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DAX

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Original synthesis to sit alongside the encyclopedia article below. Not part of Wikipedia; verify facts on Wikipedia when precision matters.

DAX, officially the Deutscher Aktienindex, is the primary blue-chip stock market index for the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in Germany, operated by Deutsche Börse Group. It tracks the performance of the 40 largest and most actively traded German companies, serving as a key benchmark for the German and European equity markets.

Key moments

  • 1987First announced as a replacement for older Frankfurt-based stock indices
  • July 1, 1988Officially launched with a baseline value of 1000 points
  • 2021Expanded from 30 to 40 component stocks to broaden coverage
  • 2025Updated weighting rules to cap single-stock influence at 10% of the index

Core Significance

The DAX is widely viewed as a barometer of the German economy, as its component firms represent over 80% of the total market capitalization of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Many of its constituent companies are global industrial leaders, including automotive firms like BMW and Mercedes-Benz, chemical makers BASF, and technology firm SAP.

Unique Characteristics

Unlike many price-only indices, the DAX uses a total return calculation methodology, which includes both share price changes and reinvested dividends from component stocks. It uses free-float market capitalization weighting, with a 10% cap per stock to prevent excessive single-stock volatility from skewing the index.

Global Impact

As a leading European stock index, the DAX influences global investor sentiment toward the Eurozone economy. Movements in the DAX often correlate with changes in euro exchange rates, European bond yields, and broader global equity market trends, due to the international revenue base of most of its component companies.

The DAX (Deutscher Aktienindex (German stock index); ) is a stock market index consisting of the 40 major German blue chip companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. It is a total return index. Prices are taken from the Xetra trading venue. According to Deutsche Börse, the operator of Xetra, DAX measures the performance of the Prime Standard's 40 largest German companies in terms of order book volume and market capitalization.[2] DAX is the equivalent of the UK FTSE 100 and the US Dow Jones Industrial Average, and because of its small company selection it does not necessarily represent the vitality of the German economy as a whole.

The L-DAX Index is an indicator of the German benchmark DAX index's performance after the Xetra trading venue closes based on the floor trading at the Börse Frankfurt trading venue. The L-DAX Index basis is the "floor" trade (Parketthandel) at the Frankfurt stock exchange; it is computed daily between 09:00 and 17:45 Hours CET.[3] The L/E-DAX index (Late/Early DAX) is calculated from 17:55 to 22:00 CET and from 08:00 to 09:00 CET. The Eurex, a European electronic futures and options exchange based in Zurich, Switzerland with a subsidiary in Frankfurt, Germany, offers options (ODAX) and Futures (FDAX) on the DAX from 01:10 to 22:00 CET or from 02:10 to 22:00 CEST.[4]

The Base date for the DAX is 30 December 1987, and it was started from a base value of 1,000. The Xetra technology calculates the index every second since 1 January 2006.

On 24 Nov 2020, Deutsche Börse announced an expansion of the DAX from 30 to 40 members and a tightening of rules in response to the Wirecard accounting scandal.[5] The expansion occurred in the 3rd quarter of 2021.[6]

Versions

The DAX has two versions, called performance index and price index, depending on whether dividends are counted. The performance index, which measures total return, is the more commonly quoted, however the price index is more similar to commonly quoted indexes in other countries.

Contract specifications

DAX futures are traded on the Deutsche Borse Indices & ETF exchange (DBIndex). The contract specifications for the DAX Combined Index (ticker symbol DAXA) are listed below:

Price history

On 16 March 2015, the performance index first closed above 12,000.[8]

Record values

Annual returns

The following collapsible table shows the annual development of the DAX, calculated retroactively up to 1950.[11][12]

Components

Below is the list of companies which are a component of the DAX 40, as of 22 September 2025. The current stock prices and list of DAX companies are available from financial websites.[13][14] The index weighting refers to the DAX performance index.[15]

Former DAX components

This table lists former DAX components and the companies which replaced them.

See also

  • Stock market lists
  • List of stock exchanges
  • List of European stock exchanges
  • Other lists
  • List of largest German companies
  • Other stock market indices
  • List of stock market indices
  • CDAX, every listed German company
  • HDAX, union of DAX, MDAX and TecDAX (successor to DAX 100, and equivalent of the FTSE 100 or the S&P 100)
  • MDAX, the next 50 largest companies after the DAX
  • SDAX, the next 70 largest companies after the MDAX
  • ÖkoDAX, top 10 companies in renewable energy
  • TecDAX, top 30 companies trading in the "new economy"

External links

References

  1. 1-DAX (DAXNR) (DE000A1A4D00) STOXX^
  2. DAX deutsche-boerse.com, retrieved 1 April 2007^
  3. Trading Parameter Xetra Frankfurt Xetra, 23 November 2020^
  4. Extension of trading hours for selected benchmark futures and MSCI futures Eurex Exchange, 15 November 2018^
  5. Germany's DAX to expand to 40 members from 30 in index shake-up 24 November 2020, retrieved 20 May 2021^
  6. Shriya Ramakrishnan, Shivani Kumaresan. Germany's DAX index gets shake-up in wake of Wirecard scandal – Metro US metro.us, 24 November 2020, retrieved 20 May 2021^
  7. Historical DAX Combined Index Intraday Data (DAXA) PortaraCQG, retrieved 2022-09-30^
  8. Dax breaks 12,000 barrier Financial Times^
  9. Europe stocks close up, Germany's DAX at record high as investors eye U.S.-China trade talks CNBC, 9 May 2025^
  10. DAX Performance Index (^GDAXI) Yahoo Finance, retrieved 9 May 2025^
  11. Index DAX (846900) 2010-10-19, retrieved 2020-01-20^
  12. DAX. DAX Digital dax-indices.com, retrieved 2020-01-20^
  13. DAX 30 Liste finanzen.net, retrieved 2019-09-24^
  14. DAX 30 Liste: Dax Realtime-Kursliste boerse.de, retrieved 2019-09-24^
  15. dax-indices.com. Index Composition Report retrieved 2020-10-17^
  16. Deutsche Börse: [http://deutsche-boerse.com/dbag/dispatch/de/notescontent/gdb_navigation/press/10_Latest_Press_Releases/10_All/INTEGRATE/mr_pressreleases?notesDoc=92B7DA7B354D09EAC12573D5004E4579&newstitle=deutscheboerseabdem23.dezember&location=press Deutsche Börse ab dem 23. Dezember im DAX] Pressemitteilung, 12. November 2002^
  17. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: Merck ersetzt Altana im DAX^
  18. Deutsche Börse: K+S ersetzt TUI in DAX Pressemitteilung, 3 September 2008^
  19. Fresenius und Hannover Rück steigen in Dax auf Handelsblatt, 2009-03-04, retrieved 2021-06-24^
  20. Sep 2019 Media release^
  21. Deutsche Lufthansa to leave Germany's DAX Index Marketwatch, 5 June 2020, retrieved 5 June 2020^
  22. Unscheduled Component Change in DAXSelection Indices STOXX, 19 August 2020^
  23. Composition Changes for DAX, MDAX, SDAX and TecDAX Indices STOXX, 3 March 2021^
  24. Unscheduled Component Change of DAX Index STOXX Ltd, 17 February 2023, retrieved 26 February 2025^
  25. Rheinmetall schafft Sprung in den Dax Der Spiegel, 4 March 2023, retrieved 26 February 2025^
  26. Unscheduled component changes in DAX, MDAX and SDAX (December 19, 2024) STOXX, 19 December 2024, retrieved 26 April 2025^