First Trust Long/Short Equity ETF
$76.88−0.15 (−0.19%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.95%
- Fund size
- $2.6B
- 1Y return
- +11.1%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 0.86%
- Holdings
- 515
- Volume · 30D
- 0.1M sh
- NAV per share
- $77.08
- 52W range
The ETF.net FTLS Grade
Score 71 of 100 sits in the A 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.BScore 67Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.Not scoredRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.BScore 69Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.AScore 80Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.BScore 67Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 93Category rank
Our read on FTLS
AHedge-fund mechanics in an ETF wrapper: a long book of US stocks paired with a short book, and short proceeds never recycled into more longs. Live since 2014, it's one of the originals on the long/short shelf.
The Fund seeks its objective through long and short positions in equity securities, with portfolio exposure managed across long and short positions.
Why people hold it
- The short sleeve is a dial, not a fixture. Under normal conditions the portfolio runs 80-100% long and 0-50% short, and the manager can shrink the shorts or switch them off.mutualfunds.com
- No leverage baked in: short proceeds aren't used to buy more longs, so net long exposure stays at or below 100%, which can leave a sizable cash position.mutualfunds.com
- Trading since 2014 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, it's one of the older long/short ETFs on the market, with steady if unspectacular daily volume.
- Roughly 500 positions spread across the long and short books, so no single name drives the outcome. At least 80% of assets sit in US-listed equities or equity ETFs.money.usnews.com
Worth knowing
- Cost is the trade-off: 1.38% a year, well above the typical actively managed US equity ETF. Shorting carries stock-borrow and dividend expenses that long-only funds don't.
- Against the full active US equity field it lands in the lower half, largely on price: core rivals like DFAU (0.12%) and DFAC (0.17%) run long-only for a sliver of the fee.
- The short book cuts both ways by design: it gains when shorted names fall and loses when they rise, so results can diverge sharply from a plain long-only equity fund.mutualfunds.com
FTLS Holdings
- Stocks
- 515
- 65%
- US Dollar
Sectors
- Technology34.3%
- Financials14.9%
- Health Care13.0%
- Communication8.2%
- Energy5.7%
- Industrials5.3%
- Materials4.9%
- Cons. Staples4.7%
- Real Estate4.6%
- Consumer Discr.4.5%
Geography
- United States92.25%
- Canada2.52%
- Singapore2.36%
- Taiwan (Province of China)1.30%
- Switzerland0.50%
- Luxembourg0.38%
- Australia0.32%
- Israel0.15%
- 0.22%
FTLS 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 | FTLS |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +8.9% |
| 1 month | +1.4% |
| 3 months | +3.2% |
| 1 year | +11.1% |
| 3 years | +14.8% |
| 5 years | +10.7% |
| 10 years | +9.7% |
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 | FTLS |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +8.9% | |
| 2025 | +9.1% | |
| 2024 | +18.8% | |
| 2023 | +16.9% | |
| 2022 | −5.6% | |
| 2021 | +19.6% | |
| 2020 | +2.6% |
FTLS in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on FTLS yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
FTLS Dividends
- 0.86%
- $0.66
- $0.21 per share
- Quarterly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 25, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 | $0.21 |
| Mar 26, 2026 | Mar 31, 2026 | $0.06 |
| Dec 12, 2025 | Dec 31, 2025 | $0.21 |
| Sep 25, 2025 | Sep 30, 2025 | $0.18 |
| Jun 26, 2025 | Jun 30, 2025 | $0.22 |
| Mar 27, 2025 | Mar 31, 2025 | $0.15 |
| Dec 13, 2024 | Dec 31, 2024 | $0.29 |
| Sep 26, 2024 | Sep 30, 2024 | $0.26 |
| Jun 27, 2024 | Jun 28, 2024 | $0.31 |
| Mar 21, 2024 | Mar 28, 2024 | $0.13 |
| Dec 22, 2023 | Dec 29, 2023 | $0.30 |
| Sep 22, 2023 | Sep 29, 2023 | $0.21 |
FTLS Risk
- 7.1%
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.
- 1.25
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.
- −11.7%
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.
- 0.48
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
FTLS Cost
- The middle half of Alternative Strategies funds
- Median 1.00%
8 of the 29 Alternative Strategies funds charge less.