The Russell 2000 Index is a

small-cap Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by ...

stock market index In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures a stock market, or a subset of the stock market, that helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market performance. Two of the ...

that makes up the smallest 2,000 stocks in the

Russell 3000 Index The Russell 3000 Index is a Capitalization-weighted index, capitalization-weighted stock market index that seeks to be a benchmarking, benchmark of the entire Stock markets in the United States, U.S stock market. It measures the performance of the ...

. It was started by the Frank Russell Company 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 FTSE 100 Index, Russell 2000 Index, among other indices. The brand and division ...

, a subsidiary of the

London Stock Exchange Group London Stock Exchange Group plc (LSEG) is a United Kingdom-based stock exchange and financial information company headquartered in the City of London, England. It owns the London Stock Exchange (on which it is also listed), Refinitiv, LSEG Te ...

(LSEG).

Overview

The Russell 2000 is by far the most common benchmark for

mutual fund A mutual fund is a professionally managed investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV i ...

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 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices. As of D ...

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 10% of the total market capitalization of the

. , the weighted average market capitalization for a company in the index is around $3.1 billion; the median market cap is $1.0 billion. The market cap of the largest company in the index is $10.1 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 Standard & Poor's. 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 total ...

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 con ...

, 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 and exchange-traded product, i.e. they are traded on stock exchanges. ETFs are similar in many ways to mutual funds, except that ETFs are bought and sold from other owners throughout the ...

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 when ...

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

References

External links