First Trust IPOX Europe Equity Opportunities ETF

First Trust IPOX Europe Equity Opportunities ETF (FPXE) tracks the IPOX-100 Europe Index: the 100 largest European companies in their first 1,000 trading days after an IPO (first public share sale), spin-off or SPAC merger. That new-listing focus sets it apart from broad Europe funds. So do its 0.70% expense ratio, versus 0.07% for SPDR Portfolio Europe ETF, and its small size: $5.2 million in net assets as of June 30, 2026.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, FPXE returned +0.1%, 7th of 7 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +0.9%.
• In the 2020 COVID crash it fell 30.6% and regained its old high 2.5 months after the low.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-35.1%); its best was 2020 (+35.0%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 49.5% (Sep 2, 2021 to Oct 12, 2022), recovered by Jul 9, 2025.

As of Jun 30, 2026, the fund held 102 securities; the ten largest made up 42.88% of assets.

• Over the three months to Jun 30, 2026, investors added a net $0.00 (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +8.57%, +6.62%, -2.56%.

FPXE is an index fund: it aims to match the IPOX-100 Europe Index, run by IPOX Schuster LLC, and normally keeps at least 90% of its net assets in that index's stocks. The index draws from the IPOX Global Composite Index, a worldwide list of companies that went public through an initial public offering (IPO, a first sale of shares to the public), a spin-off, or a SPAC (a listed shell company formed to acquire a private business). A company can enter on its 6th trading day and must leave after its 1,000th.

The index then picks the 100 largest Europe-domiciled companies whose shares trade easily and weights them by market capitalization (total stock market value), so bigger companies get bigger slices. No stock may exceed 10%, and the top seven are capped at 50%. As of June 30, 2026, Arm Holdings was the largest position at 9.2%, followed by Galderma, Siemens Energy and Viking Holdings at about 4% each.

The index is rebuilt quarterly as companies age out and new listings arrive, so the fund trades a lot: portfolio turnover was 105%, and trading costs aren't shown in the expense ratio. The fund is "non-diversified," meaning it can hold bigger stakes in fewer companies, and IPOX Schuster can change the index rules without shareholder approval.

• FPXE charges 0.7% a year, versus an average of 0.46% for the similar funds below (5th of 7, cheapest first).

With a 0.70% fee, a 49.5% peak-to-trough drop and a focus on newly listed European stocks, FPXE fits a small side position rather than a portfolio's foundation.

FPXE could add European stocks that overlap little with broad Europe funds, but it has fallen hard in downturns. It launched in October 2018, so it has no 2008 record. In the 2020 COVID crash it dropped 30.6% in less than a month, then recovered by June 1, 2020. The 2022 bear market hit harder: the fund lost 35.26% that calendar year, and its deepest slide, 49.5% from September 2021 to October 2022, took about 33 months to recover, until July 2025. Anyone who had to withdraw money during that stretch would have locked in steep losses.

Income is modest: a trailing 12-month yield of 1.82% as of October 27, 2026, paid twice a year. The 0.70% expense ratio is above the 0.46% average for similar funds. Past results don't predict the future, and a plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by closest holdings overlap from the latest N-PORT reports (no similar fund shares 20% or more of its holdings).