The firm says that these ETFs are designed to track the performance of a group of custom “enhanced” indices, while adding alpha through rules-based stock selection methodology. The stocks are ranked according to value and growth factors, rather than market capitalisation. The US-based family of AlphaDEX funds currently has about $4.6 billion in assets under management.

“These new ETFs are designed to provide investors with targeted equity market exposure whilst seeking to generate positive alpha relative to the broad-based passive index from which it selects its stocks. Every step in the process is driven by a transparent, repeatable quantitative process,” Eric Anderson, vice president for First Trust, said in a statement.