The Russell 2000 Index is a

small-cap A small cap company is a company whose market capitalization ( shares x value of each share) is considered small. In the United States, this includes market caps from $250 million to $2 billion (as of 2022). Overview A small cap company typicall ...

U.S.

stock market index In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an Index (economics), index that measures the performance of a stock market, or of a subset of a stock market. It helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calcul ...

that makes up the smallest 2,000 stocks in the Russell Index. It was started by the

Frank Russell Company Frank, FRANK, or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a Germanic people in late Roman times * Franks, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusa ...

in 1984. The index is maintained by

FTSE Russell FTSE Russell is a subsidiary of London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) that produces, maintains, licenses, and markets stock market indices. The division is notable for the FTSE 100 Index in the UK and the Russell 2000 Index in the US, among others. ...

, a subsidiary of the

London Stock Exchange Group London Stock Exchange Group plc, also known as LSEG, is a global provider of financial markets data and infrastructure headquartered in London, England. It owns the London Stock Exchange (on which it is also listed), Refinitiv, LSEG Technol ...

(LSEG).

Overview

The Russell 2000 is by far the most common benchmark for

mutual fund A mutual fund is an investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase Security (finance), securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV in ...

s that identify themselves as "

", while the

S&P 500 The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 leading companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices and in ...

index is used primarily for large capitalization stocks. It is the most widely quoted measure of the overall performance of small-cap to mid-cap company shares. It is commonly considered an indicator of the U.S. economy due to its focus on small-cap companies in the U.S. market. The index represents approximately 7% of the total market capitalization of the

Russell 3000 Index The Russell 3000 Index is a capitalization-weighted stock market index that seeks to be a benchmark of the entire U.S. stock market. It measures the performance of the 3,000 largest publicly held companies incorporated in the United States as m ...

. , the weighted average market capitalization of a company in the index is approximately $3.65 billion and the median market capitalization is approximately $0.99 billion. The market capitalization of the largest company in the index is approximately $14.72 billion. It first traded above the 1,000 level on May 20, 2013, and above the 2,000 level on December 23, 2020. Similar small-cap indices include the

S&P 600 The S&P SmallCap 600 Index (S&P 600) is a stock market index established by S&P Global Ratings. It covers roughly the small-cap range of American stocks, using a capitalization-weighted index. To be included in the index, a stock must have a to ...

from

Standard & Poor's S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is co ...

, which is less commonly used, along with those from other financial information providers.

Record values

Annual returns

Investing

Many fund companies offer

s and

exchange-traded fund An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund that is also an exchange-traded product, i.e., it is traded on stock exchanges. ETFs own financial assets such as stocks, bonds, currencies, debts, futures contracts, and/or comm ...

s (ETFs) that attempt to replicate the performance of the Russell 2000. Their results will be affected by stock selection, trading expenses, and

market impact In financial markets, market impact is the effect that a market participant has when it buys or sells an asset. It is the extent to which the buying or selling moves the price against the buyer or seller, i.e., upward when buying and downward whe ...

of reacting to changes in the constituent companies of the index. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.

References

External links