Russell 2000 Derivatives

Tweet

---

The Russell 2000 Index was created in 1984 by Frank Russell Company and was designed to track the performance of small-cap companies. Russell 2000 Index ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) and option (RUT), trading exclusively at the Chicago Board Options Exchange, make it simple to participate in the small-cap market.

The Russell 2000 focuses on smaller capitalization companies and is quite diversified. This is the most quoted index that focuses on the smaller company portion of the economy.

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) & iShares, Options & Futures Trading / Futures Contracts

Securities	Issuer	Type	Symbol / Root
Russell 2000 Growth Index Fund	AMEX	ETF	IWO
Russell 2000 Index Fund	AMEX	ETF	IWM
Russell 2000 Value Index Fund	AMEX	ETF	IWN
Russell 2000 Index "MITTS"	Merrill Lynch	ETF	RSM
Russell 2000 Index "MITTS"	Merrill Lynch	ETF	RUM
Russell 2000 Index Options	CBOE	Options	RUT
Russell 2000	CME	Options on Futures	RL
Russell 2000	CME	Futures	RL

The popularity of the Russell 2000 as a small-cap benchmark leads to four fundamental reasons for using RUT options:

About Russell 2000 Index Funds & ETFs

Investors are able to trade a broad market by making one Russell 2000 Index ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) trading decision rather than making the many decisions involved with investing in numerous individual stocks.

Insurance

Russell 2000 Index ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) offer a convenient and easy way to help reduce the market risk of a broad market portfolio of many small-cap stocks, without disrupting the make-up of the portfolio.

Leverage

Purchasing Russell 2000 Index ETFs, instead of buying or selling thousands of individual stocks, provides an investor with an additional opportunity to use investment capital elsewhere. For a relatively small percentage gain in the underlying index, a Russell 2000 Index ETFs can increase in value by a multiple of that gain.