The origination of the stock ticker tape name came from the fact that long ago the stock market symbols were printed out on a piece of paper from a ticker tape machine. Now this computerized unit gives information on the stock symbol, price, and volume.

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.

MSN and other tv shows run the ticker tape at the bottom for investors. It is difficult to read at first but as soon as you know what companies you wish to follow becomes a lot easier.

Stocks symbols are one of the most recognized form of symbols. Stocks on the NYSE have three letters. Stocks on the Nasdaq have 4 letters. Mutual funds have even more.

“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.