First Trust Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond ETF
$29.02−0.29 (−0.99%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.85%
- Fund size
- $387M
- 1Y return
- +4.9%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 6.34%
- Holdings
- 59
- Volume · 30D
- 0.1M sh
- NAV per share
- $29.18
- 52W range
The ETF.net FEMB Grade
Score 44 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 21Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 78Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.DScore 26Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.CScore 47Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.CScore 45Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.BScore 66Category rank
Our read on FEMB
CEmerging-market debt bought in the borrower's own money, not dollars, and picked by a manager rather than an index. At least 80% of assets sit in local-currency bonds, so the currency move counts alongside the coupon. Pays monthly.
The Fund seeks maximum total return and current income.
Why people hold it
- Actively managed, so the team chooses which countries, curves and currencies to own instead of inheriting an index weighting. First Trust has run it this way since 2014.ftportfolios.com
- The mandate is specific: at least 80% of assets in bonds, notes and bills from emerging-market issuers, denominated in the issuer's local currency. The FX exposure is the point, not a side effect.ftportfolios.com
- Stated goal is maximum total return and current income, and the fund distributes monthly rather than quarterly.
- For a corner of the market this specialized, it holds up on the plumbing: hundreds of millions in assets and steady day-to-day trading.
Worth knowing
- At 0.85% a year, it sits well above what a typical emerging-market ETF charges. Active management in local-currency debt is the reason, but the fee is a real headwind on income.
- Currency cuts both ways here. Local-currency bonds mean dollar strength can offset coupon income and dollar weakness can add to returns. Nothing is hedged away.ftportfolios.com
- Concentrated book of roughly 60 bonds, so individual country and currency calls carry weight, and there is no published index to measure the manager against.
FEMB Holdings
- Bonds
- 59
- 37%
- THAILAND GOVERNMENT BOND N/C, 3.39%, due 06/17/2037
FEMB 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 | FEMB |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +2.7% |
| 1 month | −1.4% |
| 3 months | +1.6% |
| 1 year | +4.9% |
| 3 years | +8.1% |
| 5 years | +3.3% |
| 10 years | +1.9% |
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 | FEMB |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +2.7% | |
| 2025 | +21.8% | |
| 2024 | −5.6% | |
| 2023 | +17.1% | |
| 2022 | −10.5% | |
| 2021 | −13.4% | |
| 2020 | +3.1% |
FEMB in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on FEMB yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
FEMB Dividends
- 6.34%
- $1.86
- $0.19 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 21, 2026 | Aug 31, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Jul 21, 2026 | Jul 31, 2026 | $0.17 |
| Jun 25, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 | $0.17 |
| May 21, 2026 | May 29, 2026 | $0.17 |
| Apr 21, 2026 | Apr 30, 2026 | $0.17 |
| Mar 26, 2026 | Mar 31, 2026 | $0.15 |
| Feb 20, 2026 | Feb 27, 2026 | $0.15 |
| Jan 21, 2026 | Jan 30, 2026 | $0.14 |
| Dec 12, 2025 | Dec 31, 2025 | $0.14 |
| Nov 21, 2025 | Nov 28, 2025 | $0.14 |
| Oct 21, 2025 | Oct 31, 2025 | $0.14 |
| Sep 25, 2025 | Sep 30, 2025 | $0.14 |
FEMB Risk
- 9.2%
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.
- 0.35
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.
- −23.1%
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.
- 1.27
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
FEMB Cost
- The middle half of Emerging Markets Bonds (Local Currency) funds
- Median 0.55%
5 of the 7 Emerging Markets Bonds (Local Currency) funds charge less.