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Risk Return Abstract rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Prospectus Date rr_ProspectusDate Dec. 16, 2020
First Trust International Developed Capital Strength ETF  
Risk Return Abstract rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Risk/Return [Heading] rr_RiskReturnHeading Summary Information
Objective [Heading] rr_ObjectiveHeading <span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.90pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0%;">Investment Objective</span>
Objective, Primary [Text Block] rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock The First Trust International Developed Capital Strength ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of an index called The International Developed Capital Strength IndexSM (the “Index”).
Expense [Heading] rr_ExpenseHeading <span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.90pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0%;">Fees and Expenses of the Fund</span>
Expense Narrative [Text Block] rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock 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.
Shareholder Fees Caption [Text] rr_ShareholderFeesCaption <span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.00pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0%;">Shareholder Fees</span><span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.00pt;">(fees paid directly from your investment)</span>
Operating Expenses Caption [Text] rr_OperatingExpensesCaption <span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.00pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0%;">Annual Fund Operating Expenses</span><span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.00pt;">(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)</span>
Portfolio Turnover [Heading] rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading <span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.90pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0%;">Portfolio Turnover</span>
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block] rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock 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.
Expense Example [Heading] rr_ExpenseExampleHeading <span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.00pt;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0%;">Example</span>
Expense Example, No Redemption Narrative [Text Block] rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionNarrativeTextBlock The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. This example does not take into account customary brokerage commissions that you pay when purchasing or selling shares of the Fund in the secondary market.The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated. 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:
Strategy [Heading] rr_StrategyHeading <span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.90pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0%;">Principal Investment Strategies</span>
Strategy Narrative [Text Block] rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal market conditions, at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the common stocks and real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) that comprise The International Developed Capital Strength IndexSM (the “Index”). The Fund will generally employ a full replication strategy, meaning that it will normally invest in all of the securities comprising the Index in proportion to their weightings in the Index. However, under various circumstances, full replication of the Index may not be possible or practicable, and the Fund may purchase a sample of securities in the Index. The Fund will use the net total return version of the Index, which reinvests cash dividends on the ex-date and adjusts for an Index security’s country of incorporation withholding rate. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by Nasdaq, Inc. (the “Index Provider”). The Index Provider may, from time to time, exercise reasonable discretion as it deems appropriate in order to ensure Index integrity, for example, in response to stock splits, spin-offs or other corporate actions.The Index seeks to provide exposure to well-capitalized companies in the developed markets outside of the U.S. with strong market positions that have the potential to provide their stockholders with a greater degree of stability and performance over time. The Index Provider classifies a country as “developed” based on quantitative criteria including: (1) having at least $20 thousand gross national income per capita for three consecutive years; (2) having at least a $30 billion market capitalization; (3) having at least a $10 billion annual turnover; (4) having at least a 45% float ratio; and (5) having at least ten securities that meet all the eligibility requirements for the NASDAQ Global Index. For countries that meet these quantitative criteria, the Index Provider also applies qualitative criteria, such as screening for markets that may have restrictions on foreign investment, currency convertibility or capital. The Fund may invest in securities of any market capitalization. The Index’s initial universe consists of the securities comprising the NASDAQ Developed ex-US Index, an index seeking to track the performance of small, mid and large capitalization international companies. The Index then excludes all securities with a three-month average daily trading volume of less than $5 million and multiple share classes of the same issuer. The Index then ranks the remaining securities by float-adjusted market capitalization and excludes all securities not ranked in the top 500. Float-adjusted market capitalization reflects what the Index Provider believes to be the outstanding shares minus non-publicly held shares multiplied by the market price. The universe is further narrowed by excluding those securities issued by companies with less than $500 million in cash and short-term investments, companies with a long-term debt to market capitalization ratio greater than 30%, companies with a return on equity that is 15% or less, companies that are currently in bankruptcy proceedings and companies that have entered into a definitive agreement or other arrangement which would likely result in the security no longer being Index eligible. The remaining securities are then given a volatility score based upon a combination of their short-term (three month) and long-term (one year) historical volatility. Volatility is a statistical measure of the magnitude of changes in the security’s return without regard to the direction of those changes, and higher volatility generally indicates higher risk and is often reflected by frequent and sometimes significant movements up and down in value. The 50 securities with the lowest volatility score are chosen for inclusion in the Index.A review is then enacted to determine if any industry (as determined by the Industry Classification Benchmark (“ICB”)), or country has a weight greater than 30%. If an industry or country has a weight greater than 30%, the worst-ranking security by volatility will be removed and replaced with the next eligible security (e.g., the 51st ranked by volatility) from a different industry or country. This process is repeated until no industry or country has a weight greater than 30%. Once finalized, each security is equal-dollar weighted, meaning each security’s Index market value is an equal-dollar value corresponding to an equal percent weight of the Index’s aggregate market value. If the number of securities in the Index is less than 50, then the securities that had the highest return on equity that failed the criteria but passed the debt to market cap ratio and cash and short term investments constraints are selected from the top 500 by free float adjusted market capitalization to go back into the eligible universe until there are 60 eligible securities. Then, the above steps are repeated to select 50 securities with the lowest combined volatility scores that meet the industry and country constraints.The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted semi-annually and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of December 2, 2020, the Index was composed of 49 securities. As of December 2, 2020, the Fund had significant investments in industrials companies and Japanese issuers, Asian issuers and European issuers, although this may change from time to time. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”).
Risk [Heading] rr_RiskHeading <span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.90pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0%;">Principal Risks</span>
Risk Narrative [Text Block] rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock 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.ASIA RISK. The Fund is subject to certain risks specifically associated with investments in the securities of Asian issuers. Many Asian economies have experienced rapid growth and industrialization, and there is no assurance that this growth rate will be maintained. Some Asian economies are highly dependent on trade, and economic conditions in other countries within and outside Asia can impact these economies. Certain of these economies may be adversely affected by trade or policy disputes with its major trade partners. There is also a high concentration of market capitalization and trading volume in a small number of issuers representing a limited number of industries, as well as a high concentration of investors and financial intermediaries. Certain Asian countries have experienced and may in the future experience expropriation and nationalization of assets, confiscatory taxation, currency manipulation, political instability, armed conflict and social instability as a result of religious, ethnic, socio-economic and/or political unrest. In particular, escalated tensions involving North Korea and any outbreak of hostilities involving North Korea could have a severe adverse effect on Asian economies. Governments of certain Asian countries have exercised, and continue to exercise, substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector. In certain cases, the government owns or controls many companies, including the largest in the country. Accordingly, government actions could have a significant effect on the issuers of the Fund’s securities or on economic conditions generally. Recent developments in relations between the U.S. and China have heightened concerns of increased tariffs and restrictions on trade between the two countries. An increase in tariffs or trade restrictions, or even the threat of such developments, could lead to a significant reduction in international trade, which could have a negative impact on the economy of Asian countries and a commensurately negative impact on the Fund.AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A limited number of institutions act as authorized participants for the Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders and no other authorized participant steps forward to create or redeem, the Fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount to the Fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting.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.EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. The value of the Fund's’s shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. 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.EUROPE RISK. The Fund is subject to certain risks specifically associated with investments in the securities of European issuers. Political or economic disruptions in European countries, even in countries in which the Fund is not invested, may adversely affect security values and thus the Fund’s holdings. A significant number of countries in Europe are member states in the European Union (the “EU”), and the member states no longer control their own monetary policies by directing independent interest rates for their currencies. In these member states, the authority to direct monetary policies, including money supply and official interest rates for the Euro, is exercised by the European Central Bank. On January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom officially departed the EU (commonly referred to as “Brexit”). The United Kingdom is expected to continue to follow EU law during an 11-month transition period set to terminate on December 31, 2020. The effects of Brexit will depend, in part, on agreements the United Kingdom negotiates to retain access to markets in the EU during the transitional period, including current trade and finance agreements. The United Kingdom is one of the fastest growing economies in the G7; however, economists are concerned about the potential negative impact of Brexit. The United Kingdom and other EU members have extensive trade relationships and economic observers have warned that an exit could endanger the United Kingdom’s position as the central location for European financial services. Brexit and other recent rapid political and social change throughout Europe make the extent and nature of future economic development in the United Kingdom and Europe and their effect on Securities issued by United Kingdom issuers difficult to predict.INDEX CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices. 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.INDEX PROVIDER RISK. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents that act on its behalf, will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. The Index Provider and its agents do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the Index, and do not guarantee that the Index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. The Advisor’s mandate as described in this prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider. The Advisor relies upon the Index provider and its agents to accurately compile, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, compose, calculate and disseminate the Index accurately. Therefore, losses or costs associated with any Index Provider or agent errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. To correct any such error, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out an unscheduled rebalance of the Index or other modification of Index constituents or weightings. When the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances also expose the Fund to additional tracking error risk. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the Index is less commonly used as a benchmark by funds or advisors. For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund tracking the Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. Such errors may negatively impact the Fund and its shareholders. The Index Provider and its agents rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the Advisor can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Index due to unusual market conditions or in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents.INDUSTRIALS COMPANIES RISK. Industrials companies convert unfinished goods into finished durables used to manufacture other goods or provide services. Examples of industrials companies include companies involved in the production of electrical equipment and components, industrial products, manufactured housing and telecommunications equipment, as well as defense and aerospace companies. General risks of industrials companies include the general state of the economy, exchange rates, commodity prices, intense competition, consolidation, domestic and international politics, government regulation, import controls, excess capacity, consumer demand and spending trends. In addition, industrials companies may also be significantly affected by overall capital spending levels, economic cycles, rapid technological changes, delays in modernization, labor relations, environmental liabilities, governmental and product liability and e-commerce initiatives.INFLATION RISK. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money. As inflation increases, the present value of an underlying ETF’s assets and distributions may decline.INTERNATIONAL CLOSED MARKET TRADING RISK. Because securities held by the Fund trade on non-U.S. exchanges that are closed when the Fund’s primary listing exchange is open, there are likely to be deviations between the current price of an underlying security and the last quoted price for the underlying security (i.e., the Fund’s quote from the closed foreign market), resulting in premiums or discounts to the Fund’s net asset value that may be greater than those experienced by other exchange-traded funds. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at the Fund’s net asset value, it is not expected that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of the Fund will be sustained over the long term (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset values).JAPAN RISK. The Fund is subject to certain risks specifically associated with investments in the securities of Japanese issuers. The Japanese economy may be subject to considerable degrees of economic, political and social instability, which could have a negative impact on Japanese securities. Japan’s economy is characterized by government intervention and protectionism, reliance on oil imports, an unstable financial services sector and relatively high unemployment. Japan has experienced relatively low economic growth, and it may remain low in the future. Its economy is heavily dependent on international trade and has been adversely affected by trade tariffs and competition from emerging economies. As such, economic growth is heavily dependent on continued growth in international trade, relatively low commodities prices, government support of the financial services sector and other government policies. Any changes or trends in these economic factors could have a significant impact on Japanese markets overall and may negatively affect the Fund’s investments. Japan’s economy and equity market also share a strong correlation with U.S. markets and the Japanese economy may be affected by economic problems in the U.S. Despite a strengthening in the economic relationship between Japan and China, the countries’ political relationship has at times been strained. Should political tension increase, it could adversely affect the economy and destabilize the region as a whole. Additionally, escalated tensions involving North Korea and any outbreak of hostilities involving North Korea could have a severe adverse effect on Japan’s economy. Japan’s geography also subjects it to an increased risk of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, typhoons and tsunamis, all of which could negatively impact the Fund’s investments.LARGE CAPITALIZATION COMPANIES RISK. 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.LOW VOLATILITY RISK. Although subject to the risks of common stocks, low volatility stocks are seen as having a lower risk profile than the overall markets. However, a portfolio comprised of low volatility stocks may not produce investment exposure that has lower variability to changes in such stocks’ price levels. Low volatility stocks are likely to underperform the broader market during periods of rapidly rising stock prices when market volatility is high. Low volatility stocks also may not protect against market declines.MARKET MAKER 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 markers. 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. The Fund may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers 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 discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory 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, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund and its investments. For example, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, has had negative impacts, and in many cases severe impacts, on markets worldwide. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused prolonged disruptions to the normal business operations of companies around the world and the impact of such disruptions is hard to predict. Such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. Such events could adversely affect the prices and liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio securities or other instruments and could result in disruptions in the trading markets. Any of such circumstances could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares and 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.NEW FUND RISK. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected.NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. The Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.NON-DIVERSIFICATION RISK. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in a limited number of issuers. As a result, the Fund may be more susceptible to a single adverse economic or regulatory occurrence affecting one or more of these issuers, experience increased volatility and be highly invested in certain issuers.NON-U.S. SECURITIES RISK. Non-U.S. securities are subject to higher volatility than securities of domestic issuers due to possible adverse political, social or economic developments, restrictions on foreign investment or exchange of securities, capital controls, lack of liquidity, currency exchange rates, excessive taxation, government seizure of assets, the imposition of sanctions by foreign governments, different legal or accounting standards, and less government supervision and regulation of securities exchanges in foreign countries.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. Although the Fund and the Advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.PASSIVE INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund is not actively managed. The Fund invests in securities included in or representative of the Index regardless of investment merit. The Fund generally will not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. In the event that the Index is no longer calculated, the Index license is terminated or the identity or character of the Index is materially changed, the Fund will seek to engage a replacement index.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.REIT RISK. REITs typically own and operate income-producing real estate, such as residential or commercial buildings, or real-estate related assets. As a result, investments in REITs are subject to the risks associated with investing in real estate, which may include, but are not limited to: fluctuations in the value of underlying properties; defaults by borrowers or tenants; market saturation; changes in general and local operating expenses; and other economic, political or regulatory occurrences affecting companies in the real estate sector. REITs are also subject to the risk that the real estate market may experience an economic downturn generally, which may have a material effect on the real estate in which the REITs invest and their underlying portfolio securities. REITs may have also a relatively small market capitalization which may result in their shares experiencing less market liquidity and greater price volatility than larger companies. Increases in interest rates typically lower the present value of a REIT's future earnings stream, and may make financing property purchases and improvements more costly. Because the market price of REIT stocks may change based upon investors' collective perceptions of future earnings, the value of the Fund will generally decline when investors anticipate or experience rising interest rates. REITs are pooled investment vehicles that have their own expenses. As a shareholder in a REIT, the Fund bears its ratable share of the REIT’s expenses, subjecting Fund shareholders to additional expenses.SIGNIFICANT EXPOSURE RISK. To the extent that the Fund invests a large percentage of its assets in a single asset class or industry or sector, an adverse economic, business or political development may affect the value of the Fund’s investments more than if the Fund were more broadly diversified. A significant exposure makes the Fund more susceptible to any single occurrence and may subject the Fund to greater market risk than a fund that is more broadly diversified.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.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading] rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading <span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.90pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0%;">Performance</span>
Performance Narrative [Text Block] rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock The Fund does not have a performance history. Once available, the Fund’s performance information, and information that gives some indication of the risks of an investment in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual returns for 1, 5, and 10 years compare with those of a broad measure of market performance, will be available on the Fund’s website at www.ftportfolios.com. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
First Trust International Developed Capital Strength ETF | First Trust International Developed Capital Strength ETF  
Risk Return Abstract rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price) rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice none
Management Fees rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets 0.70%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets none
Other Expenses rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets none [1]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses rr_ExpensesOverAssets 0.70%
1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01 $ 72
3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03 $ 224
[1] “Other Expenses” is an estimate based on the expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year.