Ticker Symbols

The term ticker refers to the noise made by the ticker tape machines once widely used by stock exchanges.The practice of using a Ticker symbol began in 1844 as a way to send stock prices over the telegraph system easily and efficiently. To save room, stocks with the highest volume got one-letter names -- many companies continue that practice today.H, I and M, however, still remain available. Many say M is reserved for Microsoft, I for Intel