Deep Dive
Financials drop 2.4% after the Fed's first hike since 2023 and a Bank of America fee warning
Global X - Variable Rate Preferred ETF
$21.51+0.06 (+0.26%)
- 0.25%
- $335M
- +1.4%
- 8.26%
- 0.1M sh
- $21.52
- low $21.44high $23.11
The ETF.net PFFV Grade
B
Score 69 out of 100
- 3 of 31
Score 69 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.A93 out of 100Rank 3 of 31Mission
Whether the fund did what it promised, tested against its stated mandate.B61 out of 100Rank 14 of 26Risk
How the fund held up when markets fell: downside volatility, drawdowns and tail loss.B63 out of 100Rank 11 of 31Tradability
How easy the fund is to trade: daily volume, and how far its price strays from net asset value.B69 out of 100Rank 11 of 31Holdings
How concentrated the fund is, and how complete and current its disclosed holdings are.D35 out of 100Rank 26 of 29Durability
Whether the fund is likely to stay open, judged by its age, its assets and its issuer’s assets.B63 out of 100Rank 13 of 31
Our read on PFFV
BMost preferred funds hand you a fixed coupon and a lot of rate sensitivity. PFFV screens for variable-rate preferreds only, so coupons reset off short-term benchmarks instead of standing still, at 0.25% a year with monthly payouts.
The fund seeks to provide investment results generally corresponding to the price and yield performance of the ICE U.S. Variable Rate Preferred Securities Index before fees and expenses.
Why people hold it
- Costs 0.25% a year, about half the typical preferred ETF fee and a fraction of what an actively run peer like FPE charges (0.83%).
- The whole point: an index of variable-rate preferreds, whose coupons reset off short-term benchmarks rather than locking in for the life of the security.
- Passive and plain-vanilla. Roughly 60 US preferred issues picked by published index rules, with income paid out monthly.
- Stacks up as one of the stronger builds in a crowded preferred-ETF field, mostly on cost and a clean, rules-based mandate.
Worth knowing
- Preferred issuance skews to banks and insurers, so this is concentrated financials credit in bond clothing, spread across only about 60 positions.
- Resets cut both ways. The same floating mechanism that lifts coupons when short-term rates climb also drags them down when rates fall.
- Moderately traded and mid-sized rather than a heavyweight, so bid-ask spreads matter more here than in the largest preferred funds.
PFFV Holdings
- Bonds
- 58
- 31%
- Ms 4.71453 Perp (B1802M4)
Sectors
- Utilities100.0%
Geography
- United States98.09%
- Canada1.91%
PFFV Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Not enough history yet.
PFFV$10,145
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 | PFFV |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +1.9% |
| 1 month | −1.1% |
| 3 months | −0.6% |
| 1 year | +1.4% |
| 3 years | +6.8% |
| 5 years | +1.9% |
| 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 | PFFV |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +1.9% | |
| 2025 | +2.1% | |
| 2024 | +9.4% | |
| 2023 | +10.7% | |
| 2022 | −13.8% | |
| 2021 | +6.4% | |
| 2020 | +13.6% |
PFFV in the news
PFFV Dividends
- 8.26%
- $1.77
- $0.13 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
PFFV Risk
- 5.7%
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.
- 0.27
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.
- −18.9%
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.
- 0.42
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
PFFV Cost
0.25%
PFFV0.25%
- The middle half of Preferred Securities funds
- Median 0.50%
2 of the 31 Preferred Securities funds charge less.
Other funds in Preferred Securities
- APFFDGlobal X - U.S. Preferred ETFExpense ratio 0.23%1 year return −3.4%
- APFFiShares Preferred and Income Securities ETFExpense ratio 0.45%1 year return −1.1%
- BEVPFEaton Vance Preferred Securities and Income ETFExpense ratio 0.20%1 year return —
- BPSKState Street SPDR ICE Preferred Securities ETFExpense ratio 0.45%1 year return −8.4%
- BVRPInvesco Variable Rate Preferred ETFExpense ratio 0.50%1 year return +2.1%