging-market peer group and single-digit basis points at VEXC (0.07%) or XCEM (0.16%).
- A small, thinly traded fund. Spreads can run wider than in the giant EM trackers, so the order type you use matters more here.
- Screening out non-democracies removes several of the largest markets in the EM universe, so results can diverge widely from a standard emerging-market benchmark in either direction.ftportfolios.com
EMDM Holdings
- Stocks
- 100
- 46%
- 2330.TW
Sectors
- Technology38.8%
- Financials25.8%
- Materials15.4%
- Energy6.4%
- Communication5.7%
- Cons. Staples3.0%
- Industrials2.3%
- Utilities1.5%
- Consumer Discr.0.9%
- Health Care0.2%
Geography
- South Korea21.47%
- Taiwan17.99%
- India12.51%
- Brazil12.03%
- Mexico10.25%
- South Africa10.17%
- Poland5.00%
- United States3.43%
- 7.15%
Developed 0% · Emerging 100%
EMDM Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | EMDM |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +40.4% |
| 1 month | +3.5% |
| 3 months | −2.1% |
| 1 year | +61.2% |
| 3 years | +34.2% |
| 5 years | — |
| 10 years | — |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | EMDM |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +40.4% | |
| 2025 | +59.8% | |
| 2024 | −5.0% | |
| 2023 | +14.2% |
EMDM in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on EMDM yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
EMDM Dividends
- 2.69%
- $1.18
- $0.18 per share
- Twice a year
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 25, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 | $0.18 |
| Dec 12, 2025 | Dec 31, 2025 | $0.80 |
| Sep 25, 2025 | Sep 30, 2025 | $0.20 |
| Jun 26, 2025 | Jun 30, 2025 | $0.12 |
| Dec 13, 2024 | Dec 31, 2024 | $0.85 |
| Sep 26, 2024 | Sep 30, 2024 | $0.16 |
| Jun 27, 2024 | Jun 28, 2024 | $0.18 |
| Mar 21, 2024 | Mar 28, 2024 | $0.02 |
| Dec 22, 2023 | Dec 29, 2023 | $0.16 |
| Sep 22, 2023 | Sep 29, 2023 | $0.10 |
| Jun 27, 2023 | Jun 30, 2023 | $0.23 |
EMDM Risk
- 19.9%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 1.26
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −18.9%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 1.25
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
EMDM Cost
- The middle half of Emerging Markets Stocks funds
- Median 0.56%
17 of the 21 Emerging Markets Stocks funds charge less.