First Trust Smith Unconstrained Bond ETF
$24.16−0.18 (−0.76%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.86%
- Fund size
- $3.3B
- 1Y return
- +1.0%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 4.78%
- Holdings
- 442
- Volume · 30D
- 0.5M sh
- NAV per share
- $24.33
- 52W range
The ETF.net UCON Grade
Score 55 of 100 sits in the C 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 3Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 95Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.AScore 78Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.BScore 55Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.BScore 69Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 80Category rank
Our read on UCON
CA bond fund with no index to hug. UCON's mandate keeps at least 80% in fixed income and leaves the rest of the map open, spreading roughly a thousand positions across the bond market and paying out monthly.
The fund seeks to maximize long-term total return and normally invests at least 80% of its net assets in fixed-income securities.
Why people hold it
- No benchmark leash. The mandate requires at least 80% in fixed income and otherwise lets the manager roam sectors, credit tiers and maturities in pursuit of long-term total return.ftportfolios.com
- Roughly a thousand bond positions, so no single issuer's stumble dominates the portfolio.
- Cash lands monthly, and this is a multi-billion-dollar, actively traded fund rather than a thin newcomer nobody quotes.
- Trading since 2018, so the strategy has been run through both the zero-rate era and the hiking cycle that ended it.
Worth knowing
- 0.86% a year is active-manager pricing. Index aggregate trackers in the same aisle, like BND and SPAB, charge 0.03%.
- Unconstrained also means unbenchmarked. The portfolio can look nothing like a core bond index, so it moves on its own schedule.
- The mix reflects a manager's judgment, not an index rulebook, so what you own can shift as their view of rates and credit shifts.
UCON Holdings
- Bonds
- 442
- 19%
- U.S. Treasury Note, 4.625%, due 08/15/2036
Sectors
- Utilities61.5%
- Financials38.5%
Geography
- United States92.83%
- Canada2.78%
- Cayman Islands0.72%
- United Kingdom0.63%
- Switzerland0.59%
- Saudi Arabia0.58%
- Ireland0.57%
- Bermuda0.42%
- 0.88%
UCON 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 | UCON |
|---|---|
| Year to date | −0.3% |
| 1 month | −0.9% |
| 3 months | −1.1% |
| 1 year | +1.0% |
| 3 years | +5.2% |
| 5 years | +2.5% |
| 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 | UCON |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | −0.3% | |
| 2025 | +7.0% | |
| 2024 | +4.7% | |
| 2023 | +7.7% | |
| 2022 | −5.7% | |
| 2021 | +1.0% | |
| 2020 | +6.5% |
UCON in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on UCON yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
UCON Dividends
- 4.78%
- $1.16
- $0.10 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 21, 2026 | Aug 31, 2026 | $0.10 |
| Jul 21, 2026 | Jul 31, 2026 | $0.10 |
| Jun 25, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 | $0.10 |
| May 21, 2026 | May 29, 2026 | $0.10 |
| Apr 21, 2026 | Apr 30, 2026 | $0.09 |
| Mar 26, 2026 | Mar 31, 2026 | $0.09 |
| Feb 20, 2026 | Feb 27, 2026 | $0.09 |
| Jan 21, 2026 | Jan 30, 2026 | $0.09 |
| Dec 12, 2025 | Dec 31, 2025 | $0.11 |
| Nov 21, 2025 | Nov 28, 2025 | $0.11 |
| Oct 21, 2025 | Oct 31, 2025 | $0.11 |
| Sep 25, 2025 | Sep 30, 2025 | $0.10 |
UCON Risk
- 3.5%
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.
- 0.22
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.
- −9.6%
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.
- 0.59
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
UCON Cost
- The middle half of US Aggregate Bond funds
- Median 0.34%
109 of the 112 US Aggregate Bond funds charge less.