First Trust Large Cap Core AlphaDEX Fund
$134.62−0.73 (−0.54%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.57%
- Fund size
- $1.6B
- 1Y return
- +17.0%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 0.96%
- Holdings
- 375
- Volume · 30D
- 0M sh
- NAV per share
- $135.39
- 52W range
The ETF.net FEX Grade
Score 59 of 100 sits in the B 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 18Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 89Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.CScore 52Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.AScore 77Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.AScore 88Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 81Category rank
Our read on FEX
BSmart beta before anyone called it that. Since 2007, FEX has ranked the 500 biggest US stocks on growth and value metrics, kept the top 375, and weighted them by rank instead of size. An index fund that refuses to just be the market.
The fund seeks to generally match, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Nasdaq AlphaDEX Large Cap Core Index. It normally invests at least 90% of net assets in index securities and uses an indexing approach to replicate the index.
Why people hold it
- Weighting by rank, not size: the top scorers are split into quintiles and equal-weighted inside each, so the largest companies don't automatically run the portfolio.sec.gov
- Trading since May 2007, it predates most of the factor-ETF boom and has grown into a multi-billion-dollar fund, rebuilt on the same quarterly schedule throughout.sec.gov
- Roughly 400 large-cap names, with the tiered weighting keeping individual positions small rather than letting a handful of giants set the tone.sec.gov
Worth knowing
- At 0.57% it runs well above the roughly 0.20% typical for large-cap core, and plain cap-weighted rivals like SCHX (0.03%) and VONE (0.06%) charge a sliver of that.
- Rebuilding the portfolio every quarter creates real turnover, which can mean more taxable gains in a brokerage account than a buy-and-hold index fund.sec.gov
- It trades thinly next to the household-name index funds in the category, so bid-ask spreads carry more weight on bigger orders.
FEX Holdings
- Stocks
- 375
- 6%
- CTSH
Sectors
- Technology20.0%
- Industrials16.0%
- Financials14.7%
- Health Care10.0%
- Consumer Discr.8.1%
- Energy7.7%
- Utilities6.9%
- Cons. Staples5.3%
- Communication4.4%
- Real Estate4.0%
- Materials2.9%
Geography
- United States94.88%
- Ireland2.55%
- Switzerland1.18%
- Bermuda0.45%
- Singapore0.41%
- Cayman Islands0.29%
- Netherlands0.15%
- United Kingdom0.08%
FEX 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 | FEX |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +14.6% |
| 1 month | −3.2% |
| 3 months | −2.6% |
| 1 year | +17.0% |
| 3 years | +19.8% |
| 5 years | +10.6% |
| 10 years | +12.6% |
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 | FEX |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +14.6% | |
| 2025 | +15.1% | |
| 2024 | +17.1% | |
| 2023 | +14.3% | |
| 2022 | −11.9% | |
| 2021 | +26.8% | |
| 2020 | +14.3% |
FEX in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on FEX yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
FEX Dividends
- 0.96%
- $1.29
- $0.27 per share
- Quarterly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 25, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 | $0.27 |
| Mar 26, 2026 | Mar 31, 2026 | $0.29 |
| Dec 12, 2025 | Dec 31, 2025 | $0.41 |
| Sep 25, 2025 | Sep 30, 2025 | $0.32 |
| Jun 26, 2025 | Jun 30, 2025 | $0.27 |
| Mar 27, 2025 | Mar 31, 2025 | $0.30 |
| Dec 13, 2024 | Dec 31, 2024 | $0.42 |
| Sep 26, 2024 | Sep 30, 2024 | $0.35 |
| Jun 27, 2024 | Jun 28, 2024 | $0.26 |
| Mar 21, 2024 | Mar 28, 2024 | $0.21 |
| Dec 22, 2023 | Dec 29, 2023 | $0.40 |
| Sep 22, 2023 | Sep 29, 2023 | $0.30 |
FEX Risk
- 13.5%
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.
- 1.03
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.
- −21.3%
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.
- 0.95
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
FEX Cost
- The middle half of US Large-Cap funds
- Median 0.20%
22 of the 28 US Large-Cap funds charge less.