FTLS vs HBDC: Grades, Fees and Holdings Compared

First Trust Long/Short Equity ETF

FTLSBNYSE Arca

Hilton BDC Corporate Bond ETF

HBDCANasdaq

Overlap

0.0%by weight

Expense ratio

HBDC −0.99pt a year

FTLS1.38%HBDC0.39%

Avg volume · 30D

FTLS 16.1×the volume

FTLS143KHBDC8.86K

FTLS vs HBDC Performance

Nov 7, 2025 – Nov 9, 2026

+6.8%FTLS+2.9%HBDC

Expense ratio: FTLS 1.38%; HBDC 0.39%, better
Fund size: FTLS $2.58B; HBDC $91M
1Y total return: FTLS +6.8%, better; HBDC +2.9%
Yield (12M): FTLS 0.89%; HBDC 5.11%, better
Holdings: FTLS 269; HBDC 156
Avg volume (30D): FTLS 143K sh, better; HBDC 8.86K sh
NAV per share: FTLS $74.10; HBDC $24.50
52W range

ETF.net Grade

Pillar letters and Scores for FTLS, HBDC, with each pillar’s weight
Pillar	FTLS	HBDC
Cost30% weight	D34	A100Higher
Mission25% weight	Not scored	Not scored
Risk15% weight	B61	B67Higher
Tradability15% weight	A82Higher	C50
Holdings10% weight	B63	A86Higher
Durability5% weight	A94Higher	C49

Rank among Alternative Strategies funds

How we build Categories ›

Same Category. FTLS and HBDC are both graded against the same 29 Alternative Strategies funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

Alternative Strategies⁠

Category · 29 funds

See all 29 ›

HBDC ranks 1st and FTLS 10th of 29 funds in the Alternative Strategies Category.

Rank 1AFLSPFranklin Systematic Style Premia ETFScore 78
Rank 1AHBDCHilton BDC Corporate Bond ETFScore 78
Rank 3AQAINYLI Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETFScore 76
Rank 9BLALTFirst Trust Multi-Strategy Alternative ETFScore 58
Rank 10BFTLSFirst Trust Long/Short Equity ETFScore 57
Rank 11BCLSEConvergence Long/Short Equity ETFScore 55

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

FTLSBFirst Trust Long/Short Equity ETF

HBDCAHilton BDC Corporate Bond ETF

In short

FTLS Hedge-fund mechanics in an ETF wrapper: a long book of US stocks paired with a short book, and short proceeds never recycled into more longs. Live since 2014, it's one of the originals on the long/short shelf.

HBDC Private credit's lenders have to borrow too. HBDC owns the senior unsecured bonds that business development companies issue, a first-mover take on BDC debt instead of BDC stock, wrapped in a rules-based index.

Stated mandate

FTLS The Fund seeks its objective through long and short positions in equity securities, with portfolio exposure managed across long and short positions.

HBDC The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the Solactive Hilton Capital BDC Corporate Bond TR Index.

Why people hold it

FTLS The short sleeve is a dial, not a fixture. Under normal conditions the portfolio runs 80-100% long and 0-50% short, and the manager can shrink the shorts or switch them off.mutualfunds.com
No leverage baked in: short proceeds aren't used to buy more longs, so net long exposure stays at or below 100%, which can leave a sizable cash position.mutualfunds.com
Trading since 2014 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, it's one of the older long/short ETFs on the market, with steady if unspectacular daily volume.
Roughly 500 positions spread across the long and short books, so no single name drives the outcome. At least 80% of assets sit in US-listed equities or equity ETFs.usnews.com

HBDC At 0.39% it undercuts the typical alternatives fund (cohort median near 1.01%) and peers like QAI at 0.75% and FTLS at 0.95%.
First fund built only around BDC bonds, and it sits above the equity: senior unsecured debt from issuers required by law to keep 150% asset coverage.hiltoncapitalmanagement.com hiltonetfs.com
Plumbing is plain: a Solactive index rebalanced quarterly with credit and liquidity screens, and the fund seeks to pay monthly.hiltonetfs.com

Worth knowing

FTLS Cost is the trade-off: 1.38% a year, well above the typical actively managed US equity ETF. Shorting carries stock-borrow and dividend expenses that long-only funds don't.
Against the full active US equity field it lands in the lower half, largely on price: core rivals like DFAU (0.12%) and DFAC (0.17%) run long-only for a sliver of the fee.
The short book cuts both ways by design: it gains when shorted names fall and loses when they rise, so results can diverge sharply from a plain long-only equity fund.mutualfunds.com

HBDC Non-diversified by design. The BDC bond universe is small, so one issuer's credit trouble carries more weight here than in a broad corporate bond fund.hiltonetfs.com
Thinly traded, so spreads can run wider than in mainstream bond ETFs.
Launched in 2025, meaning the record is short and has not yet spanned a full credit cycle.

Full FTLS profile⁠

Full HBDC profile⁠

FTLS vs HBDC Holdings

How FTLS and HBDC differ

Overlap by weight

0.0%

Level by level

Asset classStocks, Bonds0.0%
Holdings0 in both0.0%
Countryby domicile94.6%

Sector

FTLS and HBDC share no Sector name, so they cannot be compared by Sector.

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Country weights in FTLS and HBDC, widest gap first
Country	Gap	FTLS	HBDC
United States	HBDC +5.4 points	94.6%	100.0%
Canada	FTLS +3.1 points	3.1%	0.0%
Taiwan	FTLS +0.9 points	0.9%	0.0%
Switzerland	FTLS +0.6 points	0.6%	0.0%
Other countries (5)	FTLS +0.8 points	0.8%	0.0%

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

FTLS65.3%
HBDC12.4%

Securities held

FTLS268
HBDC155

Asset class

FTLS: Stocks
HBDC: Bonds

Holdings

Only in FTLS268
In both0
Only in HBDC155

Only in FTLS

268 securities, 100% of FTLS by weight

Apple Inc.6.75%
NVIDIA Corporation6.31%
Microsoft Corporation5.02%
Alphabet Inc. (Class A)4.08%
Amazon.com, Inc.3.17%
Analog Devices, Inc.1.55%
Visa Inc. (Class A)1.55%
Mastercard Incorporated1.38%
Seagate Technology Holdings Plc1.32%
Texas Instruments Incorporated1.27%
Meta Platforms, Inc. (Class A)1.16%
Gilead Sciences, Inc.1.06%
Broadcom Inc.1.06%
Verizon Communications Inc.1.04%
Salesforce, Inc.1.03%
AbbVie Inc.0.99%
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (ADR)0.97%
McKesson Corporation0.97%
Eli Lilly and Company0.91%
Shopify Inc. (Class A)0.89%
Chevron Corporation0.87%
Caterpillar Inc.0.86%
Citigroup Inc.0.84%
CME Group Inc.0.82%
Cisco Systems, Inc.0.80%
Merck & Co., Inc.0.78%
Tesla, Inc.0.77%
The Coca-Cola Company0.75%
Snowflake Inc. (Class A)0.75%
Valero Energy Corporation0.73%
Bank of America Corporation0.69%
Ross Stores, Inc.0.67%
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company0.64%
Dell Technologies Inc. (Class C)0.63%
Chubb Limited0.62%
Pfizer Inc.0.62%
Micron Technology, Inc.0.60%
AT&T Inc.0.59%
General Motors Company0.58%
Intuitive Surgical, Inc.0.57%
T-Mobile US, Inc.0.57%
Autodesk, Inc.0.57%
Howmet Aerospace Inc.0.55%
Vanguard Morningstar Small-Cap Value ETF0.55%
Fortinet, Inc.0.55%
Cardinal Health, Inc.0.54%
Vanguard Morningstar Small-Cap ETF0.54%
iShares Core S&P SmallCap ETF0.54%
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company0.53%
Schwab U.S. Small-Cap ETF0.53%

Only in HBDC

155 securities, 98.5% of HBDC by weight

Ares Capital Corp 2.875% 06/15/20281.33%
Apollo Debt Solutions BDC 6.9% 04/13/20291.26%
Blue Owl Capital Corp 5.95% 03/15/20291.25%
Apollo Debt Solutions BDC 6.7% 07/29/20311.24%
Ares Strategic Income Fund 5.7% 03/15/20281.24%
Blue Owl Credit Income Corp 5.8% 03/15/20301.20%
Blackstone Private Credit Fund 2.625% 12/15/20261.16%
Blue Owl Technology Finance Corp 6.5% 10/15/20291.13%
Ares Capital Corp 5.875% 03/01/20291.11%
Blue Owl Credit Income Corp 6.6% 09/15/20291.11%
Goldman Sachs Private Credit Corp 5.875% 01/31/20311.08%
Ares Capital Corp 5.8% 03/08/20321.07%
Blue Owl Capital Corp 2.875% 06/11/20281.02%
Ares Capital Corp 7% 01/15/20271.01%
Apollo Debt Solutions BDC 6.55% 03/15/20320.97%
FS KKR Capital Corp 7.5% 08/01/20310.97%
Sixth Street Lending Partners 6.5% 03/11/20290.96%
Golub Capital BDC Inc 6% 07/15/20290.96%
Sixth Street Lending Partners 6.125% 07/15/20300.95%
Ares Capital Corp 5.95% 07/15/20290.94%
Blackstone Private Credit Fund 3.25% 03/15/20270.93%
HPS Corporate Lending Fund 5.45% 01/14/20280.93%
Blue Owl Credit Income Corp 6.65% 03/15/20310.92%
Goldman Sachs Private Credit Corp 6.15% 06/16/20310.91%
Blackstone Private Credit Fund 6% 01/29/20320.91%
Ares Strategic Income Fund 6.2% 03/21/20320.91%
Ares Strategic Income Fund 5.6% 02/15/20300.91%
Golub Capital BDC Inc 7.05% 12/05/20280.90%
Apollo Debt Solutions BDC 5.7% 01/23/20310.90%
Blue Owl Technology Finance Corp 6.75% 04/04/20290.89%
Apollo Debt Solutions BDC 6.35% 06/30/20330.88%
Ares Capital Corp 5.55% 01/15/20300.87%
Ares Strategic Income Fund 6.35% 08/15/20290.86%
Goldman Sachs Private Credit Corp 5.05% 02/23/20280.86%
Ares Strategic Income Fund 5.55% 04/15/20310.83%
Blackstone Private Credit Fund 5.95% 07/16/20290.82%
Blue Owl Technology Finance Corp 6.1% 03/15/20280.82%
Blue Owl Credit Income Corp 7.95% 06/13/20280.82%
Ares Capital Corp 5.5% 09/01/20300.80%
Goldman Sachs Private Credit Corp 5.375% 01/31/20290.79%
Ares Capital Corp 5.25% 04/12/20310.79%
Blackstone Private Credit Fund 5.95% 05/15/20310.77%
FS KKR Capital Corp 3.125% 10/12/20280.76%
Sixth Street Lending Partners 5.75% 01/15/20300.74%
FS KKR Capital Corp 6.125% 01/15/20300.74%
Blue Owl Credit Income Corp 7.75% 09/16/20270.74%
HPS Corporate Lending Fund 4.9% 09/11/20280.73%
Goldman Sachs Private Credit Corp 6.25% 05/06/20300.73%
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund 5.35% 04/13/20280.72%
Ares Strategic Income Fund 5.45% 09/09/20280.72%

Weight gaps

FTLS and HBDC share no securities.

All 515 FTLS holdings⁠All HBDC 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.

FTLS vs HBDC Cost

Overpaying FTLS vs HBDC

$16,656

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

FTLS 1.38%
$24,554
HBDC 0.39%
$7,898

Amount$10,000

Years30 years

Cost over time

FTLS 1.38%
HBDC 0.39%
Overpaying

Year by year

Year	FTLS	HBDC	Overpaying
10	$2,395	$705	$1,690
20	$8,848	$2,725	$6,123
30	$24,554	$7,898	$16,656

Expense ratio

1.38%FTLS
0.39%HBDC, cheaper

HBDC0.39%FTLS1.38%

0.39%10.91%

Middle half of Alternative Strategies funds
Median 1.13%

HBDC cheapest of 29 funds

FTLS 20th cheapest of 29 funds

FTLS vs HBDC Dividends

Last 12 months to Nov 9, 2026

Yield (12M): FTLS 0.89%; HBDC 5.11%, better
Payout (12M): FTLS $0.67; HBDC $1.25
Last payment: FTLS $0.18; HBDC $0.11
Ex-dividend: FTLS Sep 24, 2026; HBDC Oct 29, 2026
Paid on: FTLS Sep 30, 2026; HBDC Oct 30, 2026
Frequency: FTLS Quarterly; HBDC Monthly

Distribution history

Per share, 2023 to 2026, same scale for both

FTLSQuarterly · 15 paymentsAll FTLS payments⁠

HBDCMonthly · 16 paymentsAll HBDC payments⁠

FTLS vs HBDC Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

This chart needs five years of history for both funds.

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years: FTLS 7.1%HBDC 2.5%since Jul 2025
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years: FTLS 1.33HBDC −0.27since Jul 2025
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years: FTLS −11.7%HBDC −3.0%since Jun 2025
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years: FTLS 0.47HBDC 0.13; Market = 1

FTLS and HBDC in the news

All news⁠

ETF Filings
Sound would hand two small income ETFs to Hilton Capital Management
Oct 16, 2026HBDC
Category Review
The largest alternatives fund has no one-year record
Updated Sep 28, 2026FTLS

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FTLS vs HBDC

In short

Stated mandate

Why people hold it

Worth knowing

How FTLS and HBDC differ

Level by level

Sector

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Concentration

Asset class

Holdings

Only in FTLS

Only in HBDC

Weight gaps

Cost over time

Year by year

Distribution history

Fall from peak · 5 years

Risk facts

Sound would hand two small income ETFs to Hilton Capital Management

The largest alternatives fund has no one-year record

How FTLS and HBDC differ

Level by level

Sector

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Concentration

Asset class

Holdings

Only in FTLS

Only in HBDC

Weight gaps