Russell 2000 Index

The Russell 2000 Index is a small-cap stock market index of the bottom 2,000 stocks in the Russell 3000 Index.

The Russell 2000 is by far the most common benchmark for mutual funds that identify themselves as "small-cap", while the S&P 500 index is used primarily for large capitalization stocks. It is the most widely quoted measure of the overall performance of the small-cap to mid-cap company shares. The index represents approximately 8% of the total market capitalization of the Russell 3000 Index. The average market capitalization for a company in the index is around $1.26 billion. The median market cap is around $528 million. The market cap of the largest company in the index is around $5.0 billion. Its first trades above the 1,000 level occurred May 21-22, 2013.