Ticker symbol definition

A ticker symbol is the short code that identifies a listed security on a stock exchange. It is the unique shorthand you type to find, quote, or trade a particular share, made up of a few letters.

Exchanges assign the symbols, which typically run from one to five letters, and the same company can carry different tickers on different exchanges. Suffixes and extra letters can flag a specific share class or listing, so a single company with more than one class of stock can trade under more than one symbol.

A ticker symbol is not the company's legal name, nor is it a permanent global identifier like an ISIN or CUSIP, which are longer codes used for settlement and record-keeping. The ticker is the trading-screen label: compact, exchange-specific, and built for speed of quoting rather than for legal precision.

Ticker symbol Example

You want to trade Apple, so you search its ticker symbol, AAPL, rather than typing the full company name. A few common US tickers:

- Apple: AAPL - Microsoft: MSFT - Amazon: AMZN

Watch the share classes: Alphabet trades as both GOOGL (Class A, with votes) and GOOG (Class C, without votes), so the symbol you pick decides exactly which security you buy.