AFDM — First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Developed International ETF
Data updated: 2026-09-24
AFDM — First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Developed International ETF. 0.80% expense ratio · no sales load. Holdings, fees, performance and SEC filings.
AFDM Fund Overview
AFDM — First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Developed International ETF is a US ETF managed by First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III, categorised as Europe Multi-Cap / All-Cap Value Energy Equity. ABC INVEST provides holdings, performance, costs, cashflows, risk data, prospectus documents and SEC filings, sourced from SEC filings.
- Type: US ETF
- Manager: First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III
- Category: Europe Multi-Cap / All-Cap Value Energy Equity
- Assets under management: $165.37M
- 1-year return: 30.9%
- Ticker: AFDM
- SEC CIK: 0001424212
- SEC series ID: S000052736
- Share class ID: C000165608
AFDM Investment Objective and Strategy
First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Developed International ETF describes its objective and strategy as follows, from its latest prospectus filed with the SEC by First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III.
Investment objective
"The First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Developed International ETF's (the "" Fund "") investment objective is to provide capital appreciation."
Principal investment strategy
"Under normal market conditions, the Fund will seek to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in a portfolio of equity securities of developed market companies, including through investments in common stock, depositary receipts and common and preferred shares of real estate investment trusts ( ""REITs"" ), and forward foreign currency exchange contracts and currency spot transactions used to hedge the Fund's exposure to the currencies in which the equity securities of such developed market companies are denominated (each, a ""Developed Market currency"" and, collectively, the ""Developed Market currencies"" ). Developed market companies are those companies (i) whose securities are traded principally on a stock exchange in a developed market country, (ii) that have a primary business office in a developed market country, or (iii) that have at least 50% of their assets in, or derive at least 50% of their revenues or profits from, a developed market country.
Developed market countries currently include the countries comprising the Morgan Stanley Capital International World Index or countries considered to be developed by the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation or the United Nations. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest in at least three countries and at least 40% of its net assets in countries other than the United States. The Fund utilizes a dynamic currency hedging strategy through the use of forward foreign currency exchange contracts and currency spot transactions to hedge up to 100% of the Fund's currency exposure. As a result of this hedging strategy, the portion of the Fund's portfolio securities which are subject to currency hedging transactions may vary widely, from 0% to 100% of the portfolio securities.
A forward contract on foreign currency is an obligation to purchase or sell a specific currency at a future date, which may be any fixed number of days agreed upon by the parties from the date of the contract, at a price set on the date of the contract. A forward foreign currency exchange contract may reduce the Fund's exposure to changes in the value of the currency it will deliver and increase its exposure to changes in the value of the currency it will receive for the duration of the contract. The effect on the value of the Fund is similar to selling securities denominated in one currency and purchasing securities denominated in another currency. The Fund also may enter into currency spot transactions as part of its dynamic currency hedging strategy. A currency spot transaction is an agreement between two parties to buy or sell a specific currency for delivery on a date that is typically two business days from the date of the agreement, as opposed to a date set in the future.
The underlying currencies of the forward foreign currency exchange contracts and currency spot transactions included in the Fund's policy relating to the investment of at least 80% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) will be limited to Developed Market currencies. The Fund also may invest up to 20% of its net assets in companies of emerging market countries and forward foreign currency exchange contracts and currency spot transactions used to hedge the Fund's exposure to non-Developed Market currencies as well as any proxy currency hedging transactions involving non-Developed Market currencies determined to be representative of, and serve as a proxy for, Developed Market currencies. Such emerging market companies are companies (i) whose securities are traded principally on a stock exchange in a country that is not a developed market country, (ii) that have a primary business office in a country that is not a developed market country, or (iii) that have at least 50% of their assets in, or derive at least 50% of their revenues or profits from, a country that is not a developed market country.
The equity securities of emerging market companies in which the Fund may invest include investments in common stock, depositary receipts and common and preferred shares of REITs. The securities in which the Fund may invest must be listed on a U.S. or non-U.S. securities exchange. The Fund may invest in small, mid and large capitalization companies. In selecting the portfolio securities of the Fund, RiverFront Investment Group, LLC, the Fund's sub-adviser ( ""RIG"" or the ""Sub-Advisor"" ), assembles a portfolio of eligible countries and/or securities based on several core attributes, including, but not limited to, value, quality and momentum. The Sub-Advisor considers multiple factors within each core attribute, such as the price-to-book value of a security when determining value and a company's cash as a percentage of the company's market capitalization when determining quality.
The Sub-Advisor then assigns each qualifying security a score based on its core attributes and selects the individual securities with the highest scores for investment. In doing so, the Sub-Advisor utilizes its proprietary optimization process to maximize the percentage of high-scoring securities included in the portfolio in accordance with country, sector and risk factor ( e.g. , beta, quality, volatility) limitations. The Sub-Advisor also considers the market capitalization of the companies in which the Fund may invest, and the trading volume of a company's shares in the secondary market. As of October 31, 2017, the Fund had significant investments in the financial sector. In managing the Fund's currency exposure, the Sub-Advisor deploys a dynamic currency hedging strategy based on a proprietary hedging methodology that considers a combination of quantitative measures, such as interest rate differentials, central bank balance sheet expansion/contraction and price momentum, and qualitative measures, such as formal and informal guidance from central bankers.
To the extent permitted under applicable law, percentage limitations described in this prospectus are generally as of the time of investment by the Fund and may be exceeded on a going-forward basis as a result of market fluctuations affecting the Fund's portfolio securities. The Fund is classified as ""non-diversified"" under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the ""1940 Act"" )."
AFDM Holdings
Top 10 holdings of First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Developed International ETF by percentage of net assets, from the fund's latest SEC N-PORT filing.
| Holding | % of net assets |
|---|---|
| Advantest Corp. | 3.51% |
| Hsbc Holdings PLC | 3.42% |
| Asml Holding NV | 2.18% |
| Shell PLC | 2.13% |
| Novartis AG | 2.06% |
| Ubs Group AG | 1.96% |
| Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA | 1.90% |
| Barclays PLC | 1.87% |
| Bnp Paribas SA | 1.83% |
| Totalenergies SE | 1.72% |
AFDM Portfolio Allocation
Asset-class allocation of First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Developed International ETF by percentage of net assets, from the latest SEC N-PORT filing.
| Asset class | Allocation |
|---|---|
| Equity | 99.4% |
| Cash & Equivalents | 0.1% |
AFDM Performance
Total returns for AFDM (as of 2026-10-01), from SEC filings.
| Period | Total return |
|---|---|
| YTD | 14.39% |
| 1 year | 30.92% |
| 3 years (annualised) | 19.81% |
| 5 years (annualised) | 8.73% |
AFDM Risk Information
Risk metrics for AFDM, derived from monthly returns in SEC filings.
- 1-year volatility (annualised): 12.00%
AFDM Costs and Fees
AFDM costs about $80 per $10,000 invested per year in fund expenses.
- Net expense ratio: 0.80%
- Gross expense ratio: 0.80%
- Portfolio turnover: 3%
- Brokerage commissions: 0.30 bps of average net assets (SEC N-CEN)
AFDM Cashflows
Over the 12 months to 2026-04, First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Developed International ETF had net inflows of $11.64M, from monthly SEC N-PORT filings.
| Month | Net flow |
|---|---|
| 2026-04 | $0 |
| 2026-03 | $0 |
| 2026-02 | $4.24M |
| 2026-01 | $0 |
| 2025-12 | $0 |
| 2025-11 | $0 |
AFDM Debt Constituents
No individual debt constituents are reported in First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Developed International ETF's latest SEC N-PORT filing.
AFDM Prospectus and SEC Filings
Official First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Developed International ETF filings on SEC EDGAR — prospectus, portfolio holdings and annual reports.
- Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2026-09-10
- Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2025-02-28
- Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2024-02-28
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2026-09-24
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2026-06-22
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2026-03-25
- Annual census (N-CEN) — filed 2026-01-13
- Annual census (N-CEN) — filed 2025-01-10
Related Funds
Related funds tracked on ABC INVEST:
Data Sources
ABC INVEST compiles this page from public filings made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through EDGAR: portfolio holdings and monthly cashflows from Form N-PORT, expenses and returns from fund prospectuses (Form 485BPOS) and the SEC DERA Risk/Return Summary data sets, annual data from Form N-CEN, and shareholder reports from Form N-CSR.