First Trust Large Cap Core AlphaDEX Fund
$136.29+0.27 (+0.20%)
- 0.57%
- $1.6B
- +20.7%
- 1.01%
- 0M sh
- $136.17
- low $111.75high $142.60
The ETF.net FEX Grade
B
Score 60 out of 100
- 15 of 29
Score 60 of 100 falls in the B band. A is 70 or higher, B 55 to under 70, C 40 to under 55, D 25 to under 40, F under 25.
Cost
The fund’s net expense ratio, ranked against its category.F18 out of 100Rank 24 of 29Mission
Whether the fund did what it promised, tested against its stated mandate.A88 out of 100Rank 14 of 22Risk
How the fund held up when markets fell: downside volatility, drawdowns and tail loss.C51 out of 100Rank 12 of 29Tradability
How easy the fund is to trade: daily volume, and how far its price strays from net asset value.A81 out of 100Rank 4 of 29Holdings
How concentrated the fund is, and how complete and current its disclosed holdings are.A88 out of 100Rank 1 of 28Durability
Whether the fund is likely to stay open, judged by its age, its assets and its issuer’s assets.A81 out of 100Rank 7 of 29
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
- 376
- 5%
- PTC
Sectors
- Technology21.4%
- Industrials16.0%
- Financials14.2%
- Health Care10.4%
- Consumer Discretionary7.9%
- Energy7.5%
- Utilities6.7%
- Consumer Staples5.1%
- Communication4.2%
- Real Estate3.7%
- Materials2.9%
Geography
- United States95.12%
- Ireland2.65%
- Switzerland1.13%
- Bermuda0.45%
- Singapore0.29%
- Cayman Islands0.19%
- Netherlands0.09%
- 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.
FEX$12,071
Returns run to the Oct 12, 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 | +15.5% |
| 1 month | +0.1% |
| 3 months | −0.4% |
| 1 year | +20.7% |
| 3 years | +20.2% |
| 5 years | +10.9% |
| 10 years | +12.9% |
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 | FEX |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +15.5% | |
| 2025 | +15.1% | |
| 2024 | +17.1% | |
| 2023 | +14.3% | |
| 2022 | −11.9% | |
| 2021 | +26.8% | |
| 2020 | +14.3% |
FEX in the news
FEX Dividends
- 1.01%
- $1.38
- $0.41 per share
- Quarterly
Distribution history
FEX Risk
- 13.4%
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.
- 1.05
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
0.57%
FEX0.57%
- The middle half of US Large-Cap funds
- Median 0.20%
22 of the 28 US Large-Cap funds charge less.
Other funds in US Large-Cap
- BXLGInvesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETFExpense ratio 0.20%1 year return +15.4%
- BXOEFiShares S&P 500 ex S&P 100 ETFExpense ratio 0.20%1 year return +20.2%
- BXMAGLarge Cap Ex-Mag 7 ETFExpense ratio 0.35%1 year return +19.2%
- BDSPYTema S&P 500 Historical Weight ETF StrategyExpense ratio 0.18%1 year return +20.8%
- CBLUCBluemonte Large Cap Core ETFExpense ratio 0.28%1 year return +19.1%