First Trust May Join Hedge Fund ETF Fray

First Trust, the tenth-largest U.S. ETF issuer by assets, has filed plans with the Securities and Exchange Commission to possibly list a hedge fund ETF becoming the latest ETF sponsor to look to make inroads in this niche. The First Trust Hedge Fund Manager Holdings Index Fund will track an index that measures the performance of the 100 largest publicly traded positions in equities and equity-related securities reported in Form 13F filings that hedge fund managers file with the SEC 45 days after the end of each quarter, according to Index Universe. The fund will track the Wells Fargo Hedge Fund Manager Holdings Index, which is comprised of stocks trading on the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange. In late March, Global X filed plans for several hedge fund ETFs of its own. The hedge fund ETF space is currently occupied by funds such as the The IndexIQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF QAI, the Credit Suisse Merger Arbitrage Liquid Index ETF CSMA and the ProShares Hedge Replication ETF HDG. Among First Trust's more popular ETFs are the First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund FBT and the First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund FDN. Illinois-based First Trust had 69 funds with $7.8 billion in assets under management at the end of March, according to ETF Industry Association data.