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Indexes
16 guides in Finabase Learn
- Advance-decline line A running total of advancing minus declining stocks each day, used to check whether an index move is broadly supported.
- Benchmark A standard, usually an index, against which the performance of a portfolio, fund or manager is measured.
- Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) A price-weighted index of 30 large US companies, first published in 1896 and the oldest widely followed US stock average.
- Exchange-traded fund (ETF) A fund that holds a basket of assets and trades on an exchange like a stock throughout the day, usually tracking an index.
- Index fund A mutual fund or ETF that aims to match the return of a market index by holding its constituents, usually at low cost.
- Large-cap stock A stock of a company with a large market value, commonly defined as $10 billion or more.
- Market breadth How many stocks are participating in a market move, measured with advancers versus decliners or the share above a moving average.
- Market index A calculated value that tracks a group of securities, such as the S&P 500, used as a benchmark and as the basis for index funds.
- Mid-cap stock A stock of a company with a medium market value, commonly between about $2 billion and $10 billion.
- Nasdaq A US electronic stock exchange, home to many technology companies, and the name of its main indexes such as the Nasdaq-100.
- Nasdaq-100 An index of about 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq, weighted by modified market cap.
- Russell 2000 FTSE Russell’s benchmark of about 2,000 US small-cap stocks, the smallest members of the Russell 3000; reconstituted twice a year from 2026.
- S&P 500 S&P Dow Jones Indices’ float-weighted index of 500 leading US companies, the most widely used benchmark for US large-cap stocks.
- Small-cap stock A company with a relatively small stock-market value, often roughly $300 million to $2 billion, though index providers draw the lines differently.
- Stock market indexes: S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq and Russell explained How the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq-100 and Russell indexes are built and weighted, with worked examples and five years of index-ETF data.
- VIX Cboe's volatility index, computed from S&P 500 option prices, measuring the market's expected 30-day volatility; often called the fear gauge.
Educational content, not investment advice. Finabase Learn explains how markets and tools work. It does not recommend any security or strategy, and examples are for illustration only. Investing involves risk, including the loss of principal. Rules and figures are for the United States unless stated and can change — check the cited source before you act.