Toronto-based TMX Group Ltd. is preparing to introduce root ticker symbols comprised of up to four characters for Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) listed securities.
The near-term move to four-character symbols comes at the request of issuers, the exchange operator says in a notice published on Tuesday.
TMX Group is aiming to start supporting four-character symbols in the fourth quarter of this year, according to the notice. The company will provide details on the move, and a testing schedule, in a future notice.
The notice indicates that the total number of characters in a symbol, including suffixes that identify specific classes of securities, such as preferred shares for example, will remain at eight characters in total, to avoid creating systems disruptions.
The decision to allow four-character symbols follows consultations with traders, market data vendors, the Canadian Depository for Securities, and the other Canadian stock exchanges, the notice says, “in order to implement a uniform system and come to a collective agreement with respect to supporting an expanded number of root symbol characters.”