Stock Ticker Symbols Can Reveal A Lot About The Company!

Stock ticker symbols are used to identify individual stocks with three to five letter codes

. These letters are usually alphabets. Many novice investors don't know the fact that many secrets are hidden in these symbols. By just looking at these symbols you can know about the company, it's nationality or it's parent country, where it gets traded like NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX and others and most important the financial health of the company.In the past each stock exchange in US had its own stock ticker symbols. This would confuse investors and traders a lot. Standardized symbols were introduced by Standard & Poor as a way to clear that confusion when referring to stocks. Hey, this is the same Standard & Poor that maintains the S&P 500 Stock Index, considered to be the barometer of US economy.Now, when we see MSFT on CNBC or for that matter Bloomberg TV, we immediately recognize Microsoft. Similarly when we come across GOOG, we immediately recognize the internet giant GOOGLE!In 2007, things changes again with a new SEC ruling. Previously, the length of the stock ticker symbol would tell where it got traded. For example, NYSE or AMEX had a three letter stock ticker symbol system. NASDAQ had a four to five letter stock ticker symbol system.What this new SEC ruling did was it allowed the companies to change the exchange where it's stocks got traded while keeping the old ticker symbol. Now, you will find the stock exchange also listed with the stock ticker symbol. For example you will often see ticker symbols like these NASDAQ:MSFT. This symbol tells you that the microsoft stocks get traded on NASDAQ.Sometimes, you will come accross stock ticker symbols that have five letters. Why this is done?This is done to alert the investors and traders that the company has not filed its reports with SEC. This is an important message to the market that the company is facing problems and is unable to compile with the mandatory filing of financial reports with SEC. Once this message goes accross to the market, you can imagine what can happen. Clearly the stock price will take a plunge. So not filing a timely report with SEC is like committing financial suicide.Penny stocks that trade on pink sheets or OTCBB ( Over the Counter Bulletin Board) also add a fifth letter code to the ticker symbol whenever applicable. NYSE does not add an additional letter to its three letter stock ticker symbol. What NYSE does is to use behind the dot codes that follow the regular ticker symbol.


Stock Ticker Symbols Can Reveal A Lot About The Company!

By: Ahmad Hassam

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