Stock symbols can be from 1 to 5 characters in length. Microsoft Corporation Preferred stocks are special issues of some stocks. The designation does not necessarily refer to the desirability of the stock. These classes are represented with a '.' followed by the class letter.
Some exchanges do something a little differently from the norm.
Here we outline those changes that we know about. There may be added characters, as described above, to denote other classes than common stock. There may be added characters, as described above, to denote other classes than common stock. The fifth letter is never an 'X', to avoid naming conflicts with Mutual and Money Market Funds. All Mutual fund symbols are five letters long.