The FT Wilshire 5000 at 50

The Wilshire 5000, now known as the FT Wilshire 5000, was launched in 1974 to meet the growing need from institutional asset owners to gauge the performance of the entire US stock market.

When first launched there were few ways to understand the financial strength and performance of the US stock market. Quickly redefining how all investors view and measure the market, the FT Wilshire 5000 also helped tell the story of American Capitalism through 50 years of bull markets and bubbles, bear markets and recessions, economic regimes, and political cycles. And while the story continues to be told, the US equity market looks markedly different than it did 50 years ago.  

 From a peak of 7,378 listed stocks in March 1998 the number has almost halved to 3,407 at the end of 2023. This halving in addition to an increase in stock concentration has produced significant structure changes to the US equity market. Distorting the view of the performance of large and small stocks – new market dynamics are making legacy count-based US equity indexes significantly less representative of the market segments they were originally designed to cover. 

 As a result, global investors needed a benchmark that reflects the evolution of the US market -- a world-class index that meets all the standards required by institutional investors but constructed to address the shortcomings of the legacy products. Leveraging Wilshire Indexes heritage of innovation, the FT Wilshire 5000 transformed to meet the new market dynamics and needs of all investors.  

Today, the FT Wilshire 5000, the original measure of the total US equity market, has been rebuilt to reflect markets reshaped by change.

The FT Wilshire 5000: The clear alternative for US equity investors