The stock market ticker tape is, now, a computerized unit that relays information about a stock's trading activity to investors around the world. The stock market ticker tape's information includes the stocks' symbol on the exchanges, the latest price per share, and its trading volume. Before computerized methods, stock market ticker symbols were printed out on a thin piece of paper that continuously streamed out of a ticker-tape machine. The stock ticker-tape machine was invented in 1867 in the aftermath of the development of the telegraph machine. In those days, "pad shovers" were employed to feed the tape to brokers in their offices; brokers would set up offices as near as possible to the New York Stock Exchange, etc, so that they could get the feeds via wire as quickly as possible. With globalization and computers this sort of setup is clearly no longer needed.

Stock market ticker symbols are the letters (once in a while also numbers) used to denote a particular security that is being traded publicly and/or on stock exchanges. This symbol is chosen by the company when it begins issuing shares for public trading, and it's what is used to track stock activity and place buy or sell orders by investors. These brief symbols are necessary to streamline the vast amount of activity information that flows through stock exchanges on every business day. Without the stock market ticker symbols, confusion and turpitude would reign in the stock market.

People who tune into TV shows like MSNBC Business will see streaming stock market ticker symbols going across the bottom of the TV screen. These can be tricky to understand unless you know what they are all about; how to read the symbolic language.