First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF
$43.00−0.36 (−0.83%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.10%
- Fund size
- $100M
- 1Y return
- +0.5%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 5.18%
- Holdings
- 11
- Volume · 30D
- 0M sh
- NAV per share
- $43.34
- 52W range
The ETF.net HISF Grade
Score 69 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 100Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.BScore 56Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.CScore 46Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.AScore 70Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.CScore 43Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 78Category rank
Our read on HISF
BAn income-first fund that ranks risk-adjusted income above raw yield, with capital appreciation as the second job. Trading since 2014, paying monthly, built on fixed income, and charging 0.83% for the active work.
The Fund seeks risk-adjusted income as its primary objective and capital appreciation secondarily.
Why people hold it
- Pays monthly, so income arrives on a schedule closer to the one your expenses run on.
- The mandate is explicit: risk-adjusted income first, capital appreciation second. That ordering tells you what gets priority when the two pull against each other.
- Live since 2014, so there is a real operating history across very different rate regimes behind it, not a backtest.
- Fixed income does the heavy lifting here, an income-built portfolio sitting in a peer group dominated by stock-and-bond allocation funds.
Worth knowing
- At 0.83% a year, it runs above the typical expense ratio in its multi-asset peer group. Active income selection is what that premium buys.
- Cheaper allocation options share the peer group: AOA at 0.19%, IRTR at 0.08%. Neither is built around an income-first mandate.
- It trades thinly for its category, so limit orders and a look at the spread matter more here than with the household names.
HISF Holdings
- Other
- 11
- 95%
- FTCB
Geography
- United States100.00%
HISF 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 | HISF |
|---|---|
| Year to date | −0.9% |
| 1 month | −1.0% |
| 3 months | −1.1% |
| 1 year | +0.5% |
| 3 years | +5.0% |
| 5 years | +1.7% |
| 10 years | +2.7% |
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 | HISF |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | −0.9% | |
| 2025 | +8.4% | |
| 2024 | +2.2% | |
| 2023 | +6.4% | |
| 2022 | −10.0% | |
| 2021 | +10.2% | |
| 2020 | −2.8% |
HISF in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on HISF yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
HISF Dividends
- 5.18%
- $2.25
- $0.18 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 21, 2026 | Aug 31, 2026 | $0.18 |
| Jul 21, 2026 | Jul 31, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Jun 25, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 | $0.19 |
| May 21, 2026 | May 29, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Apr 21, 2026 | Apr 30, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Mar 26, 2026 | Mar 31, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Feb 20, 2026 | Feb 27, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Jan 21, 2026 | Jan 30, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Dec 12, 2025 | Dec 31, 2025 | $0.19 |
| Nov 21, 2025 | Nov 28, 2025 | $0.18 |
| Oct 21, 2025 | Oct 31, 2025 | $0.18 |
| Sep 25, 2025 | Sep 30, 2025 | $0.18 |
HISF Risk
- 5.0%
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.
- 0.08
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.
- −13.2%
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.
- 0.88
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
HISF Cost
- The middle half of Multi-Sector Bond Income funds
- Median 0.55%
No Multi-Sector Bond Income fund charges less.