ETF Evaluator: First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF () Follow This ETF

First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF Overview

First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF (FTQI) is an actively managed Nontraditional Equity Derivative Income exchange-traded fund (ETF). First Trust launched the ETF in 2014.

The investment seeks to provide current income. The fund will pursue its investment objective by investing primarily in equity securities listed on U.S. exchanges and by utilizing an “option strategy” consisting of writing (selling) U.S. exchange-traded call options on the Nasdaq-100 Index ®. The call options written by the fund will have expirations of less than one year, and will be typically written at-the-money to out-of-the-money.

About First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF (FTQI)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 12.57 years: John Gambla (2014) and Rob Guttschow (2014). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

The ETF has 2 primary benchmarks: S&P 500 (TR) (1970) index with a weighting of 100% and NASDAQ 100 TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF has 184 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 39.7% of the ETF’s assets. The ETF meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The ETF is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the Nontraditional Equity ETF group. First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF has 2.7% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 90.3% There is 2.7% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF has 7.0% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $907 million in total assets, which is above the $727 million average for the Derivative Income category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

FTQI Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF expense ratio is above average compared to funds in the Derivative Income category. First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF has an expense ratio of 0.75%, which is 10% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a B. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 59%, which indicates that it holds its assets around / 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 69% for the Derivative Income category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF returned -1.0%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Derivative Income category had an average return of -1.5%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all ETFs in that category.

First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF has a trailing yield of 6.72%, which is below the 19.96% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned 11.5%, 8.9 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of B. The fund has returned 22.6% over the past year (grade of B), 15.8% over the past three years (grade of B) and 11.7% per year over the past five years (grade of A) and 7.7% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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