The difference between the total return and price versions of the index is that the total return versions accounts for reinvestment of dividends. The difference between the full capitalization, float-adjusted, and equal weight versions is in how the index components are weighted. The full cap index uses the total shares outstanding for each company. The float-adjusted index uses shares adjusted for free float. The equal-weighted index assigns each security in the index the same weight. Calculation Let: M = Number of issues included in the index; Pi = Price of one share of issue i included in the index; Ni = Number of shares of issue i for the full capitalization version, or the float of issue i for the float-adjusted version; = a fixed scaling factor. The value of the index is then: At present, one index point corresponds to a little more than US$1 billion of market capitalization. The list of issues included in the index is updated monthly to add new listings resulting from corporate spin-offs and initial public offerings, and to remove issues which move to the pink sheets or that have ceased trading for at least 10 consecutive days. Alternatives The CRSP U.S. Total Market Index (ticker CRSPTM1) is a very similar comprehensive index of U.S. stocks supplied by the Center for Research in Security Prices. It was especially designed for use by index funds. After Dow Jones and Wilshire split up, Dow Jones made their own total stock market index, called the Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index, similar to the Wilshire 5000. Of the popular indexes, the Wilshire 5000 has been found to be the best index to use as a benchmark for US stock valuations. See also Wilshire 4500 Russell 3000 Dow Jones & Company News Corporation NASDAQ OMX NYSE Euronext S&P 1500 References External links Wilshire 5000 Family Yahoo! Finance page for W5000 American stock market indices