What is market cap?
Market cap (short for market capitalisation) is what the whole company costs on the exchange right now: the share price times the number of shares. If a share costs 200 and there are 50 million shares, the market cap is 10 billion. It is the number that decides whether a company is big or small — not the share price. A share at 5,000 can be a small company, and a share at 50 can be a giant.
Why the share price says nothing about size
Company A: price 1,000, 1 million shares → market cap 1 billion.
Company B: price 20, 500 million shares → market cap 10 billion.
B is ten times the size of A, even though its share costs one fiftieth. The price is just what one piece costs — and the company decides itself how many pieces it is cut into. That is why you can never say a stock is "cheap" because the price is low.
Large, mid and small cap
- Large cap: Typically over 10 billion dollars. Apple, Novo Nordisk, Nestlé. Stable, heavily traded, in every index.
- Mid cap: About 2–10 billion dollars. Established, but with more room to grow — and to fall.
- Small cap: Under 2 billion dollars. Bigger swings, wider spread, less coverage.
The boundaries are not fixed, and they are in dollars because they come from the US. By the standards of a small country, a company worth 1 billion dollars is big — in the US it is small.
What market cap is used for
It is the basis of most indices: the bigger the market cap, the more weight. And it is the numerator in key figures such as P/S — "what does the whole company cost relative to the whole revenue". Market cap is not the same as what the company "is worth" on paper; it is what the market will pay today. Tomorrow it may be something else.
The typical beginner's mistake
Picking a stock because it "only costs 12" and therefore "has more room to rise" than one at 1,200. The price per piece says nothing. A company at 12 per share can be more expensive than one at 1,200 — it depends on the number of shares and on what the company earns.
How you see it in Kiggo
Kiggo shows the market cap on every stock and translates it into words — "one of the largest companies in the country" or "small company" — so you do not need to remember the boundaries. Kiggo's heat map draws every company as a tile whose size is its market cap. So you see at a glance who dominates the index.
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate market cap?
Share price times number of shares. The number is in the company's accounts and at most providers. Kiggo shows the figure ready-made.
Is a high market cap good?
It means big — not good or bad. Big companies are typically more stable and easier to trade; small ones can grow more, but also fall more.
What is the difference between market cap and equity?
Equity is the company's book value — assets minus debt in the accounts. Market cap is what the exchange will pay. The ratio between them is the P/B ratio.
Kiggo explains — Kiggo does not advise. We never tell you what to buy or sell, and key figures can only be compared between companies in the same industry. The decision is yours. Last updated 2026-09-23.
Written by Claus Frisch, founder of Kiggo. Not an adviser, not a bank — Kiggo explains, you decide.
