Ticker Symbols for Stocks What Are Stock Symbols? Stock symbols are simply abbreviations of a corporation's name that became popular when stock prices were monitored by a ticker - a moving piece of tape on which stock prices were orinally recorded as transmitted from the stock exchange. Usually stock symbols are alphabetical (punctuation may be added to denote special classes of stock) and are 1 to 5 characters in length. You may already know these examples of common stock symbols: GM = General Motors IBM = International Business Machines C = Chrysler MSFT = Microsoft Corporation Preferred stocks are a special class of stocks that give no voting power in governance to a stockholder, but can provide preferential returns. These stocks are designed by a trailing '-', followed by optional "class" letters. For example: AA- = Alumunium Company of America's preferred stock selling at $3.75 Pfd. FCX-A = Freept-McMo Cp/Gld'B'Dep Pfd Some stocks have multiple "classes", such as Class A or Class B. These classes are represented with a '.' followed by the class letter. BF.A = Brown-Froman Inc. Class A PLA.A = Playboy Enterprises Class A Warrants, which are similar to options, have a trailing '+': DGC+ = Digicon Inc. Wrrts DKT+ = Dakota Mining Wrrt Differences Across the Stock Exchanges Some exchanges do something a little differently, for example: New York Stock Exchange "Root" symbols for NYSE stocks are always 1-3 letters. There may be added characters, as described above, to denote other classes than common stock. American Stock Exchange "Root" symbols for AMEX stocks are always 3 letters. There may be added characters, as described above, to denote other classes than common stock. The NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. Symbols for NASDAQ stocks are always 4-5 letters. The fifth letter is never an 'X', to avoid naming conflicts with Mutual and Money Market Funds. Instead, the fifth letter may be one of these letters: A Class A B Class B C Exempt from NASDAQ listing qualifications for a limited period D New issue of an existing stock E Delinquent in required filings with SEC F Foreign G First convertible bond H Second convertible bond, same company I Third comvertible bond, same company J Voting K Non-voting L Miscellaneous situations, including second class units, third class of warrants, or sixth class of preferred stock M Fourth preferred, same company N Third preferred, same company O Second preferred, same company P First preferred, same company Q In bankruptcy proceedings R Rights S Shares of beneficial interest T With warrants or rights U Units V When issued and when distributed W Warrants Y American Depositary Receipt (ADR) Z Miscellaneous situations, including second class of warrants, fifth class of preferred stock and any unit, receipt or certificate representing a limited partnership interest NASDAQ Bulletin Board Symbols for NASDAQ Bulletin Board stocks are always 4-5 letters. You must use the exchange abbreviation BB: before the symbols itself. U.S. Mutual Funds All Mutual fund symbols are five letters long. The fifth letter is always an 'X'. The fourth letter is never an 'X', to avoid confusion with the symbols for Money Market Funds. U.S. Money Market Funds All Money Market symbols are five letters long. Both the fourth and fifth letters are 'X'.