Overview
The United States Wall Street 30 Index, also commonly referred to as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), is the oldest and most prominent stock market index in the world. It is one of the largest, most liquid indexes that provide traders with a plethora of trading opportunities, allowing them to create profitable income streams.
Wall Street was launched in 1885 and it is run by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) alongside the Dow Jones.
What is the US Wall Street Index?
The US Wall Street Index follows the 30 largest United States companies that are publicly owned. Unlike other indexes that are weighted according to the market capitalization of companies, such as the UK100, DES30, and others, the Wall Street Index is price-weighted.
This means that every constituent stock drives the index according to the price per share which means that the higher the price of a share, the more the index’s value is driven upwards. Of the many sectors that are represented in the Wall Street Index, financial services, pharmaceuticals, and technology are some of the most prominent, featuring companies such as Boeing, Visa, and others.
How does the US Wall Street Index work?
The Wall Street Index is price-weighted and therefore the performance of the 30 stocks that are on this index could have a significant impact on the United States stock market overall. Trading activities on the Wall Street Index typically take place between 9:30 am and 4:30 pm during weekdays.
As of November 2025, some of the companies on the DJIA are:
- 3M (MMM) added in 1976
- American Express (AXP) added in 1982
- Amgen (AMGN) added in 2025
- Apple, Inc. (AAPL) added in 2015
- Boeing (BA) added in 1987
- Caterpillar (CAT) added in 1991
- Chevron (CVX) added in 2008
- Cisco Systems (CSCO) added in 2009
- The Coca-Cola Company (KO) added in 1987
- Dow, Inc. (DOW) added in 2019
Forces that drive the Wall Street Index’s Price
The prices of stocks that fall within the Wall Street Index can be influenced by both domestic and international events. For this reason, the Wall Street Index is extremely liquid and a very popular option for traders.
The Wall Street Index is often considered an indicator of the overall US economy, which is the largest economy in the world. Forces that influence prices in this index include the following:
- Policy decisions made by the Federal Open Market Committee
- Overall US Economic Data, such as employment or inflation rates.
- Political events that occur in Washington and/or countries outside of the US
- Shifts in energy prices along with any issues faced with supply and/or demand
What is Indices Trading?
Indices trading refers to the speculation on price movements of individual shares or baskets of shares in an index such as the Wall Street Index. By trading indices, traders can gain more exposure to an entire sector of an overall economy with a single trade.
Indices trading can be done by trading contracts for difference (CFDs), popular financial instruments that allow traders to profit from the rising and falling prices on indices. Traders can execute a short/sell position when they think that the price of a share or the overall index will fall, or they can execute a long/buy position when they expect a share or the index to appreciate.
Traders can participate in indices trading either through index futures or cash indices. Those who have long-term objectives prefer index futures because the overnight funding charge is typically calculated as part of wider spreads.
Index futures are typically traded at the price in the future, agreed upon by traders who take delivery on a future date. Cash indices are preferred by short-term traders, and they receive tighter spreads, with the cash indices traded at the current market price or spot price.
Why should you trade Indices?
By trading the Wall Street Index as a CFD, traders can gain leveraged exposure to the overall United States Stock Market. Through this, the trader can easily track the performance of equities that are listed on the Wall Street Index.
CFDs are based on the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index, or DJIA, providing traders exposure to a cross-section of the entire United States economy, which allows for diversification of the investment and trading portfolio.
When traders use CFD trading on the Wall Street Index instead of investing in a single stock, they can effectively eliminate some inherent risks that come with trading a single stock.
Some of the reasons why so many investors and traders choose indices to include the following:
- Access to 24-hour trading
- A plethora of trading opportunities
- The ability to trade diverse sectors in the US economy
- The ability to go long or short
- The ability to trade at any given time, from anywhere in the world
- Access to global opportunities
Investment Strategies for the Wall Street Index
Investment carries inherent risk despite the investment vessel and there is equal potential for loss as there is for gains. Some of the popular investment strategies for the Wall Street Index include the following:
- Protective Put involves a long position in a Dow Exchange-traded fund (ETF) in addition to buying put options on the same underlying ETF.
- Short-Selling of the Dow ETF and buying the call options of the same underlying ETF.
- A covered call allows investors to generate a decent premium in addition to a long Dow ETF position when they use a covered call strategy. This involves buying the ETF and selling the call options of the same underlying ETF.
- Top Ten requires that the investor invest equal amounts in 10 stocks on the index that have the highest dividend yield at the beginning of the year. The investor then holds these shares until the end of the year when they will subsequently sell their shares, putting their profits towards new stocks for the next year.
Investors who try to forecast the value of the Index to try and identify potential investment opportunities can assess the premiums of options that are tied to the Dow ETF. This allows them to gauge the current view that is tied to the overall volatility that exists in the stock market.
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