The DAX (Deutscher Aktien Index) is a German blue-chip stock market index that tracks the performance of the 40 largest and most liquid German companies that trade on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The index was created in 1988 with a starting index level of 1,163 points, and it is calculated every second based on Xetra technology. The prices used to calculate the DAX Index come through Xetra, an electronic trading system, and a free-float methodology is used to calculate the index weightings along with a measure of the average trading volume. The DAX is a prominent benchmark for German and European stocks, listing major companies by liquidity and market capitalization, and an indicator of trends in Germanys economy. The DAX is a very concentrated index holding only blue-chip companies that are very large and successful, and it is very similar to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) . The DAX is usually considered a performance index, and it is well diversified across sectors and generally covers over three-quarters of the aggregated market cap of companies listed on the Regulated Market of FWB.