A stock's ticker symbol is what identifies a company on an exchange, but they are not required to always remain the same. Sometimes, ticker symbols change because a company underwent a merger, was acquired, changed its name, or was delisted. Learn more about why ticker symbols might change.

What Is a Ticker Symbol?

A ticker symbol is a group of characters, usually letters, representing and identifying public securities that trade on exchanges. The word "ticker" originally referred to the devices that received signals via telegraph and telephone lines that printed out abbreviations for companies along with their current stock price. The name stuck, and these symbols are still used today to quickly identify companies and stock prices.

Every security that is listed has a ticker symbol, which is chosen by the company before it is listed on an exchange. Although the symbol may be an abbreviation or other equivalent of the company's name, this isn't a requirement.

Companies that trade on the New Yo༺rk Stock Exchange (NYSE) have ticker symbols with three letters, while those listed on the Nasdaq have four💖 letters.

My Ticker Changed! Why?

Ticker symbols help investors identify companies when they're doing research or making trades. But, like everything else, these symbols aren't always static. They can change for several different reasons:

• The company merges with another corporation
• The company changes its name
• The company delists from its exchange

Mergers

Mergers take place when one company acquires another one. Since they combine to form one new entity, they can't both trade on the exchange. So, what happens to the two ticker symbols? When two companies merge, the entity being acquired usually gives up its ticker 👍symbol in favor of the acquiring company's symbol. Corporate actions, such as mergers, can often be positive for a company, especially if the company is taken over for a premium over the share price.

Name Changes

A ticker symbol may change because the company changes its name. A company name change generally doesn't mean much to its operations, though investors may interpret it as a positive sign if it reflects a positive change in the company's overall strategy. Here's an example: When AOL Time Warner dropped the AOL and became simply Time Warner, it changed its symbol from AOL to TWX.

Delisting

If a ticker symbol has letters preceding it, such as OTCQX, OTCQB, or Pink, the stock is traded on OTC Markets, not on a public stock market. No longer trading on the original exchange, it's on the less liquid and more volatile 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:over-the-counter market.

A stock that has been delisted is like a baseball player sent from the major leagues to the minors. For some reason, the stock is no longer worthy of trading on a major exchange, generally because it failed to maintain the exchange's requirements.

Most companies that are listed on the Nasdaq have four-letter ticker symbols. But there are instances when the exchange adds a fifth letter. This letter tells investors something important about the company. Two of these letters are no longer used. Companies that entered bankruptcy proceedings had a "Q" added to the end of the ticker. It also made changes when companies were delinquent with their SEC filings by adding an "E" to the end. The Nasdaq ended this practice in January 2016 and now uses the Financial Status Indicator to denote delinquent regulatory filings or bankruptcy proceedings.

What to Do If Your Stock's Ticker Changes

A ticker symbol change doesn't require any action from you, the investor, in the grand scheme of things. The change itself doesn't do anything to markets or to the way you execute trades, but the change in the company might have an effect on its market price. Since everything is electronic, your 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:trading platform or broker wi🍬ll already update your portfolio to include the new ticker symbol.

The Bottom Line

Stock tickers are company ident﷽ifiers on exchanges that allow for quick display and reference of company stock prices. They can change when companies undergo changes like mergers or being delisted on an exchange.