Common Ticker Symbols in the Stock Market

As you start exploring the stock market, you'll come across a multitude of ticker symbols. Apple, for example, is represented by the symbol AAPL.

In the stock market, ticker symbols are unique codes that identify publicly traded companies. A ticker symbol is essentially a shorthand way to refer to a company's stock.

You might notice that some ticker symbols are longer than others. This is because some companies have subsidiaries or are part of larger conglomerates, resulting in longer symbols like KO (Coca-Cola Company) or MSFT (Microsoft Corporation).

In North America, you can find equities and indices on various exchanges. The symbol suffixes for these exchanges are quite diverse.

The US Equities and Indices Exchanges use a simple :US or no suffix at all. For example, a symbol like AAPL.US or AAPL would be a standard US symbol.

Some exchanges have their own unique suffixes, like Alpha Exchange (APH), Alpha-X and Alpha-DRK (ALX), or ARCA (ARC). You can find these and many more in the table below:

These are just a few examples of the many exchanges and their respective symbol suffixes in North America.

A fifth letter can appear after the main stock ticker symbol on the Nasdaq to denote certain features or limitations of that particular issue of securities.

This letter will appear after a period, in the form XXXX.X, and can provide valuable information about the stock.

For example, if a stock symbol ends with ".W", it means the shares have warrants attached.

A company in bankruptcy proceedings will have a Q after its symbol.

A company that is delinquent in its required SEC filings will have the letter E after its symbol.

The Nasdaq uses a fifth letter to denote special characteristics or limitations of a stock.

Here's a breakdown of some common fifth letter identifiers:

Mutual Funds in the US have a similar symbol format to common stocks, with four characters followed by the letter X. For example, the Fidelity Blue Chip Value fund is FBCVX.

US Money Market funds are represented by three characters followed by two XXs, like FDRXX for the Fidelity Cash Reserves fund.

Canadian Mutual Funds use a common fund family code with a numeric fund code, and include the suffix :CA for Canada, as seen in AIM793:CA for the AIM American Growth fund.

The year code is a one digit number representing the year, with 2010 being represented by "0" and 2011 by "1".

Futures symbols are a bit unique. They always begin with the "/" character and have the form: /(root)(month code)(year code).

The root symbol is assigned by the exchange and can be something like "GC" for Gold or "NG" for Natural Gas. For example, /GC is the symbol for Gold futures.

In the US, popular futures symbols can have a spot price symbol without the month code and year. For instance, /GC is the same as /GC for Gold futures and /NG for Natural Gas.

Here's a quick rundown of some common US futures symbols:

Canadian futures symbols, on the other hand, use a one or two digit number to represent the year. For example, /1J18:NGX is the symbol for ICE NGX Phys FP (CA/GJ) AB-NIT Apr 2018.

US Futures are a type of futures contract traded on US exchanges. Futures contracts always begin with the "/" character and have the form: /(root)(month code)(year code).

The root symbol is assigned by the exchange. For example, Gold is represented by "GC".

A spot price symbol may exist for popular US Futures symbols. This symbol is obtained by removing the month code and year from the futures contract symbol.

Here's a breakdown of the US Futures symbol suffixes:

For example, the symbol for Gold futures is /GC, and the symbol for Natural Gas is /NG.

Canadian Futures are a bit different from others, and it's worth understanding the specifics. In Canada, Futures are traded on the Montreal Exchange (TSX) and ICE NGX Futures.

The root symbol for Canadian Futures is assigned by the exchange, and it's usually a single digit number, like "1" for the ICE NGX AECO Natural Gas Future. This symbol is used as the base for creating the full symbol.

The year code for NGX Futures in Canada is a two-digit number, representing the year. For example, the year 2018 is represented by "18". This is used in combination with the root symbol to create the full symbol, such as /1J18:NGX for ICE NGX Phys FP (CA/GJ) AB-NIT Apr 2018.

You can see the exchange and symbol suffix in the following table:

This information can help you navigate the world of Canadian Futures and create the correct symbols for trading.

Spot Metal Markets are represented by specific ticker symbols, which can be a bit confusing at first, but trust me, it's easy to learn.

The symbol /GC represents Gold, while /SI represents Silver.

Platinum is represented by /PL and Palladium by /PA.

You might see these symbols followed by a currency code, like /GCSPUSD, which represents the Spot Gold price in US Dollars.

International exchanges are a crucial part of the global financial landscape, and understanding their ticker symbols can be a game-changer for investors.

The Nasdaq Dubai Exchange is represented by the suffix :AE.

The Merval in Argentina is represented by the suffix :AR.

Amsterdam, Netherlands has a symbol suffix of :AS.

The Athens Exchange in Greece is represented by the suffix :AT.

The Sydney Exchange in Australia is represented by the suffix :AU.

The Berlin exchange is represented by the suffix :BE.

The Brussels exchange in Belgium is represented by the suffix :BR.

The Bovespa in Brazil is represented by the suffix :BV.

The Santiago Exchange in Chile is represented by the suffix :CL.

The Copenhagen Exchange in Denmark is represented by the suffix :CO.

The Shenzhen Exchange in China is represented by the suffix :CZ.

The Xetra exchange in Germany is represented by the suffix :DB.

The Dusseldorf exchange in Germany is represented by the suffix :DU.

The Frankfurt exchange in Germany is represented by the suffix :FF.

The Hanover exchange in Germany is represented by the suffix :HA.

The Helsinki Exchange in Finland is represented by the suffix :HI.

The Hong Kong exchange is represented by the suffix :HK.

The Hamburg exchange in Germany is represented by the suffix :HM.

The Dublin exchange in Ireland is represented by the suffix :IE.

The London Stock Exchange and FTSE UK Indices are represented by the suffix :LN.

The Lisbon exchange in Portugal is represented by the suffix :LS.

The Madrid exchange in Spain is represented by the suffix :MA.

The Bombay exchange in India is represented by the suffix :MB.

The Milan exchange in Italy is represented by the suffix :MI.

The Munich exchange in Germany is represented by the suffix :MU.

The Mexico exchange is represented by the suffix :MX.

The Nikkei Japan exchange is represented by the suffix :NKK.

The Oslo exchange in Norway is represented by the suffix :OS.

The Paris exchange in France is represented by the suffix :PA.

The Stuttgart exchange in Germany is represented by the suffix :SG.

The Shanghai exchange in China is represented by the suffix :SH.

The Swiss Market exchange is represented by the suffix :SM.

The Stockholm exchange in Sweden is represented by the suffix :ST.

The STOXX and Dow Jones exchange is represented by the suffix :STOX.

The Virt-X (SWX Europe) exchange is represented by the suffix :VX.