Understanding Ticker Symbols

What is a Ticker Symbol?

A ticker symbol is a unique series of letters assigned to a publicly traded company. It’s used to identify the company on stock exchanges and in trading systems. In Tickerdata, ticker format varies by asset class.

Asset Class Formatting

US Stocks

Use the standard ticker symbol without any suffix. Tickerdata automatically routes to the correct exchange.

=TICKERDATALIVE("AAPL", "Price")    // Apple
=TICKERDATALIVE("MSFT", "Price")    // Microsoft
=TICKERDATALIVE("JPM", "Price")     // JPMorgan Chase
=TICKERDATALIVE("BRK.B", "Price")   // Berkshire Hathaway Class B

Cryptocurrency

Combine the coin symbol with the fiat currency code (no hyphen or dash).

=TICKERDATALIVE("BTCUSD", "Price")   // Bitcoin in USD
=TICKERDATALIVE("ETHUSD", "Price")   // Ethereum in USD
=TICKERDATALIVE("SOLUSD", "Price")   // Solana in USD
=TICKERDATALIVE("DOGEUSD", "Price")  // Dogecoin in USD

International Stocks

Use exchange suffixes similar to Yahoo Finance format. The suffix indicates which exchange the stock trades on.

=TICKERDATALIVE("MC.PA", "Price")        // LVMH on Euronext Paris
=TICKERDATALIVE("RELIANCE.NS", "Price")  // Reliance on NSE India
=TICKERDATALIVE("7203.T", "Price")       // Toyota on Tokyo Exchange
=TICKERDATALIVE("SHOP.TO", "Price")      // Shopify on Toronto Exchange
=TICKERDATALIVE("ASML.AS", "Price")      // ASML on Amsterdam Exchange

Common Exchange Suffixes

See Supported Exchanges for the complete list of 70+ exchanges.

Finding Ticker Symbols

Not sure what ticker to use? Here are some tips:

1. Check Yahoo Finance: The ticker format matches Yahoo Finance symbols
2. Search the company name: Google ”[Company] stock ticker”
3. Company investor relations: Usually lists the ticker symbol
4. Use our search: The Cmd+K search can help find tickers

ETFs and Funds

ETFs use standard US ticker symbols:

=TICKERDATALIVE("SPY", "Price")      // SPDR S&P 500 ETF
=TICKERDATALIVE("QQQ", "Price")      // Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF
=TICKERDATALIVE("VTI", "Price")      // Vanguard Total Stock Market
=TICKERDATALIVE("IWM", "Price")      // iShares Russell 2000

Common Mistakes

Next Steps

• Browse the Attribute Explorer to see all data points available for each ticker
• View all Supported Exchanges
• Learn about Data Types available for each ticker
• Start with TICKERDATALIVE for live prices