First Trust Balanced Income ETF
$21.38−0.15 (−0.71%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.25%
- Fund size
- $25M
- 1Y return
- +8.9%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 7.70%
- Holdings
- 15
- Volume · 30D
- 0M sh
- NAV per share
- $21.53
- 52W range
The ETF.net FTBI Grade
Score 64 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.AScore 96Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.BScore 68Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.DScore 39Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.DScore 37Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.CScore 53Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.CScore 45Category rank
Our read on FTBI
BOne ticket, one wrapper. FTBI holds a Bloomberg index of other ETFs to build a moderate stock-and-bond mix tilted toward income, and it pays monthly. A 2025 First Trust launch doing the allocation homework in-house.
The Fund seeks to match the price and yield, before fees and expenses, of the Bloomberg Moderate Allocation Income Focus Index. It normally invests at least 80% of net assets in the ETFs comprising that Index.
Why people hold it
- A fund of funds: normally at least 80% of net assets sit in the ETFs making up the Bloomberg Moderate Allocation Income Focus Index. One buy, a whole multi-asset sleeve.ftportfolios.com
- The mix follows a published Bloomberg index rather than a manager's judgment call, so the stock, bond and income tilts are rules-based and disclosed.
- Distributions land monthly, matching the rhythm income-focused holders usually want from a balanced portfolio.
- Standard 1940 Act ETF structure: 1099 tax reporting, no partnership K-1 paperwork.
Worth knowing
- At 0.97%, the fee runs above the typical allocation fund and well above index-driven income peers like INCM at 0.38%. Packaging convenience has a price here.
- Launched in 2025 with a small asset base and light trading. Use limit orders, and know the live track record is still short.
- Moderate allocation means moderate on both ends: the bond and income sleeves damp the ride relative to an all-equity fund, in either direction.
FTBI Holdings
- Other
- 15
- 79%
- FTHI
Geography
- United States100.00%
FTBI 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 | FTBI |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +6.7% |
| 1 month | −1.1% |
| 3 months | +0.5% |
| 1 year | +8.9% |
| 3 years | — |
| 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 | FTBI |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +6.7% | |
| 2025 | +11.1% |
FTBI in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on FTBI yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
FTBI Dividends
- 7.70%
- $1.66
- $0.14 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 21, 2026 | Aug 31, 2026 | $0.14 |
| Jul 21, 2026 | Jul 31, 2026 | $0.14 |
| Jun 25, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 | $0.14 |
| May 21, 2026 | May 29, 2026 | $0.14 |
| Apr 21, 2026 | Apr 30, 2026 | $0.14 |
| Mar 26, 2026 | Mar 31, 2026 | $0.14 |
| Feb 20, 2026 | Feb 27, 2026 | $0.15 |
| Jan 21, 2026 | Jan 30, 2026 | $0.15 |
| Dec 12, 2025 | Dec 31, 2025 | $0.14 |
| Nov 21, 2025 | Nov 28, 2025 | $0.13 |
| Oct 21, 2025 | Oct 31, 2025 | $0.13 |
| Sep 25, 2025 | Sep 30, 2025 | $0.12 |
FTBI Risk
- 6.1%
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.
- 1.70
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.
- −5.3%
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.
- 0.44
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
FTBI Cost
- The middle half of Multi-Asset Income funds
- Median 0.65%
No Multi-Asset Income fund charges less.