First Trust Capital Strength Hedged Equity Portfolio
First Trust Variable Insurance Trust
Expense ratio
Net assets1
$17.09M
Holdings1
52
Category
US Equity
Return

Investment objective & strategy

As of April 30, 2025 · prospectus

Objective. The First Trust Capital Strength Hedged Equity Portfolio (the " Fund") seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation.

Strategy. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will pursue its investment objective by investing primarily in the securities that comprise The Capital Strength TM Index (the Index ) and by utilizing an option strategy consisting of purchasing and writing (selling) U.S. exchange-traded put and call options on the S&P 500 Index or exchange-traded funds that track the S&P 500 Index ( "Underlying ETFs" ). Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities and/or investments that provide exposure to equity securities. The Funds investment sub-advisor is Vest Financial LLC ( "Vest" or the "Sub-Advisor" ). Equity Strategy The securities held by the Fund are selected by … Under normal market conditions, the Fund will pursue its investment objective by investing primarily in the securities that comprise The Capital Strength TM Index (the Index ) and by utilizing an option strategy consisting of purchasing and writing (selling) U.S. exchange-traded put and call options on the S&P 500 Index or exchange-traded funds that track the S&P 500 Index ( "Underlying ETFs" ). Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities and/or investments that provide exposure to equity securities. The Funds investment sub-advisor is Vest Financial LLC ( "Vest" or the "Sub-Advisor" ). Equity Strategy The securities held by the Fund are selected by the portfolio managers from the common stocks and equity securities of real estate investment trusts ( "REITs" ) in the Index. The Index is designed to provide exposure to well-capitalized companies with strong market positions. The Index screens companies for strong balance sheets, a high degree of liquidity, the ability to generate earnings growth, and a record of financial strength and profit growth. The Index is composed of 50 securities selected objectively based on cash on hand, debt ratios and volatility, among other factors. The constituents and individual security weighting of the equity portfolio will be actively managed by the portfolio managers in order to seek to achieve the Funds investment objective and strategy. The Fund may invest in securities of any market capitalization. As of March 31, 2025, the equity portfolio had an expected market capitalization range between $18 billion and $536 billion. Hedged Put/Spread Collar Strategy The Fund will also employ an option overlay strategy in which the Fund systematically purchases and sells exchange-traded options that seek to lower volatility over a full market cycle. The Fund purchases and sells exchange-traded put options and sells exchange-traded call options to provide an option overlay strategy known as a put/spread collar strategy. The exchange-traded options are either on the S&P 500 Index or on Underlying ETFs. The put/spread collar strategy seeks to provide investors with a level of downside protection from the put options while still allowing for a portion of upside participation in the returns of the S&P 500 Index based on the call options. When the Fund sells a call option, the Fund has the obligation to sell the reference asset at a specified price (the strike price) if the buyer exercises the call option within a specified time period. When the Fund purchases a put option, the Fund has the right (but not the obligation) to sell the reference asset at the strike price within a specified time period. When the Fund sells a put option, the Fund has the obligation to buy the reference asset at the strike price if the buyer exercises the option within a specified time period. The Fund creates a put/spread collar by buying a put option on the S&P 500 Index or on Underlying ETFs at a higher strike price and selling a put option on the S&P 500 Index or on Underlying ETFs at a relatively lower strike price, which results in a put option spread. The put option spread is meant to hedge against a portion of any market decline. If the market decreases, the Funds returns may decrease less than the market because the Sub-Advisor will sell or exercise the put options. Simultaneously, the Fund sells a call option on the S&P 500 Index or on Underlying ETFs at the highest strike price possible to cover the premium needed to offset the purchased put option spread. The put option spread provides the Fund with protection from a decrease in the S&P 500 Index or Underlying ETFs, whereas the sold call option creates the collar because the Fund gives up the opportunity to benefit from potential increases in the value of the S&P 500 Index or Underlying ETFs above the exercise prices of such options. The value of the Funds put options is expected to increase in proportion to the decrease in value of the reference asset, but the amount by which the Funds options increase or decrease in value depends on how far the market has moved from the time the options positions were entered into and the relative strike prices of the purchased and sold put options. This put/spread collar seeks to protect the Fund against a decline in value, which tends to be less expensive than a strategy of only purchasing put options. The premiums received from selling call options can help offset the cost of the put option spread. Any savings generated between the premiums received from selling call options and the premiums of the put options are passed on to shareholders. This strategy, however, provides investors less downside risk when there is only a small decline in the price of the reference asset. This is because the protection offered by the collar is limited to the difference between the strike prices of the purchased put option and the sold put option. The options overlay strategy will reset on a quarterly basis. As of March 31, 2025, the Fund had significant investments in financial companies and industrials companies, although this may change from time to time. Over time, the Fund may have significant investments in investment sectors that it may not have had as of March 31, 2025. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that investment sector. The Fund is classified as non-diversified under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act ).

Top holdings

As of March 31, 2026 · N-PORT
SecurityTickerValue% of fund
EOG RESOURCES INC $473.32K 2.77%
LINDE PLC $389.67K 2.28%
ROSS STORES INC $388.42K 2.27%
JOHNSON&JOHNSON $385.48K 2.26%
GILEAD SCIENCES INC $384.80K 2.25%
COCA-COLA CO/THE $372.26K 2.18%
TRANE TECHNOLOGIES PLC $368.81K 2.16%
PEPSICO INC $366.02K 2.14%
ARCH CAPITAL GROUP LTD $365.15K 2.14%
HERSHEY CO/THE $362.56K 2.12%
View all holdings →

Allocation by sector

As of March 31, 2026 · N-PORT
View portfolio breakdown →

Portfolio moves

Dec 31, 2025 → Mar 31, 2026
Opened
13
Exited
13
Increased
33
Decreased
6
Unchanged
0

How many positions this fund opened, exited, grew, trimmed, or left unchanged between its two most recent N-PORT snapshots — net changes between point-in-time reports, not a trade log.

View portfolio moves →

Similar funds

Funds whose portfolios most overlap this one, by weight

Advisers

As of December 31, 2025 · N-CEN
FirmRole
First Trust Advisors L.P. Adviser
VEST FINANCIAL LLC Sub-adviser

Footnotes

  1. Net assets and holdings count as of March 31, 2026, from the fund's N-PORT filing.

Machine-readable: JSON · Markdown. Programmatic access via the agent surface.