Q as a Ticker Symbol
The letter Q used to be part of the ticker symbols for a stock trading on the Nasdaq, specifying that a particular company was in bankruptcy proceedings. According to Nasdaq, a company is added to the list five business days after Nasdaq notifies the company about its noncompliance and is removed from the list one business day after Nasdaq determines that the company has regained compliance or no longer trades on Nasdaq. Before the system changed, Nasdaq added a Q onto a company's ticker to tell investors the company filed for bankruptcy. The letter Q used to be part of the ticker symbols for a stock trading on the Nasdaq, specifying that a particular company was in bankruptcy proceedings. However, in some cases, a ticker symbol on the Nasdaq will have five letters, and the fifth letter is an identifier symbol that tells market participants something about the company.
What Is Q as a Ticker Symbol?
The letter Q used to be part of the ticker symbols for a stock trading on the Nasdaq, specifying that a particular company was in bankruptcy proceedings. If the letter Q appeared as the final letter of a NASDAQ symbol, it meant, "bankrupt: issuer has filed for bankruptcy," as the Nasdaq put it.
Understanding Q
All companies traded on the Nasdaq have four-lettered ticker symbols, which are representative of the actual company. For example, Apple trades as AAPL, Microsoft as MSFT, and so on. However, in some cases, a ticker symbol on the Nasdaq will have five letters, and the fifth letter is an identifier symbol that tells market participants something about the company.
Before the system changed, Nasdaq added a Q onto a company's ticker to tell investors the company filed for bankruptcy. Nasdaq now uses the Financial Status Indicator, which marks key issues beyond just bankruptcy filings, including a failure to meet Nasdaq listing requirements. Other markets and exchanges may still use "Q" to indicate a bankruptcy filing, however.
Q is one of two letters that the NASDAQ no longer uses as an identifier, with the other being E.
Each trading day, Nasdaq publishes a list of companies that, in one way or another, don't meet the listing standards. According to Nasdaq, a company is added to the list five business days after Nasdaq notifies the company about its noncompliance and is removed from the list one business day after Nasdaq determines that the company has regained compliance or no longer trades on Nasdaq.
Related terms:
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal proceeding for people or businesses that are unable to repay their outstanding debts. read more
E and Example
"E" was formerly added to Nasdaq stock symbols that were delinquent in regulatory filings. A warning is now provided on a stock quote instead. read more
H
The letter H is a NASDAQ exchange fifth-letter identifier for a company's stock symbol when it sells shares with a second convertible bond. read more
K and Function
K is added to the end of a Nasdaq ticker symbol to indicate that the stock has no voting rights. read more
L and Function
L is an extension added to stock tickers to indicate that it is one several types of preferred security. It also indicates a London Stock Exchange stock. read more
P (Fifth-Letter Identifier)
When used as a fifth-letter identifier in a ticker symbol, the letter P typically indicates that a security is a first preferred issue. read more
Stock Symbol (Ticker)
A stock symbol is a unique series of letters assigned to a security for trading purposes. read more