ACYN vs KNG: Grades, Fees and Holdings Compared

FT Vest Laddered Autocallable Barrier & Income ETF

ACYNBNYSE Arca

FT Cboe Vest S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Target Income ETF

KNGACboe

Overlap

0.3%by weight

Expense ratio

KNG −0.01pt a year

ACYN0.75%KNG0.74%

Avg volume · 30D

ACYN 6.8×the volume

ACYN2.1MKNG311K

ACYN vs KNG Performance

Jul 31, 2026 – Oct 28, 2026

+3.1%ACYN+1.9%KNG

Expense ratio: ACYN 0.75%; KNG 0.74%, better
Fund size: ACYN $2.62B; KNG $3.41B
1Y total return: ACYN No data; KNG +16.3%
Yield (12M): ACYN No data; KNG 8.16%
Holdings: ACYN 8; KNG 70
Avg volume (30D): ACYN 2.1M sh, better; KNG 311K sh
NAV per share: ACYN $20.61; KNG $51.65
52W range

ETF.net Grade

ACYN as of Oct 28, 2026

Pillar letters and Scores for ACYN, KNG, with each pillar’s weight
Pillar	ACYN	KNG
Cost30% weight	C54	B63Higher
Mission25% weight	Not scored	Not scored
Risk15% weight	A96Higher	B67
Tradability15% weight	B60	A92Higher
Holdings10% weight	Not scored	A81
Durability5% weight	A74	A96Higher

Rank among Index Option Income funds

How we build Categories ›

Same Category. ACYN and KNG are both graded against the same 25 Index Option Income funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

Index Option Income⁠

Category · 25 funds

See all 25 ›

KNG ranks 3rd and ACYN 6th of 25 funds in the Index Option Income Category.

Rank 1ALQDWiShares Investment Grade Corporate Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETFScore 87
Rank 2AEFAAInvesco MSCI EAFE Income Advantage ETFScore 78
Rank 3AKNGFT Cboe Vest S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Target Income ETFScore 73
Rank 4BIDUBAptus International Enhanced Yield ETFScore 68
Rank 5BLQTIFT Vest Investment Grade & Target Income ETFScore 67
Rank 6BACYNFT Vest Laddered Autocallable Barrier & Income ETFScore 66
Rank 6BHYTIFT Vest High Yield & Target Income ETFScore 66

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

ACYNBFT Vest Laddered Autocallable Barrier & Income ETF

KNGAFT Cboe Vest S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Target Income ETF

In short

ACYN Structured-note math in an ETF wrapper. ACYN ladders synthetic autocallable contracts across staggered maturities, observation dates and barrier levels on broad index baskets, seeking distributions while limiting downside market volatility.

KNG Dividend Aristocrats with an income motor bolted on. KNG equal-weights the S&P 500's 25-year dividend raisers, then sells calls on each stock, sized by rule to hit an income target above the index's yield. Monthly payer since 2018.

Stated mandate

ACYN The Fund seeks to provide distributions while limiting downside market volatility. It pursues this objective through swaps and similarly structured options designed to replicate a laddered portfolio of synthetic autocallable yield-note contracts.

KNG The Fund seeks to track the price and yield of the Cboe S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Target Income Index Monthly Series before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

ACYN The ladder is the whole idea: contracts staggered across maturities, observation dates and barrier levels, so no single call date or barrier level decides the outcome.
Fee sits at 0.75%, right at the median for its options-income cohort, and the shares trade actively, so the wrapper itself is not the friction.
Pays quarterly, and the exposure is referenced to broad-based indices or the ETFs that track them rather than to individual stocks.
Run by First Trust's Vest options desk, it is already a billion-dollar-plus fund and stands in the upper tier of a crowded 41-fund options-income group.

KNG Base portfolio is the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats: roughly 140 companies that have raised dividends for at least 25 straight years, held equal-weighted instead of by market cap.cboe.com
The overlay is written stock by stock, not as one index-level call, and the call count floats by rule to chase an income target set against the S&P 500's dividend yield.sec.gov cboe.com
Calls cover only part of each position, so a slice of every holding stays uncapped. Income lands monthly.sec.gov
Running since 2018, well before the covered-call crowd showed up, and one of the stronger implementations in its peer group.

Worth knowing

ACYN Downside is limited, not removed. The stated aim is to soften market volatility, not to protect principal, and barriers can be breached.
It launched in 2026, so live history is thin and there is little record of how the ladder behaves through a full drawdown.
At 0.75% it costs more than plainer overlay funds in the same cohort, such as LQDW at 0.34% and IDUB at 0.44%.

KNG Calls cap the upside on the covered portion of each stock, so in a fast rally those shares can lag the Aristocrats the fund holds outright.sec.gov
Coverage floats with option pricing, so how much of the portfolio is written against (and how much upside stays open) shifts over time.cboe.com sec.gov
Distributions can include return of capital, which trims your cost basis. At 0.74%, the fee sits about level with the 0.75% cohort median, and it prices like an options strategy.

Full ACYN profile⁠

Full KNG profile⁠

ACYN vs KNG Holdings

As of Oct 28, 2026

How ACYN and KNG differ

Overlap by weight

0.3%

Shared holdings make up 0.4% of ACYN and 0.3% of KNG.

Level by level

Holdings0 in both0.3%

Sector

No Sector split for ACYN.

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

No country split for ACYN.

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

ACYN100.0%
KNG15.6%

Securities held

ACYN7
KNG69

Asset class

ACYN: Multi-Asset
KNG: Multi-Asset

Holdings

Only in ACYN7
In both0
Only in KNG69

Only in ACYN

7 securities, 99.6% of ACYN by weight

U.S. Treasury Bill, 0%, due 12/31/202633.25%
U.S. Treasury Bill, 0%, due 11/27/202633.18%
U.S. Treasury Bill, 0%, due 10/29/202632.13%
ACYN Autocall Derivative Citi0.48%
ACYN Autocall Derivative JPMorgan0.23%
ACYN Autocall Derivative BNP0.20%
U.S. Treasury Bill, 0%, due 01/28/20270.17%

Only in KNG

69 securities, 100% of KNG by weight

Pentair plc1.78%
Roper Technologies, Inc.1.67%
PPG Industries, Inc.1.54%
Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.1.54%
General Dynamics Corporation1.54%
Erie Indemnity Company1.52%
NextEra Energy, Inc.1.52%
Lowe's Companies, Inc.1.51%
Johnson & Johnson1.51%
A.O. Smith Corporation1.50%
Abbott Laboratories1.50%
S&P Global Inc.1.50%
Ecolab Inc.1.49%
ExxonMobil Holdings Corp.1.49%
West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.1.49%
Walmart Inc.1.49%
McDonald's Corporation1.49%
Amcor plc1.49%
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.1.49%
Eversource Energy1.48%
Cincinnati Financial Corporation1.48%
Consolidated Edison, Inc.1.48%
Federal Realty Investment Trust1.48%
Hormel Foods Corporation1.48%
Dover Corporation1.48%
Chevron Corporation1.48%
The Clorox Company1.47%
Medtronic Plc1.47%
AbbVie Inc.1.47%
Nucor Corporation1.47%
Atmos Energy Corporation1.47%
Aflac Incorporated1.46%
FactSet Research Systems Inc.1.46%
The Procter & Gamble Company1.46%
Realty Income Corporation1.46%
Linde Plc1.46%
Chubb Limited1.46%
International Business Machines Corporation1.46%
Church & Dwight Co., Inc.1.45%
McCormick & Company, Incorporated1.45%
Colgate-Palmolive Company1.45%
PepsiCo, Inc.1.45%
Brown-Forman Corporation1.45%
Becton, Dickinson and Company1.45%
The J.M. Smucker Company1.44%
The Coca-Cola Company1.44%
Target Corporation1.44%
Kimberly-Clark Corporation1.44%
Emerson Electric Co.1.44%
Sysco Corporation1.44%

Weight gaps

ACYN and KNG share no securities.

All 3 ACYN holdings⁠All 138 KNG holdings⁠

How we measure overlap

Each holding counts at its smaller weight in the two funds, summed over the full Holdings. Sector, country and asset class use the same rule on each fund’s split. Cash, FX and derivative lines stay out of the counts. Two bond funds get no overlap figure.

ACYN vs KNG Cost

Overpaying ACYN vs KNG

$175

On $10,000 over 30 years. 7% growth a year before fees, expense ratio only.

ACYN 0.75%
$14,482
KNG 0.74%
$14,307

Amount$10,000

Years30 years

Cost over time

ACYN 0.75%
KNG 0.74%
Overpaying

Year by year

Year	ACYN	KNG	Overpaying
10	$1,336	$1,319	$17
20	$5,078	$5,015	$63
30	$14,482	$14,307	$175

Expense ratio

0.75%ACYN
0.74%KNG, cheaper

KNG0.74%ACYN0.75%

0.34%1.34%

Middle half of Index Option Income funds
Median 0.81%

KNG 9th cheapest of 25 funds

ACYN 12th cheapest of 25 funds

ACYN vs KNG Dividends

Last 12 months to Oct 30, 2026

Yield (12M): ACYN No data; KNG 8.16%
Payout (12M): ACYN No data; KNG $4.22
Last payment: ACYN $0.17; KNG $0.35
Ex-dividend: ACYN Oct 1, 2026; KNG Oct 21, 2026
Paid on: ACYN Oct 2, 2026; KNG Oct 30, 2026
Frequency: ACYN Monthly; KNG Monthly

Distribution history

Per share, 2023 to 2026, same scale for both

ACYNMonthly · 6 paymentsAll ACYN payments⁠

KNGMonthly · 41 paymentsAll KNG payments⁠

ACYN vs KNG Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

This chart needs five years of history for both funds.

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years: ACYN No dataKNG 12.1%
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years: ACYN No dataKNG 0.64
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years: ACYN No dataKNG −18.2%
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years: ACYN 0.10KNG 0.57; Market = 1

ACYN and KNG in the news

All news⁠

Category Review
Index option income was not one bet this year
Updated Oct 5, 2026ACYNKNG
ETF Filings
First Trust files an autocallable ETF that can still lose the whole amount
15 hours agoACYN
New ETFs
First Trust's new ETF buffers the contracts, not the shares
Oct 8, 2026ACYN
ETF Filings
First Trust proposes an autocallable ETF that rolls into the most volatile sector
Sep 22, 2026ACYN

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