Understanding Ticker Symbols and Their History in Finance
A Ticker Symbol is a unique code used by stock exchanges to identify companies quickly. Originally used in the late 1800s for telegraph communication, ticker symbols have evolved to become essential for electronic trading. Learn where to find ticker symbols and why they are essential in the world of finance.
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Ticker Symbol Personal Finance Lab
Ticker Symbol 101 What? A Ticker Symbol is a unique one to five letter code used by the stock exchanges to identify a company. It is called a ticker symbol because the stock quotes used to be printed on a ticker tape machine. Why? We use ticker Symbols because they are a quick way to identify a company instead of writing or saying the company's full name. The problem with this is that Ticker Symbols do not match directly with a company's name. Examples WMT is the symbol for WalMart symbol for SouthWest Airlines BUD is the symbol for Anheuser-Busch AAPL is the symbol for Apple, Inc. LUV is the HOG is the symbol for Harley Davidson F is the symbol for Ford
Ticker History Late 1800 s During this time, they needed a fast way to move news across far distances; they used telegraph lines to transmit messages electronically. However, with a telegraph machine, each letter of the message had to be spelled out in Morse Code (a series of dots and dashes). In order to make this process faster they started to use abbreviated names or ticker symbols to represent businesses. Electronic Trading Even with computers, if you use a shorter way to represent the company, the computer can process the information faster. Also some companies have more than one stock. For example, Google has stock both under the symbol GOOG and GOOGL . These stocks are very similar, but they were issued at different times and have different prices, since each share represented a different slice of the company.
Where to Find Ticker Symbol On most financial websites, you will find a QUOTES or GET QUOTES link. When you click on those links, it will take you to a stock quote screen. Or you can simply look the ticker symbol up on the Personal Finance Lab website
