First Trust Senior Loan Fund
First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV · 1 share class
Fund classification
Classified from what the fund holds · as of 2026 Q2
First Trust Senior Loan Fund is an actively managed U.S. bond ETF.
- Asset class
- Bonds
- Region
- United States
- Management
- Actively managed
- Fund type
- ETF
- Credit quality
- High yield
- Rate sensitivity
- Short duration
Fund profile
As filed in the prospectus · 2026 Q2
The First Trust Senior Loan Funds (the Fund ) primary investment objective is to provide high current income. The Funds secondary investment objective is the preservation of capital.
The fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in first and second lien senior floating rate bank loans, primarily below investment grade quality, selected through fundamental credit analysis for attractive relative value. The advisor combines credit selection with relative value analysis and macroeconomic perspectives to manage risk across the bank loan market. Because the fund may invest significantly in covenant-lite loans, which lack traditional lender protections, recovery values may be impaired in stress scenarios. The fund may also hold up to 20% in non-senior-loan debt securities, equities, and other instruments, and up to 15% in distressed or defaulted loans.
| Share class | Expense ratio |
|---|---|
| FTSL | 0.70% |
Portfolio turnover 127.00% · as of 2026 Q2
Allocation
Asset groups · long / short shown separately, never netted · 2026 Q2
| Loans | 83.70% |
| Bonds | 11.66% |
| Cash & short-term | 9.54% |
Latest quarter
What changed since the fund's previous filing
Largest new: 1011778 BC Unlimited Liability Company, Triton Water Holdings Inc, Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc, MI Windows and Doors LLC, The Action Environmental Group Inc, Ensemble RCM LLC, Edelman Financial Engines Center LLC (The), BCPE Pequod Buyer Inc
Largest exited: X Corp (f/k/a Twitter Inc), Triton Water Holdings Inc, Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc., Froneri International Limited, Miter Brands Acquisition Holdco, Inc., Lumen Technologies, Inc., The Action Environmental Group Inc, Ensemble RCM LLC
Return profile
Total return as filed — price change plus distributions reinvested · trailing figures to Apr 2026
Debt profile
What this fund holds — value-weighted across its bond and securitized long positions · as of 2026-04-30
Share of the fund's debt by how its coupon behaves — the fact that decides whether a rate move reaches this portfolio at all.
| Floating rate | 84.0% |
| Fixed rate | 12.2% |
| Zero-coupon or unclassified | 3.8% |
Share of the fund's debt value in each maturity band, shortest first.
| <1y | 1.0% |
| 1-3y | 24.2% |
| 3-5y | 28.9% |
| 5-10y | 45.9% |
Based on what filers reported; a filer that never reported a flag also reads as none.
Risk profile
Interest-rate and credit-spread sensitivity, both in years · as of 2026Q2
More of this fund’s sensitivity sits in credit spreads than in interest rates — a rate rally that comes with a credit selloff works against it.
Where the loss would come from. The two shocks are the same size, so this is the balance of the fund's two sensitivities rather than a bet on one moving more.
| Credit spreads | 81% |
| Interest rates | 19% |
Filers report the impact of a 0.01% move only, so the total is our own scaling of that one number and overstates the loss on most bonds — read it as approximate, never as precise. The two sensitivities overlap rather than add up: they measure the same positions against different shocks, which is why the durations above are shown side by side and never summed.
Share of the fund's spread duration carried by each credit tier.
| High yield | +1.61 yr |
| Investment grade | +0.10 yr |
Share of duration at each point, shortest first. A positive figure loses value when spreads widen; a negative one offsets — a credit hedge.
| 3 mo | 0.05 yr | 12% |
| 1 yr | 0.10 yr | 26% |
| 5 yr | 0.20 yr | 51% |
| 10 yr | 0.05 yr | 11% |
| 3 mo | 0.01 yr | 1% |
| 1 yr | 0.98 yr | 57% |
| 5 yr | 0.72 yr | 42% |
| 10 yr | 0.00 yr | 0% |
The two bands measure the same positions against different shocks and do not add — a Treasury carries rate duration and no spread duration, a floating-rate credit the reverse. Rate tenors are also summed across every currency the fund discloses.
Show the numbers
| Tenor | Rate yrs | IG yrs | HY yrs | IG $/bp | HY $/bp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 mo | +0.05 | +0.00 | +0.01 | $372 | $2.0k |
| 1 yr | +0.10 | +0.06 | +0.91 | $13.9k | $209.1k |
| 5 yr | +0.20 | +0.03 | +0.68 | $7.5k | $156.2k |
| 10 yr | +0.05 | +0.00 | +0.00 | $0 | $795 |
| 30 yr | +0.00 | +0.00 | +0.00 | $0 | $0 |
Dollar change per 1bp of spread movement, as filed and sign-anchored. A blank cell was not filed; a zero was.
Holdings
By % of NAV · equity positions carry filed share counts · every resolvable issuer links to its company page
| Ticker | Issuer | %NAV | Value | Shares |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | MORGAN STANLEY INSTITUTIONAL LIQUIDITY FUNDS | 9.54% | $218.16M | — |
| — | Whatabrands LLC6.15% floating · due 2028-08-03 | 2.04% | $46.53M | — |
| — | AthenaHealth Group Inc6.40% floating · due 2029-02-15 | 1.80% | $41.12M | — |
| — | IRB Holding Corp6.15% floating · due 2030-12-15 | 1.59% | $36.44M | — |
| — | White Cap Supply Holdings LLC(f/k/a White Cap Buyer LLC)6.92% floating · due 2029-10-19 | 1.30% | $29.66M | — |
| — | Transdigm Inc5.90% floating · due 2030-03-22 | 1.24% | $28.36M | — |
| — | TAMKO Building Products Inc6.43% floating · due 2030-09-20 | 1.24% | $28.34M | — |
| — | Proofpoint Inc6.70% floating · due 2028-08-31 | 1.23% | $28.21M | — |
| — | Quikrete Holdings Inc5.90% floating · due 2029-03-19 | 1.18% | $27.07M | — |
| — | Acrisure LLC6.90% floating · due 2032-06-21 | 1.18% | $26.96M | — |
Top 10 positions are 22.35% of net assets, top 25 36.48%, across 249 issuers.
See more of this fund's book
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