NASDAQ Stock Symbol System Changes
Overview ........................................................................................................................
Since February 2007, NASDAQ has had the capability to accept and distribute NASDAQ-listed
issues with four characters or less. In July 2007, the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) approved NASDAQ’s filing to allow companies with three-letter stock symbols to keep
their existing ticker symbols after switching to The NASDAQ Stock Market.
For subordinate issue types, NASDAQ currently appends a fifth character to NASDAQ-listed
issues to identify subordinate issue types. NASDAQ must adopt a new suffix symbology to
assist our customers in separating the root symbol from the subordinate issue modifier type to
properly identify the NASDAQ-listed issue.
Phase 2 implementation has been scheduled for the weekend of March 29, 2008. Effective
Monday, March 31, 2008, all NASDAQ-listed issues with a subordinate modifier will be available
for quoting and trading on NASDAQ’s system with the Integrated Platform suffix symbology. In
the second phase::
All NASDAQ-listed issues with a fifth-character modifier will be converted to a new suffix
symbology.
NASDAQ will begin applying the new suffix symbology to all impacted NASDAQ-listed issues,
including those with 1, 2 and 3 characters.
Suffix Symbology..............................................................................................................
In response to customer feedback, NASDAQ has refined its approach to Phase 2 (suffix
symbology conversion and migration) in order to ensure an easier and more cost-effective
transition for customers. In addition, NASDAQ will continue to be sensitive to those customers
that have requested a 6-character symbol limit.
In response to customer requests, NASDAQ has posted the following documents:
NASDAQ Guidance on Application of Integrated NASDAQ Platform Suffixes (Posted August 29,
2007)
Mapping of NASDAQ 5th Chars to Integrated NASDAQ Platform Modifiers (Posted August 29,
2007)
Implementation and Testing Schedule..............................................................................
Phase 2: Conversion of NASDAQ-listed fifth-character modifiers to the integrated NASDAQ
platform suffix symbology and adoption of the integrated NASDAQ platform suffix symbology for
all NASDAQ-listed subordinate issues:
As announced in HTA #2007-221, Phase 2 implementation has been scheduled for the weekend
of March 29, 2008. Effective Monday, March 31, 2008, all NASDAQ-listed issues with a
subordinate modifier will be available for quoting and trading on NASDAQ’s system with the
Integrated Platform suffix symbology.
In response to customer requests, NASDAQ has posted:
Current List of NASDAQ-Listed Issues with Fifth-Character Modifiers (Updated November 2,
2007)
Please note that this list is subject to change and is only accurate as of the date of publication.
NASDAQ plans to update this list monthly and will provide the full list of impacted NASDAQ-listed
issues at least two weeks prior to the conversion.
As announced in HTA #2007-221, the NASDAQ Test Facility (NTF) now includes 46 test symbols
that are available for testing the second phase of NASDAQ’s stock symbol system changes.
Resources...........................................................................................................................
NASDAQ Stock Symbol System Plan Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - Updated August 29,2007
Hot.Topics .and News..........................................................................................................
HTA #2007-221 - NASDAQ Plans to Offer Testing For Second Phase of Stock Symbol System
Changes
HTA #2007-183 - NASDAQ Refines Second Phase of Stock Symbol System Changes
HTA #2007-084 – NASDAQ Provides Update on Changes to the Stock Symbol System
HTA #2007-050 – NASDAQ Encourages Customer Readiness for Changes to the Stock Symbol
System Plan
Contact..Information.........................................................................................................
NASDAQ Symbology Team
NASDAQ Market Sales at PIC (253) 336-6009
NASDAQ Market Data Distribution at PIC (253) 336-6009
