Reading Ticker Tape

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chris319
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Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2021 5:04 pm

Reading Ticker Tape

Post by chris319 »

I was wondering if anyone reading this knows how to read old-fashioned ticker tape, a specimen of which is here:

http://www.foundationsforscientificinve ... 2019-a.jpg

I recognize the (literal) ticker symbols above and the fractional price data below. I don't know what the rectangular (square) symbol is, and I don't know what the letter "s" stands for (shares?).

For Ford Motor Company "F" we have:

6s56 7/8 (square symbol) 6s 7/8

At one point the price was 56 7/8 but I don't know how to interpret the rest of it.

Apparently there were two widths of paper tape used: 3/4" and 1". The ticker machines were connected telegraph-style by wire from the NYSE to various brokerage houses around Manhattan. The machine was very slow and worked somewhat like a daisy-wheel printer, with the telegraph pulses controlling the rotation of the wheel. I'm guessing there weren't many ticker-tape machines outside of New York City.

Note the ticker symbol "CF". I can only conclude this was Gomez Addams's favorite stock: Consolidated Fuzz :D

http://www.rebresearch.com/blog/wp-cont ... gomez3.jpg
Financial decisions based on emotion often turn out to be bad decisions.
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