How to Find Ticker Symbols

If you're interested in the stock exchange, you need to know how to follow it. Once you can identify a stock symbols, you can study any company's performance. Follow these steps to practice investing in the market.

Steps for Finding Stock Symbols

Begin with a company you know and like. Do they trade on the stock exchange? Hundreds of companies do. Or, you could pick a company from research. Ask for recommendations from a friend or financial advisor. Read the business headlines in your local newspaper. Look around your house. Think about what products you use the most and find out who makes them.

Access a financial website that monitors stocks. One great site is http://finance.yahoo.com. It offers a stock symbol lookup tool. You can locate other sites with similar monitoring services by conducting a keyword search for the phrase "Symbol Lookup."

On the homepage of the stock monitoring site you choose, look for a search box. In this box, you should have the option to either enter a stock symbol you know or find one with a link labeled "
"Symbol Lookup." Different sites may have different names for this kind of search.

If you don't know the stock symbol you want, click on the "symbol lookup" link. Type in the company name. Click "Lookup." Write down the stock symbol for that company.