First Trust SSI Strategic Convertible Securities ETF
$49.40−0.48 (−0.96%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.95%
- Fund size
- $105M
- 1Y return
- +17.2%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 1.11%
- Holdings
- 134
- Volume · 30D
- 0M sh
- NAV per share
- $49.84
- 52W range
The ETF.net FCVT Grade
Score 54 of 100 sits in the C 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 20Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 100Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.CScore 40Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.CScore 51Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.BScore 65Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.BScore 67Category rank
Our read on FCVT
CConvertibles are a hybrid, quirky corner of the bond market, and this one hands the keys to a Los Angeles boutique that specializes in them. Active, global, no index to hug since 2015. Specialist judgment is the whole pitch, and you pay up for it.
The fund is actively managed and seeks total return by investing at least 80% of net assets in a diversified portfolio of U.S. and non-U.S. convertible securities under normal market conditions.
Why people hold it
- No index to follow. First Trust farms security selection out to SSI Investment Management, a Los Angeles firm built around convertible assets, equities and hedging strategies.sec.gov
- Global by mandate: at least 80% of net assets in U.S. and non-U.S. convertible securities, with total return as the stated objective rather than income alone.ftportfolios.com
- The prospectus also permits synthetic convertibles (an income piece plus a conversion component), so the manager can build hybrid exposure where no traditional convertible exists.ftportfolios.com
- Live since 2015 with a diversified book of roughly 130 positions and monthly distributions.
Worth knowing
- That specialist team costs 0.95% a year, above the convertibles group median and several times index rivals ICVT (0.20%) and CWB (0.40%).
- Thinly traded next to the category's index heavyweights, which tends to mean wider spreads and more care needed on sizable orders.
- Convertibles track their underlying stocks, so this behaves more like equity risk than a plain bond fund, and synthetic positions add counterparty exposure.ftportfolios.com
FCVT Holdings
- Bonds
- 134
- 21%
- NEBIUS GROUP NV Convertible, 1.25%, due 03/15/2031
Sectors
- Technology35.5%
- Financials33.1%
- Health Care14.5%
- Utilities10.9%
- Industrials6.1%
Geography
- United States87.49%
- Netherlands7.00%
- Australia1.64%
- Bermuda0.98%
- United Kingdom0.85%
- Singapore0.60%
- Hong Kong0.57%
- Canada0.52%
- 0.36%
FCVT 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 | FCVT |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +16.8% |
| 1 month | −0.2% |
| 3 months | −8.5% |
| 1 year | +17.2% |
| 3 years | +19.2% |
| 5 years | +5.4% |
| 10 years | +10.9% |
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 | FCVT |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +16.8% | |
| 2025 | +19.6% | |
| 2024 | +11.9% | |
| 2023 | +7.1% | |
| 2022 | −20.9% | |
| 2021 | +4.1% | |
| 2020 | +51.0% |
FCVT in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on FCVT yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
FCVT Dividends
- 1.11%
- $0.55
- $0.05 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 21, 2026 | Aug 31, 2026 | $0.05 |
| Jul 21, 2026 | Jul 31, 2026 | $0.05 |
| Jun 25, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 | $0.05 |
| May 21, 2026 | May 29, 2026 | $0.05 |
| Apr 21, 2026 | Apr 30, 2026 | $0.05 |
| Mar 26, 2026 | Mar 31, 2026 | $0.05 |
| Feb 20, 2026 | Feb 27, 2026 | $0.05 |
| Jan 21, 2026 | Jan 30, 2026 | $0.05 |
| Dec 12, 2025 | Dec 31, 2025 | $0.05 |
| Nov 21, 2025 | Nov 28, 2025 | $0.05 |
| Oct 21, 2025 | Oct 31, 2025 | $0.05 |
| Sep 25, 2025 | Sep 30, 2025 | $0.05 |
FCVT Risk
- 15.1%
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.
- 0.83
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.
- −30.5%
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.
FCVT Cost
- The middle half of Convertible Bond funds
- Median 0.80%
5 of the 7 Convertible Bond funds charge less.