First Trust TCW Securitized Plus ETF

First Trust TCW Securitized Plus ETF (DEED) is an actively managed bond fund. It holds mortgage-backed and other securitized debt and tries to beat the Bloomberg U.S. Mortgage-Backed Securities Index. Plain mortgage index funds stick mostly to government-backed bonds. DEED can put up to half its assets in private bonds and lower-rated "junk" debt, and its trailing yield was 5.19% as of October 27, 2026. Its 0.76% expense ratio is far above the 0.03%–0.04% charged by VMBS and MBB.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, DEED returned +0.4%, 2nd of 8 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +0.2%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-15.9%); its best was 2025 (+9.5%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 19.8% (Sep 14, 2021 to Oct 25, 2023), recovered by Nov 21, 2025.

As of Aug 31, 2026, the fund held 105 securities; the ten largest made up 26.24% of assets.

The bonds mature in 22.4 years on average (weighted by size), with an average coupon of 4.88%.

• Over the three months to Aug 31, 2026, investors withdrew a net $1.9M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +0.84%, -1.26%, +0.52%.

DEED does not track an index. Its manager uses bottom-up research, which means studying individual bonds one at a time, to find securitized debt it thinks is undervalued. The goal is to beat the Bloomberg U.S. Mortgage-Backed Securities Index over time. At least 80% of net assets go into securitized debt. These are bonds backed by pools of home mortgages, commercial property loans, other loans and receivables, and collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), which are bundles of business loans.

At least half of total assets must be issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies such as Ginnie Mae, or government-sponsored firms such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The rest can go into private bonds. Up to 50% of net assets can be rated below investment grade, and some can be distressed bonds. As of August 31, 2026, the largest positions were a Fannie Mae 30-year mortgage holding (5.6%), Freddie Mac's FHS 470 JA (3.1%) and Freddie Mac's STACR 2022-DNA5 M2 (2.5%).

The fund's duration, a measure of how sensitive it is to interest rates, stays within two years of its benchmark's duration. It can use to-be-announced (TBA) contracts, which are agreements to buy mortgage pools later, and roll them forward. As of August 31, 2026, its bond exposure was 103.7% of net assets. It also uses Treasury futures to adjust its rate exposure. Portfolio turnover was 178%, which means a lot of trading.

• DEED charges 0.76% a year, versus an average of 0.05% for the similar funds below (8th of 8, cheapest first).
• Of that, 0.75% is the management fee; the rest covers other fund expenses.

DEED pays monthly and had a 5.19% trailing yield as of October 27, 2026, but its price swings and credit risk make it a poor stand-in for a core bond holding.

DEED could add monthly income to a portfolio. It paid $1.07 a share over the 12 months to October 27, 2026, a 5.19% trailing yield. That income costs 0.76% a year, compared with an average of 0.05% for similar funds. Its price history does not cover 2008 or the 2020 crash. In the 2022 bear market, rising rates pushed it down 16.6% between January and October, and it took about 36 months to get back to its earlier level. Its worst calendar year was 2022, when it lost 15.3%. Its deepest drop was 19.8%, from September 2021 to October 2023, and it did not recover until November 2025. A retiree who sold shares during that stretch would have locked in losses. Past results don't predict the future, and a plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by bond funds with the closest average maturity and issuer mix (N-PORT).