Summary Prospectus by Investment Company - Form 497K

 

 

November 6, 2024

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the FT Vest Buffered Allocation Defensive ETF (the "Fund") is to seek to provide investors with capital preservation.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. Investors may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below. 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) 

Management Fees	0.20%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees	0.00%
Other Expenses	0.00%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	0.85%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	1.05%

Example

The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.

The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain at current levels. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be: 

1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
$107	$334	$579	$1,283

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 372% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing in a portfolio of exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") that seek to provide investors with returns (before fees and expenses) based on the price return of the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust ("SPY"), up to a predetermined cap, while providing a defined buffer against losses of SPY over a defined one-year period (the "Underlying ETFs"). Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest substantially all of its assets in Underlying ETFs. The Fund and each Underlying ETF are advised by First Trust Advisors L.P. ("First Trust" or the "Advisor") and sub-advised by Vest Financial LLC ("Vest" or the "Sub-Advisor"). PDR Services, LLC ("PDR") serves as SPY's sponsor. The investment objective of SPY is to seek to provide investment results that, before expenses, correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the S&P 500® Index. See "SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust" below for more information. Unlike the Underlying ETFs, the Fund itself does not pursue a target outcome strategy. The buffer is only provided by the Underlying ETFs and the Fund itself does not provide any stated buffer against losses. The Fund will likely not receive the full benefit of the Underlying ETF buffers and could have limited upside potential. The Fund's returns may be limited to the caps of the Underlying ETFs.

In order to understand the Fund's strategy and risks, it is important to understand the strategies and risks of the Underlying ETFs. See "Additional Information on the Fund's Investment Objective and Strategies" for a discussion of the principal investment strategies of the Underlying ETFs.

The Underlying ETFs invest substantially all of their assets in FLexible EXchange® Options ("FLEX Options") on SPY. FLEX Options are customizable exchange-traded option contracts guaranteed for settlement by the Options Clearing Corporation. Each Underlying ETF uses FLEX Options to employ a "target outcome strategy." Target outcome strategies seek to produce pre-determined investment outcomes based upon the performance of an underlying security or index (in this case, SPY). The pre-determined outcomes sought by the Underlying ETFs are based on the price return of SPY over an approximate one year period (the "Target Outcome Period").

The universe of Underlying ETFs from which the Sub-Advisor selects the Fund's portfolio consists of four different types of "target outcome" ETFs, as described below.

FT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETFs

The series of FT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETFs seek to provide investors with returns that match the price return of SPY up to a predetermined upside cap (before fees and expenses), while providing a buffer (before fees and expenses) against the first 10% of SPY losses, over a defined one year period.

FT Vest U.S. Equity Deep Buffer ETFs

The series of FT Vest U.S. Equity Deep Buffer ETFs seek to provide investors with returns that match the price return of SPY up to a predetermined upside cap (before fees and expenses), while providing a buffer (before fees and expenses) against SPY losses between -5% and -30%, over a defined one year period.

FT Vest U.S. Equity Enhance & Moderate Buffer ETFs

The series of FT Vest U.S. Equity Enhance & Moderate Buffer ETFs seek to provide investors with returns of approximately twice any positive price return of SPY up to a predetermined upside cap (before fees and expenses), while providing a buffer (before fees and expenses) against the first 15% of SPY losses, over a defined one year period.

FT Vest U.S. Equity Moderate Buffer ETFs

The series of FT Vest U.S. Equity Moderate Buffer ETFs seek to provide investors with returns that match the price return of SPY up to a predetermined upside cap (before fees and expenses), while providing a buffer (before fees and expenses) against the first 15% of SPY losses, over a defined one year period.

In allocating the Fund's portfolio among the universe of possible Underlying ETFs described above, the Fund's Sub-Advisor evaluates various factors, including, but not limited to, the current price of SPY, the NAV of each Underlying ETF, the number of days left in each Target Outcome Period, implied market volatility, the price sensitivity of the underlying FLEX Options to price movements of SPY, and the remaining upside potential (cap) and remaining downside protection (buffer) offered by each Underlying ETF relative to the others in the universe. From this evaluation, the Sub-Advisor selects 5-7 Underlying ETFs for the Fund's portfolio that it believes have the greatest potential for downside protection based on current market conditions, while still providing a level of upside growth participation. The weighting of each Underlying ETF will be determined by the Sub-Advisor using the factors listed above. The Fund's portfolio will be evaluated on a quarterly basis.

Each Underlying ETF's strategy has been specifically designed to produce the outcomes based upon SPY's returns over the duration of a Target Outcome Period. At the end of each Target Outcome Period, an Underlying ETF's FLEX Options are generally allowed to expire or sold at or near their expiration, and the proceeds are used to purchase (or roll into) a new set of FLEX Options expiring in approximately one year. Because the Fund typically will not acquire shares of the Underlying ETFs on the first day of a Target Outcome Period and may dispose of shares of the Underlying ETFs before the end of the Target Outcome Period, the Fund may experience investment returns that are very different from those that the Underlying ETFs seek to provide. If an Underlying ETF has experienced certain levels of either gains or losses since the beginning of its current Target Outcome Period, there may be little to no ability for the Fund to achieve gains or benefit from the buffer for the remainder of the Target Outcome Period. The Fund intends only to acquire shares of Underlying ETFs in the secondary market and will not engage in any principal transactions with the Underlying ETFs.

When an investor purchases shares of a single Underlying ETF, his or her potential outcomes are limited by the Underlying ETF's stated cap and buffer over a defined time period (depending on when the shares were purchased). Alternatively, the Fund's approach provides a diversified exposure to a collection of Underlying ETFs that the Sub-Advisor believes have the greatest potential for downside protection based on current market conditions, while still providing a level of upside growth participation.

The Fund will acquire and dispose of shares of the Underlying ETFs in connection with the creation and redemption of Creation Units. If an over-weighted Underlying ETF underperforms the other Underlying ETFs, the Fund will experience returns that are inferior to those that would have been achieved if the Underlying ETFs were equally weighted.

The Fund's website will provide, on a daily basis, the proportion of the Fund's assets invested in each Underlying ETF at any given time. The current list of Underlying ETFs in the Fund's portfolio can be found at www.ftportfolios.com/retail/etf/EtfSummary.aspx?Ticker=BUFT. Each Underlying ETF's website provides important information (including Target Outcome Period start and end dates and the cap (both gross and net of fees) and buffer both at the start of the Underlying ETF's Target Outcome Period and on any particular day relative to the end of the Target Outcome Period).

The Fund's investment strategy may include active and frequent trading. The Fund may not invest 25% or more of the value of its total assets in securities of issuers in any one industry or group of industries except to the extent that the underlying referenced index of SPY invests more than 25% of its assets in an industry or group of industries. This restriction does not apply to obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities, or securities of other investment companies. To the extent the Fund invests in other investment companies, it will consider, to the extent practicable, the investments of the underlying investment companies when determining compliance with these limitations. As of December 1, 2023, SPY had significant investments in information technology companies.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund's investment objective will be achieved. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

ABSENCE OF AN ACTIVE MARKET RISK. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares due to a limited number of market makers or authorized participants. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares and market makers are under no obligation to make a market in the Fund's shares. Additionally, only a limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund and only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund and are not obligated to submit purchase or redemption orders for Creation Units. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund's portfolio securities and the Fund's market price. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers or any issues disrupting the authorized participants' ability to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund's net asset value and the price at which the Fund's shares are trading on the Exchange, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund's shares. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a premium or discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.

BUFFERED LOSS RISK. There can be no guarantee that the Underlying ETFs will be successful in their strategy to buffer against SPY losses if SPY decreases over a Target Outcome Period. The Fund may lose its entire investment in an Underlying ETF. Each Underlying ETF's strategy seeks to deliver returns based on the price return of SPY (up to the cap), while limiting downside losses, if shares are bought on the first day of a Target Outcome Period and held until the end of that Target Outcome Period. To the extent the Fund acquires shares of the Underlying ETFs in connection with creations of new shares of the Fund and during each reallocation, the Fund typically will not acquire Underlying ETF shares on the first day of a Target Outcome Period. Likewise, to the extent the Fund disposes of shares of the Underlying ETFs in connection with redemptions of shares of the Fund and during each reallocation, any such dispositions typically will not occur on the last day of a Target Outcome Period. In the event that the Fund acquires shares after the first day of a Target Outcome Period or disposes of shares prior to the end of a Target Outcome Period, the buffer that the Underlying ETF seeks to provide may not be available.

CAP CHANGE RISK. A new Underlying ETF cap is established at the beginning of each Target Outcome Period and is dependent on prevailing market conditions. As a result, a cap may rise or fall from one Target Outcome Period to the next and is unlikely to remain the same for consecutive Target Outcome Periods.

CAPPED UPSIDE RISK. Each Underlying ETF's strategy seeks to provide returns based on the price return of SPY for shares acquired on the first day of a Target Outcome Period and held for the entire Target Outcome Period, subject to a pre-determined upside cap. Because the Fund will acquire shares of the Underlying ETFs in connection with creations of new shares of the Fund and during each reallocation, the Fund typically will not acquire Underlying ETF shares on the first day of a Target Outcome Period. Likewise, the Fund will dispose of shares of the Underlying ETFs in connection with redemptions of shares of the Fund and during each reallocation, and such disposals typically will not occur on the last day of a Target Outcome Period. In the event that the Fund acquires Underlying ETF shares after the first day of a Target Outcome Period and the Underlying ETF has risen in value to a level near or at the cap (because the Fund's potential gain will be limited to the difference between the Underlying ETF's NAV on the date the Fund purchases Underlying ETF shares and the cap), there may be little or no ability for the Fund to experience an investment gain on its shares, however, the Fund will remain vulnerable to downside risks. This could be true for all of the Underlying ETFs held by the Fund at a certain point in time severely limiting the Fund's ability to participate in gains during that time. If SPY experiences gains during a Target Outcome Period, an Underlying ETF will not participate in those gains beyond the cap. If the Fund buys Underlying ETF shares when the price exceeds the cap, the Fund will not experience any gain regardless of the performance of SPY.

COUNTERPARTY RISK. Underlying ETF transactions involving a counterparty are subject to the risk that the counterparty will not fulfill its obligation to the Underlying ETF. Counterparty risk may arise because of the counterparty's financial condition (i.e., financial difficulties, bankruptcy, or insolvency), market activities and developments, or other reasons, whether foreseen or not. A counterparty's inability to fulfill its obligation may result in significant financial loss to an Underlying ETF and, in turn, the Fund. An Underlying ETF may be unable to recover its investment from the counterparty or may obtain a limited recovery, and/or recovery may be delayed. The OCC acts as guarantor and central counterparty with respect to the FLEX Options. As a result, the ability of an Underlying ETF to meet its objective depends on the OCC being able to meet its obligations. In the unlikely event that the OCC becomes insolvent or is otherwise unable to meet its settlement obligations, an Underlying ETF and, in turn, the Fund could suffer significant losses.

CURRENT MARKET CONDITIONS RISK. Current market conditions risk is the risk that a particular investment, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value due to current market conditions. As a means to fight inflation, which remains at elevated levels, the Federal Reserve and certain foreign central banks have raised interest rates; however, the Federal Reserve has recently lowered interest rates and may continue to do so. U.S. regulators have proposed several changes to market and issuer regulations which would directly impact the Fund, and any regulatory changes could adversely impact the Fund's ability to achieve its investment strategies or make certain investments. Recent and potential future bank failures could result in disruption to the broader banking industry or markets generally

and reduce confidence in financial institutions and the economy as a whole, which may also heighten market volatility and reduce liquidity. The ongoing adversarial political climate in the United States, as well as political and diplomatic events both domestic and abroad, have and may continue to have an adverse impact the U.S. regulatory landscape, markets and investor behavior, which could have a negative impact on the Fund's investments and operations. Other unexpected political, regulatory and diplomatic events within the U.S. and abroad may affect investor and consumer confidence and may adversely impact financial markets and the broader economy. For example, ongoing armed conflicts between Russia and Ukraine in Europe and among Israel, Hamas and other militant groups in the Middle East, have caused and could continue to cause significant market disruptions and volatility within the markets in Russia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States. The hostilities and sanctions resulting from those hostilities have and could continue to have a significant impact on certain Fund investments as well as Fund performance and liquidity. The economies of the United States and its trading partners, as well as the financial markets generally, may be adversely impacted by trade disputes and other matters. For example, the United States has imposed trade barriers and restrictions on China. In addition, the Chinese government is engaged in a longstanding dispute with Taiwan, continually threatening an invasion. If the political climate between the United States and China does not improve or continues to deteriorate, if China were to attempt invading Taiwan, or if other geopolitical conflicts develop or worsen, economies, markets and individual securities may be adversely affected, and the value of the Fund's assets may go down. The COVID-19 global pandemic, or any future public health crisis, and the ensuing policies enacted by governments and central banks have caused and may continue to cause significant volatility and uncertainty in global financial markets, negatively impacting global growth prospects. While vaccines have been developed, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging future variants of the disease. As this global pandemic illustrated, such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. Advancements in technology may also adversely impact markets and the overall performance of the Fund. For instance, the economy may be significantly impacted by the advanced development and increased regulation of artificial intelligence. These events, and any other future events, may adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund's portfolio investments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets.

CYBER SECURITY RISK. The Fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund's digital information systems through "hacking" or malicious software coding but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or the Fund's third-party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. Although the Fund has established risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third-party service providers.

ENHANCED RETURN RISK. Certain of the Underlying ETFs seek to provide "enhanced" returns. There can be no guarantee that such Underlying ETFs will be successful in their strategy to provide enhanced returns of approximately twice any positive price return of SPY over the Target Outcome Period subject to the predetermined upside return cap. Such Underlying ETFs seek to provide enhanced returns if shares are bought on first day of the Target Outcome Period and held until the last day of the Target Outcome Period. In the event the Fund acquires shares after the first day of the Target Outcome Period or disposes of shares prior to the end of the Target Outcome Period, the enhanced returns that these Underlying ETFs seek to provide may not be available. These Underlying ETFs seek to provide investment outcomes for the entire Target Outcome Period and do not seek to provide investment outcomes on a daily or other short-term basis, which is an attribute of other types of exchange-traded funds that provide a daily, multiple exposure to a reference index (i.e., a "daily leveraged ETF"). The value of the FLEX Options held by these Underlying ETFs is ultimately derived from the price performance of SPY for the entire Target Outcome Period. As a result, it is very unlikely that, on any given day during which SPY share price increases in value, an Underlying ETF's share price will increase at the same rate as the enhanced returns sought by the Underlying ETF (i.e., twice any positive price return of SPY), which is designed for an entire Target Outcome Period. Additionally, because of the way the FLEX Options are structured there are certain time periods where the value of these Underlying ETFs may fall faster than the value of SPY. For example, this could occur if the value of SPY has risen since the first day of the Target Outcome Period then falls back to its value on the first day of the Target Outcome Period.

FLEX OPTIONS RISK. The Underlying ETFs invest in FLEX Options. Trading FLEX Options involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities. The Underlying ETFs may experience substantial downside from specific FLEX Option positions and certain FLEX Option positions may expire worthless. The FLEX Options are listed on an exchange; however, no one can guarantee that a liquid secondary trading market will exist for the FLEX Options. In the event that trading in the FLEX Options is limited or absent, the value of the Underlying ETFs' FLEX Options may decrease. In a less liquid market for the FLEX Options, liquidating the FLEX Options may require the payment of a premium (for written FLEX Options) or acceptance of a discounted price (for purchased FLEX Options) and may take longer to complete. A less liquid trading market may adversely impact the value of the FLEX Options and Underlying ETFs' shares and result in the Underlying ETFs and, in turn, the Fund being unable to achieve their investment objective. Less liquidity in the trading of the Underlying ETFs' FLEX Options could have an impact on the prices paid or received by the Underlying ETFs for the FLEX Options in connection with creations and redemptions of the Underlying ETFs' shares. Depending on the nature of this impact to pricing, an Underlying ETF may be forced to pay more for redemptions (or receive less for

creations) than the price at which it currently values the FLEX Options. Such overpayment or under collection may impact the value of the Underlying ETF and whether the Underlying ETF can satisfy its investment objective. Additionally, in a less liquid market for the FLEX Options, the liquidation of a large number of options may more significantly impact the price. A less liquid trading market may adversely impact the value of the FLEX Options and the value of the Underlying ETFs. The trading in FLEX Options may be less deep and liquid than the market for certain other exchange-traded options, non-customized options or other securities.

FLEX OPTIONS VALUATION RISK. The FLEX Options held by the Underlying ETFs will be exercisable at the strike price only on their expiration date. Prior to the expiration date, the value of the FLEX Options will be determined based upon market quotations or using other recognized pricing methods. The FLEX Options are also subject to correlation risk, meaning the value of the FLEX Options does not increase or decrease at the same rate as SPY (although they generally move in the same direction) or its underlying securities. The value of the FLEX Options prior to the expiration date may vary because of factors other than the value of SPY, such as interest rate changes, changing supply and demand, decreased liquidity of the FLEX Options, a change in the actual and perceived volatility of the stock market and SPY and the remaining time to expiration. FLEX Option prices may also be highly volatile and may fluctuate substantially during a short period of time. During periods of reduced market liquidity or in the absence of readily available market quotations for the holdings of the Underlying ETFs, the ability of the Underlying ETFs to value the FLEX Options becomes more difficult and the judgment of the Underlying ETFs' investment adviser (employing the fair value procedures approved by the Board of Trustees of the Trust) may play a greater role in the valuation of the Underlying ETFs' holdings due to reduced availability of reliable objective pricing data. Consequently, while such determinations may be made in good faith, it may nevertheless be more difficult for the Underlying ETFs to accurately assign a daily value. Under those circumstances, the value of the FLEX Options will require more reliance on the investment adviser's judgment than that required for securities for which there is an active trading market. This creates a risk of mispricing or improper valuation of the FLEX Options which could impact the value paid for shares of the Underlying ETFs.

INDEX OR MODEL CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or ETF models. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund's shares, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund's net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund's market price may be below the Fund's net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity in the Fund's shares.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES RISK. SPY invests significantly in information technology companies. Information technology companies produce and provide hardware, software and information technology systems and services. These companies may be adversely affected by rapidly changing technologies, short product life cycles, fierce competition, aggressive pricing and reduced profit margins, the loss of patent, copyright and trademark protections, cyclical market patterns, evolving industry standards and frequent new product introductions. In addition, information technology companies are particularly vulnerable to federal, state and local government regulation, and competition and consolidation, both domestically and internationally, including competition from foreign competitors with lower production costs. Information technology companies also heavily rely on intellectual property rights and may be adversely affected by the loss or impairment of those rights.

LARGE CAPITALIZATION COMPANIES RISK. SPY invests in the securities of large capitalization companies. Large capitalization companies may grow at a slower rate and be less able to adapt to changing market conditions than smaller capitalization companies. Thus, the return on investment in securities of large capitalization companies may be less than the return on investment in securities of small and/or mid capitalization companies. The performance of large capitalization companies also tends to trail the overall market during different market cycles.

MANAGEMENT RISK. The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed portfolio. In managing the Fund's investment portfolio, the portfolio managers will apply investment techniques and risk analyses, including through the use of technology, automated processes, algorithms, or other management systems, that may not operate as intended or produce the desired result. There can be no guarantee that the Fund will meet its investment .

MARKET FLUCTUATION TAX RISK. The Fund is acquiring shares of the Underlying ETFs in the open market. When the Fund sells shares of the Underlying ETFs in the open market, the Fund will recognize gain or loss on the disposition of the shares, which could have a negative impact on Fund returns. In addition, note that the Fund may, under certain circumstances, effect a portion of its creations and redemptions for cash rather than in-kind. If the Fund effects redemptions for cash, it may be required to sell shares of the Underlying ETFs in order to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. Any recognized gain on these sales by the Fund will generally cause the Fund to recognize a gain it might not otherwise have recognized, or to recognize such gain sooner than would otherwise be required if it were to distribute such shares only in-kind. The Fund intends to distribute these gains to shareholders to avoid being taxed on this gain at the fund level and otherwise comply with the special tax rules that apply to it. This strategy may cause shareholders to be subject to tax on gains they would not otherwise be subject to, or at an earlier date than if they had made an investment in a different ETF. Moreover, cash transactions may have to be carried out over several days if the securities market is relatively illiquid and may involve considerable brokerage fees and taxes. These brokerage fees and taxes, which will be higher than if the Fund sold and redeemed its shares entirely in-kind, will be passed on to those purchasing and redeeming Creation Units in the form of creation and redemption transaction fees. In addition, these factors may result in wider spreads between the bid and the offered prices of the

Fund's shares than for ETFs that distribute portfolio securities in-kind. The Fund's use of cash for creations and redemptions could also result in dilution to the Fund and increased transaction costs, which could negatively impact the Fund's ability to achieve its investment objective.

MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular investment, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by real or perceived adverse economic, political, and regulatory factors or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, market manipulation, government defaults, government shutdowns, regulatory actions, political changes, diplomatic developments, the imposition of sanctions and other similar measures, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, natural disasters, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund's shares, the liquidity of an investment, and may result in increased market volatility. During any such events, the Fund's shares may trade at increased premiums or discounts to their net asset value, the bid/ask spread on the Fund's shares may widen and the returns on investment may fluctuate.

OPERATIONAL RISK. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund's ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and the Fund's investment advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.

OPTIONS RISK. The use of options involves investment strategies and risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions and depends on the ability of the Underlying ETF's portfolio managers to forecast market movements correctly. The prices of options are volatile and are influenced by, among other things, actual and anticipated changes in the value of the underlying instrument, or in interest or currency exchange rates, including the anticipated volatility, which in turn are affected by fiscal and monetary policies and by national and international political and economic events. The effective use of options also depends on the Underlying ETFs' ability to terminate option positions at times deemed desirable to do so. There is no assurance that the Underlying ETFs will be able to effect closing transactions at any particular time or at an acceptable price. In addition, there may at times be an imperfect correlation between the movement in values of options and their underlying securities and there may at times not be a liquid secondary market for certain options.

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. High portfolio turnover may result in the Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause the Fund's performance to be less than expected.

PREMIUM/DISCOUNT RISK. The market price of the Fund's shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund's net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the Exchange. The Fund's investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on the Exchange at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related, but not identical, to the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund's investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained. During stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund's shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the Fund's underlying portfolio holdings, which could in turn lead to differences between the market price of the Fund's shares and their net asset value and the bid/ask spread on the Fund's shares may widen.

SPY EQUITY RISK. Because each Underlying ETF holds FLEX Options that reference SPY, each Underlying ETF has exposure to the equity securities markets. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors' perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant equity market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting an issuer occur. Common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase. Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.

SPY RISK. Each Underlying ETF invests in FLEX Options that reference SPY, which subjects the Underlying ETFs to certain of the risks of owning shares of an ETF as well as the types of instruments in which SPY invests. The value of SPY will fluctuate over time based on fluctuations in the values of the securities held by SPY, which may be affected by changes in general economic conditions, expectations for future growth and profits, interest rates and the supply and demand for those securities. In addition, ETFs are subject to absence of an active market risk, premium/discount risk and trading issues risk. Brokerage, tax and other expenses may negatively impact the performance of the Underlying ETF and, in turn, the value of the Fund's shares. An ETF that tracks an index may not exactly

match the performance of the index due to cash drag, differences between the portfolio of the ETF and the components of the index, expenses and other factors.

TARGET OUTCOME PERIOD RISK. Each Underlying ETF's investment strategy is designed to deliver returns based on the price return of SPY if shares are bought on the day on which the Underlying ETF enters into the FLEX Options (i.e., the first day of a Target Outcome Period) and held until those FLEX Options expire at the end of the Target Outcome Period. Because the Fund will acquire shares of the Underlying ETFs in connection with creations of new shares of the Fund and during each reallocation, the Fund typically will not acquire Underlying ETF shares on the first day of a Target Outcome Period. Likewise, the Fund will dispose of shares of the Underlying ETFs in connection with redemptions of shares of the Fund and during each reallocation, and such disposals typically will not occur on the last day of a Target Outcome Period. In the event the Fund acquires shares after the first day of a Target Outcome Period or disposes of shares prior to the expiration of the Target Outcome Period, the value of the Fund's investment in Underlying ETF shares may not be buffered against a decline in the value of SPY and may not participate in a gain in the value of SPY for the Fund's investment period.

TAX RISK FROM INVESTMENT IN OTHER INVESTMENT COMPANIES. The Fund has based its analysis of its qualification as a "regulated investment company" ("RIC") as defined by the Code on the belief that its portfolio funds are themselves RICs. If a portfolio fund were to lose its status as a RIC for purposes of the Code, the Fund may fail its requirement to have a diversified portfolio, and, thus, lose its own RIC status. If the Fund did not qualify as a RIC for any taxable year and certain relief provisions were not available, the Fund's taxable income would be subject to tax at the Fund level and to a further tax at the shareholder level when such income is distributed. In such event, in order to re-qualify for taxation as a RIC, the Fund might be required to recognize unrealized gains, pay substantial taxes and interest and make certain distributions. This would cause investors to incur higher tax liabilities than they otherwise would have incurred and would have a negative impact on Fund returns. In such event, the Fund's Board of Trustees may determine to reorganize or close the Fund or materially change the Fund's investment objective and strategies. In the event that the Fund fails to qualify as a RIC, the Fund will promptly notify shareholders of the implications of that failure.

TRADING ISSUES RISK. Trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange's "circuit breaker" rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on the Exchange in the event the Fund's assets are small, the Fund does not have enough shareholders, or if the Fund is unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders.

UNDERLYING ETF CONCENTRATION RISK. An Underlying ETF may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Underlying ETF's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Underlying ETF's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.

UNDERLYING ETF EXPOSURE RISK. An investment in the Fund may provide returns that are lower than the returns that an investor could achieve by investing in one or more of the Underlying ETFs alone. Additionally, if one or more of the Underlying ETFs has exceeded its cap at the time that you invest in the Fund, you may derive no benefit from the Fund's investment in that Underlying ETF until the next reset of the Underlying ETF. Likewise, if one or more of the Underlying ETFs has decreased in value below its buffer at the time that you invest in the Fund, you may derive no buffered protection from the Fund's investment in that Underlying ETF. See Buffered Loss Risk and Capped Upside Risk above. As a shareholder in other ETFs, the Fund bears its proportionate share of each ETF's expenses, subjecting Fund shareholders to duplicative expenses. The Fund does not itself pursue a target outcome strategy and does not provide any buffer against Underlying ETF losses.

UNDERLYING ETF RISK. The Fund invests in FLEX Options that reference an ETF, which subjects the Fund to certain of the risks of owning shares of an ETF as well as the types of instruments in which the Underlying ETF invests. The value of an ETF will fluctuate over time based on fluctuations in the values of the securities held by the ETF, which may be affected by changes in general economic conditions, expectations for future growth and profits, interest rates and the supply and demand for those securities. In addition, ETFs are subject to absence of an active market risk, premium/discount risk, tracking error risk and trading issues risk. Brokerage, tax and other expenses may negatively impact the performance of the Underlying ETF and, in turn, the value of the Fund's shares. An ETF that tracks an index may not exactly match the performance of the index due to cash drag, differences between the portfolio of the ETF and the components of the index, expenses and other factors.

Annual Total Return

The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund's performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund's average annual total returns based on net asset value compared to those of a broad-based market index. See "Total Return Information" for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund's performance information is accessible on the Fund's website at www.ftportfolios.com.

FT Vest Buffered Allocation Defensive ETF
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31 (1)

 

During the period shown in the chart above: 

	Return	Period Ended
Best Quarter	2.10%	December 31, 2022
Worst Quarter	-7.58%	June 30, 2022
Year-to-Date	6.54%	September 30, 2023

The Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.

All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market index do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.

Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.

Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2023 

	1 Year	Since Inception	Inception Date
Return Before Taxes	12.54%	1.84%	10/26/2021
Return After Taxes on Distributions	12.54%	1.84%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares	7.42%	1.40%
S&P 500® Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)	26.29%	3.62%

Management

Investment Advisor

First Trust Advisors L.P. ("First Trust" or the "Advisor")

Investment Sub-Advisor

Vest Financial LLC ("Vest" or the "Sub-Advisor")

Portfolio Managers

The following persons serve as the portfolio managers of the Fund:

The portfolio managers are primarily and jointly responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each portfolio manager has served as a part of the portfolio management team of the Fund since October 2021.

BUFTSP110624