Anybody who wants to dabble in stocks will eventually come across stock market symbols, which are as common as the prepositions of a language. Symbols are abbreviations of individual companies and organizations that are on a particular stock market. Each market has its own players or issuers and thus their own symbols.
Stock market symbols, also called as ticker symbols, are used by business news channels, stock exchange tickers on a regular basis. In order to cram more information into the tickers and news flashes and thus increase the information conveyed through them, symbols are a means of information optimization. This is common practice all over the world and although the basic information of the organization name is obtained, some symbols can go over the three-letter standard to include a dot or hyphen and extra one or two letters. These stock market symbols give more than the average information.
Up until 1997, symbols that were below three letters in length signified the fact that they were traded on NYSE or AMEX. Any stocks with one-letter symbols meant that they were traded exclusively on NYSE. Four or more letters meant that they were traded on NASDAQ. Post 1997, new laws that allowed companies to shift between stock markets and the introduction of foreign stocks meant that symbols expressed less information. There was no way of knowing which stock traded on which market.
Presently, stock market symbols that are over three letters in length do give information on the market they trade on by using periods or dots. If there is a dot preceding the last one or two letters then it is a NYSE stock while the absence signifies that it is a NASDAQ stock. More over the last letters also signify the type of stock in such cases as well. The information conveyed can be anything the type of stock to the place it is traded on.
