The stock market ticker tape was created and computerized to give information on stock price, symbol, and volume. It is called stock ticker tape because it used to be printed on paper on a ticker tape machine.

The stock ticker tape machine created in 1867 was developed after the telegraph machine. It people feed the tape to brokers in their offices. The closer you were the sooner you could get the information. That is why brokers would set up offices as close as possible to the New York Stock Exchange. Technology and the computer has changed all this.

When a new company goes public for trading they pick letters or symbols for their stock symbol. These symbols help businesses and investors avoid confusion and allow for public trading. The symbols help to avoid confusion from investors.

There are many shows on TV that run the ticker tape across the bottom of the screen like MSNBC. This symbolic language can be difficult at first but becomes easier once you start playing the market more.

Investopedia comments, “Stock symbols are the most recognized type of ticker symbol. Stocks listed and traded on U.S. exchanges such as the NYSE have symbols with up to three letters. Nasdaq-listed stocks have four-letter symbols. Ticker symbols for options are structured to represent the underlying stock ticker they are based on and also their expiration date and contract type (either a put or a call option). Mutual fund ticker symbols are usually alphanumeric and end with the letter X to differentiate them from stock symbols.”

“Ticker” comes from the conceptual word of “tick”, which is any activity of a stock whether it be up or down. A stock market ticker symbol readout will include, in order from left to right: the unique call letters of a specific security; the volume or number of shares traded (K = 1,000, M = 1,000,000 and B = 1,000,000,000); the last bid price for that stock, which is considered its price until there is a new bid; an up- or down- arrow that indicates if the stock’s price is down or up from where it started the trading day; and the change amount, or the difference in price from the previous trading day’s closing price.