How to Read a Stock Ticker

Identify the ticker for your stock exchange. Financial websites and television stations may have multiple scrolling tickers. Business television stations may have up to three tickers displayed at one time.
Look for the company name, which is the first part of the ticker. If there is no company name, look it up using the stock symbol.
Read the stock ticker symbol, which is usually one to four letters long. NYSE stock symbols consist of up to three letters, while NASDAQ stock symbols consist of four letters. Some stock symbols may contain extensions, such as '.A' for a Class A stock or '.B' for a Class B stock. Class A shareholders typically have more voting rights than Class B shareholders.
Read the last-trade information, which may be of the format 'volume @ price.' For example, '14K @ 20' means the last trade was 14,000 shares at $20 each. The letters 'K' and 'M' mean 1,000 and 1 million, respectively.
Examine the price-change information, which consists of an up or down arrow and an amount. The arrows indicate whether the price has moved up or down since the last trading session and the amount indicates by how much. Some stock tickers may use color codes to indicate up and down price movements.