First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Emerging Markets ETF
$99.61+1.08 (+1.09%)
Market opens at 9:30 AM ET.
- Expense ratio
- 0.85%
- Fund size
- $84M
- 1Y return
- +32.1%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 2.54%
- Holdings
- 136
- Volume · 30D
- 0M sh
- NAV per share
- $98.44
- 52W range
The ETF.net RFEM Grade
Score 44 of 100 sits in the D 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.FScore 7Category 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.AScore 84Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.BScore 58Category 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.AScore 77Category rank
Our read on RFEM
DRiverFront runs this one: about 120 emerging-market stocks chosen on momentum, quality and value, with currency hedging allowed. Active EM since 2016, priced above most of its rivals.
The Fund seeks capital appreciation through an actively managed portfolio that invests at least 80% of assets in equity securities of emerging-market companies, including common stock, depositary receipts and REIT shares, with currency hedging permitted.
Why people hold it
- Currency hedging is permitted, so dollar exposure is a lever the manager can pull rather than a fixed setting baked into the fund.ftportfolios.com
- Momentum, quality and value get combined in one proprietary optimization instead of a single-factor tilt, and the mandate covers stocks, depositary receipts and REIT shares.
- Roughly 120 holdings, so this is a genuinely concentrated active book rather than an index clone with a higher price tag.
- Trading since 2016, which means a real live record through emerging-market ups and downs, not a backtest. Distributions come quarterly.
Worth knowing
- At 0.99% a year, the fee sits well above the 0.65% median for active EM funds, and above top-ranked peers like AVEM (0.33%) and DFEM (0.39%).
- Thinly traded compared with the giants of the category, so the spread between buy and sell prices is a bigger part of the cost picture here.
- Against its active emerging-markets peer group it lands in the lower half, with price the main thing holding it back rather than how the portfolio is built.
RFEM Holdings
- Stocks
- 136
- 38%
- 2330.TW
Sectors
- Technology36.2%
- Financials22.0%
- Consumer Discr.10.9%
- Industrials8.3%
- Energy6.7%
- Communication4.9%
- Materials3.8%
- Cons. Staples2.8%
- Health Care2.5%
- Utilities1.2%
- Real Estate0.6%
Geography
- Taiwan29.87%
- South Korea16.82%
- India11.79%
- China11.48%
- Hong Kong6.10%
- Brazil5.75%
- Turkey1.94%
- Israel1.74%
- 14.51%
Developed 8% · Emerging 92%
RFEM Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
RFEM$13,206
Returns run to the Sep 14, 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 | RFEM |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +24.8% |
| 1 month | +0.3% |
| 3 months | +4.1% |
| 1 year | +32.1% |
| 3 years | +24.6% |
| 5 years | +11.0% |
| 10 years | +9.4% |
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 | RFEM |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +24.8% | |
| 2025 | +27.7% | |
| 2024 | +10.8% | |
| 2023 | +20.8% | |
| 2022 | −19.0% | |
| 2021 | +0.9% | |
| 2020 | +8.2% |
RFEM in the news
RFEM Dividends
- 2.54%
- $2.48
- $1.12 per share
- Quarterly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 25, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 | $1.12 |
| Mar 26, 2026 | Mar 31, 2026 | $0.05 |
| Dec 12, 2025 | Dec 31, 2025 | $0.65 |
| Sep 25, 2025 | Sep 30, 2025 | $0.66 |
| Jun 26, 2025 | Jun 30, 2025 | $0.26 |
| Dec 13, 2024 | Dec 31, 2024 | $1.24 |
| Sep 26, 2024 | Sep 30, 2024 | $0.33 |
| Jun 27, 2024 | Jun 28, 2024 | $0.73 |
| Dec 22, 2023 | Dec 29, 2023 | $0.63 |
| Sep 22, 2023 | Sep 29, 2023 | $0.58 |
| Jun 27, 2023 | Jun 30, 2023 | $0.74 |
| Dec 23, 2022 | Dec 30, 2022 | $1.46 |
RFEM Risk
- 13.0%
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.
- 1.49
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.
- −31.3%
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.
- 0.89
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
RFEM Cost
- 0.85%