It is made up of the share prices for 500 of the largest companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

[2] The market capitalisation of the companies included in the All Ords index amounts to over 95% of the value of all shares listed on the ASX.

When established, the All Ords had a base index of 500; this means that if the index is currently at 5000 points, the nominal value of stocks in the All Ords in Australian dollars has increased tenfold since January 1980.

On 3 April 2000, the All Ords was restructured to consist of the 500 largest companies by market capitalisation.

The importance of the All Ords has been significantly lessened by the introduction of these new indices.