Equal Weight A type of weighting that gives the same weight, or importance, to each stock in a portfolio or index fund. The smallest companies are given equal weight to the largest companies in an equal-weight index fund or portfolio. This allows all of the companies to be considered on an even playing field. Investopedia Says: The Rydex S&P Equal Weight Exchange Traded Fund, for example, provides the same exposure to the smallest companies in the S&P 500 as it does to corporate giants such as General Electric and Exxon.
Equal weighting differs from the weighting method more commonly-used by funds and portfolios in which stocks are weighted based on their market capitalizations. Equal-weighted index funds tend to have higher stock turnover than market-cap weighted index funds and, as a result, they usually have higher trading costs. Related Terms: Enterprise Value - EV Index Market Capitalization Price-Weighted Index Standard & Poor's 500 Index - S&P 500 Weighted Average Market Capitalization |