Have you ever watched the news and seen these small running numbers next to letters and wondered what they mean… This article will answer the question of What is a stock ticker symbol? and more!

I know long ago I asked myself the same question, So here’s the explanation – 

“Ticker”

First of all stock symbols, also referred to as stock tickers are a unique combination of letters used to identify the company on the stock market, It’s simply the public company name. 

It can consist of 1 letter or more and it’s usually up to 5 letters.

For instance, Visa (yea the company that’s on your credit card) has a Ticker symbol of “V” and if you search “V” in the stock exchange you will be greeted with Visa stock. 

On the other hand, you also have “APPL” as a Ticker which is Apple, But don’t get confused with “APLE” which is a completely different company. 

So as you can see each public company has its special symbol and can be identified on the stock market by this combination of letters. 

Now, When we look at the news and see running numbers that usually come next to symbols like “NASDAQ” or “DOW” and others of the sort it can also mean an INDEX rather than just one company,

Now let’s quickly digest what we see just so we can get the meaning behind the numbers. 

Green numbers usually mean that it was a positive period for the company or asset.

While Red numbers mean the opposite and that it was a negative period for the company or asset.

This period is usually that same trading day. 

If a corporation has more than one class of stock that trades on the market, the class will be added to the suffix. If the stock is a preferred stock, the letters “PR” will be shown like this: ABCD.PR

You may also come across some stocks named BRK. A or BRK.B which will mean It’s still the same company but it’s a Class A or Class B share, and different rights may apply to different types of shares. 

There are a lot of different types of shares and meanings after the DOT, But that’s not what you came to learn.

So yea, That’s what a stock ticker symbol is.

Good luck on your quest!