What is the ticker symbol?
A ticker symbol is a unique series of letters that identifies a specific stock on a stock market. Stock symbols usually consist of letters, but they can also include numbers and hyphens; different stock markets may have different suffixes for the same ticker symbol to indicate which market the stock is traded on. For example, on Yahoo! Finance, the ticker symbol for Vodafone Idea Limited, a company that trades on the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), is “IDEA.NS.” Similarly, Reliance Power Limited trades on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and has the ticker symbol “RPOWER.BO” on Yahoo! Finance. Another example is Punjab National Bank, which has the ticker symbol “PNB” on the NSE and “PNB.NS” on Yahoo! Finance.
Ticker Symbole Explained
The invention of the telegraphic ticker tape machine in 1867 by Edward Calahan, an American Telegraph Company employee, changed how stock prices were communicated. Before that, floor traders had to write or shout out the full name of the company whose stock was traded, which was slow and inefficient. Calahan's device, later improved by Thomas Edison, allowed stock prices to be printed on a paper tape using one to five letters to represent each company. This made it easier for investors to follow the market movements. Today, stock tickers are still used but are displayed on digital screens instead of paper tapes