Fund Evaluator:

First Trust Multi-Strategy Cl I Overview

First Trust Multi-Strategy Cl I (FTMIX) is an actively managed Alternative Multistrategy fund. First Trust launched the fund in 2012.

The investment seeks long-term capital appreciation by pursuing positive absolute returns across market cycles; the fund seeks to generate attractive long-term returns with low sensitivity to traditional equity and fixed-income indices. the fund’s advisor, seeks to achieve the fund’s investment objectives by delegating the management of a portion of fund assets to a group of experienced investment managers that utilize a variety of investment strategies and styles (the “Sub-Advisors”). The Advisor also manages a portion of the fund’s assets directly.

About First Trust Multi-Strategy Cl I (FTMIX)

There are 13 members of the management team with an average tenure of 3.77 years: Angie Long (2023), Daniel Lancz (2015), Jeremiah Charles (2025), Michael Peck (2014), Brian Murphy (2015), Sam Dunlap (2025), Karan Sood (2024), Colin McBurnette (2025), Taylor Moore (2023), Owen Aronson (2025), Trevor Lack (2025), Samuel Cecil (2025), Peter Paganessi (2026). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 1 primary benchmark: ICE BofA US 3M Trsy Bill TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. First Trust Multi-Strategy Cl I has 143 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 58.3% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

First Trust Multi-Strategy Cl I is part of the Alternative Strategies global asset class and is within the Alternative fund group. First Trust Multi-Strategy Cl I has 8.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 55.2%. There is 8.0% 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 Multi-Strategy Cl I has 24.7% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $1 billion in total assets, which is above the $511 million average for the Multistrategy 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.

FTMIX 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 Multi-Strategy Cl I expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Multistrategy category. First Trust Multi-Strategy Cl I has an expense ratio of 1.60%, which is 22% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a C. 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 Multi-Strategy Cl I has a portfolio turnover rate of 191%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 289% for the Multistrategy category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, First Trust Multi-Strategy Cl I returned 0.1%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Multistrategy category had an average return of 0.8%. 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 funds in that category.

First Trust Multi-Strategy Cl I has a trailing yield of 6.06%, which is above the 2.97% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly and its capital gains 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 Multi-Strategy Cl I Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 2.1%, 3.2 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 5.2% over the past year (grade of F), 6.7% over the past three years (grade of D) and 4.2% per year over the past five years (grade of C) and 4.1% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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