Matthews Asia vs First Trust: ETF issuers compared

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Matthews Asia vs First Trust: ETF issuers compared | ETF Tracker

Thematic: First Trust wins, 71% to 50% of funds made money

Every dot is one thematic fund, placed at its 1-year return. Right of the line = made money. The ringed dot is the middle fund. Small sample: fewer than 3 funds on a side.

BOX SCORE · THEMATIC	Matthews Asia	First Trust
Funds in the category	2	15
Made money (W–L)	1–1	10–4
Win %	50%	71%
Money made	−$3M	$5.9B
Typical return	+3.3%	+7.4%
Launches · 2026	0	1
Assets	$29M	$39.5B
Fee per $100	$0.88	$0.62

The biggest thematic funds on each side

Matthews Asia

Fund	Name	Assets	1Y
MCH	Matthews China Active ETF	$15M	−17.7% ✕
MCHS	Matthews China Discovery Active ETF MCHS	$14M	+3.3% ✓

First Trust

Fund	Name	Assets	1Y
CIBR	First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF	$17.5B	+27.4% ✓
GRID	First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Smart Grid Infrastructure Index Fund	$11.1B	+5.5% ✓
EMLP	First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund	$4.3B	+21.2% ✓
SKYY	First Trust Cloud Computing ETF	$3.3B	+10.9% ✓
FTXL	First Trust Nasdaq Semiconductor ETF	$1.1B	+61.5% ✓
ROBT	First Trust Nasdaq Artificial Intelligence and Robotics ETF	$723M	+0.5% ✓

Who wins each category · share of its funds that made money · 1Y

Thematic: First Trust wins, 71% to 50% of funds made money

The biggest thematic funds on each side

Matthews Asia

First Trust

Twin funds: Matthews Asia is cheaper in 1 of 1. First Trust returned more in 1.

International · 1

Tale of the tape

Thematic: First Trust wins, 71% to 50% of funds made money

The biggest thematic funds on each side

MA Matthews Asia

FT First Trust

International · 1

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Matthews Asia

First Trust