Symbol
A symbol is a combination of letters or numbers representing a financial instrument, such as a currency pair or stock.
Symbols are used as a shorter way to reference a financial instrument. Typically, a symbol is a combination of letters or numbers representing. For example, EUR/USD is a symbol that represents the euro quoted against the US dollar, and AMZN is the symbol that represents the stock of Amazon.com, Inc.
Symbols can vary depending on the broker, exchange or market. How a symbol is constructed varies by instrument and asset class. For example:
WTI/USD or USOIL can refer to the West Texas Intermediary crude oil spot market, whereas CL refers to the West Texas Intermediary crude oil futures market.
USD/JPY refers to the US dollar versus the Japanese yen spot market, whereas 6J refers to the US dollar versus the Japanese yen futures market.
^DJI, US30, USA30, DOW30, DJ30 can all refer to the Dow Jones Industrial Average stock market index.
The phrase symbol is often used interchangeably with other terms like ticker, instrument and pair.