First Trust Low Duration Strategic Focus ETF
$18.59−0.09 (−0.49%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.10%
- Fund size
- $163M
- 1Y return
- +2.1%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 4.73%
- Holdings
- 9
- Volume · 30D
- 0M sh
- NAV per share
- $18.68
- 52W range
The ETF.net LDSF Grade
Score 65 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 82Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.BScore 60Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.AScore 81Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.CScore 53Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.DScore 29Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.BScore 60Category rank
Our read on LDSF
BNot a bond portfolio so much as a basket of bond ETFs. LDSF holds other U.S.-listed income funds and keeps effective duration to three years or less, actively allocated against a blended benchmark, with cash paid out monthly.
The Fund seeks current income and secondarily preservation of capital. It normally invests at least 80% of net assets in U.S.-listed ETFs principally investing in income-generating securities with effective portfolio duration of three years or less.
Why people hold it
- Short-duration by mandate: at least 80% of net assets sits in income ETFs with effective duration of three years or less, the end of the curve where rate swings bite least.
- One ticket, active allocation. A manager moves among income sleeves instead of tracking a single index, with current income first and capital preservation second.
- Distributions land monthly, not quarterly.
- Live since 2019, so its record covers the 2022 bond rout rather than a backtest.
Worth knowing
- At 0.77% a year, the fee is steep for fixed income. Core bond rivals like BND, SPAB and SCHZ charge a small fraction of it.
- Thinly traded and modest in size, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than at the category's household names.
- The yardstick is a blended benchmark, not a standard bond index, so comparing it to a plain aggregate fund takes extra work.
LDSF Holdings
- Bonds
- 9
- 100%
- LMBS
Sectors
- Health Care100.0%
Geography
- United States100.00%
LDSF 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 | LDSF |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +0.6% |
| 1 month | −0.7% |
| 3 months | −0.2% |
| 1 year | +2.1% |
| 3 years | +5.2% |
| 5 years | +2.3% |
| 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 | LDSF |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +0.6% | |
| 2025 | +6.8% | |
| 2024 | +4.2% | |
| 2023 | +6.6% | |
| 2022 | −5.5% | |
| 2021 | −0.3% | |
| 2020 | +2.5% |
LDSF in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on LDSF yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
LDSF Dividends
- 4.73%
- $0.88
- $0.08 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 21, 2026 | Aug 31, 2026 | $0.08 |
| Jul 21, 2026 | Jul 31, 2026 | $0.07 |
| Jun 25, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 | $0.07 |
| May 21, 2026 | May 29, 2026 | $0.07 |
| Apr 21, 2026 | Apr 30, 2026 | $0.07 |
| Mar 26, 2026 | Mar 31, 2026 | $0.07 |
| Feb 20, 2026 | Feb 27, 2026 | $0.07 |
| Jan 21, 2026 | Jan 30, 2026 | $0.07 |
| Dec 12, 2025 | Dec 31, 2025 | $0.07 |
| Nov 21, 2025 | Nov 28, 2025 | $0.07 |
| Oct 21, 2025 | Oct 31, 2025 | $0.07 |
| Sep 25, 2025 | Sep 30, 2025 | $0.07 |
LDSF Risk
- 2.7%
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.
- 0.24
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.
- −7.8%
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.
- 0.47
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
LDSF Cost
- The middle half of US Aggregate Bond funds
- Median 0.34%
17 of the 112 US Aggregate Bond funds charge less.