Stock market symbols

Shares of companies traded on stock exchange are identified by stock market symbols.

Such stock market symbol is known also as stock ticker. This is mnemonic to identify shares of publicly traded company .

Example: MSFT is ticker for shares of Microsoft Corporation traded on Nasdaq.

Symbol is unique for one stock exchange. It means that MSFT is ticker for Nasdaq stock exchange. But Microsoft shares traded on Deutsche Boerse in Frankfurt, Germany have ticker MSF.

Most common rule for US stock markets is also that stocks listed on Nasdaq have symbols of 4 characters (MSFT, YHOO, EBAY...).

And stocks primarily listed on NYSE have tickers from 1 to 3 characters (A, PG, BAC ...)

It does not mean that stocks listed on Nyse are not traded on Nasdaq exchange. Today all stock exchanges in US are interconnected and you can trade Nasdaq listed stock also on Nyse or Amex stock exchanges. And also Nyse listed stocks on Nasdaq.

If you are not sure what is stock ticker for any company, use free tools like Yahoo finance or Quote.com sites.

And also your broker or real time data provider should allow to search stock ticker in their software.

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