Instrument Symbol - The identification used by the exchange for a financial instrument. The symbol is usually a short alphanumeric representation of the company name. e.g. MSFT for Microsoft. The symbol may also include a punctuation mark to identify the type of instrument the symbol represents, such as Security (Preferred Stock, Warrant, Debenture, Right, US Funds, Trust Unit, Index, Mutual Fund or Currency). Symbols are not unique across exchanges. For example the same three letter symbol may be used for two different stocks on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange.