What Is a Ticker?
A ticker is a symbol used to represent a publicly traded company or security on an exchange. It is typically composed of four or five letters and can be found in financial publications, such as newspapers and websites. The purpose of the ticker is to provide investors with quick access to information about the stock’s performance, including its current price, trading volume, and other relevant data. Tickers are also used by traders for tracking stocks they are interested in buying or selling.
Ticker symbols vary from one market to another; for example, Apple Inc.’s NASDAQ-listed shares have the ticker AAPL while its NYSE-listed shares have the ticker APPL. Additionally, some companies may use different tickers when their securities trade on multiple exchanges; this allows them to track each listing separately without confusion. For instance, Microsoft Corporation has MSFT listed on both NASDAQ and NYSE but uses MSFTV for its preferred stock that trades only on Nasdaq Global Select Market (NGSM).