Basics of Symbol Search on TradingView

What are symbols?

Symbols, or tickers, are abbreviations for financial instruments publicly traded or quoted on specific exchanges. They can represent stocks, bonds, indices, cryptocurrencies, and other assets: AAPL means Apple Inc. stocks, SPX stands for the S&P 500 index, etc.

The length of the symbol depends on the exchange rules. For example, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) allows up to four characters in a symbol's name, while Nasdaq, in some cases, allows up to five.

The same financial instruments can have different symbols on different exchanges. For example, the symbol for Tata Motors's stocks on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) is "500570", while on the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), it is "TATAMOTORS."

Tickers can also represent economic data rather than tradable instruments. For example, USINTR is the ticker for the economic data on US interest rate. 

How to access Symbol Search

With Symbol Search, you can easily navigate across various symbols on TradingView.

To open the Symbol Search window, find the search box next to the main menu or press Ctlr+K for Windows and Cmd+K for macOS.

With Symbol Search, beside tickers, you can also search for:

• Ideas of our community on any symbol
• Scripts made with our proprietary Pine Script® language
• People to follow
• Sparks, curated watchlists to kickstart your market research

Make sure you survey each of these sections of our platform. We're convinced that trading must be social and place great importance on connecting you with other traders.

In the search box, type in the exact symbol or a term that is related to a symbol you're looking for. For instance, the symbol for the British Pound is GBP, but you can just go for "pound," and all the symbols related to the British Pound will appear.

Each row in the Symbol Search window consists of the symbol characters to the left, description in the middle, and the data source to the right. Like in the first row on the picture, the symbol is "GBPUSD," the description is "British Pound/US Dollar," and the data is coming from FXCM (Forex Capital Markets).

If you're searching by symbol characters like "OIL," make sure you're choosing the right symbol by checking its description, because different symbol's tickers/names can include the same characters or even be identical. 

To make sure you find the desired symbol, you can set various filters. First, there are tabs that filter the list by asset type: stocks, funds, futures, forex pairs, cryptocurrencies, bonds, economic data, and options.

Each tab also has its own filter where you can set the country, type, category, source, sector, or exchange according to your needs.

When you've found the correct symbol, hover your cursor over it and choose between two options:

• Launch chart. It’ll open our Superchart where you can analyze the selected symbol. 
• See overview. It'll open the symbol's page on TradingView. There you'll find nearly every piece of information: fundamentals, news, technicals, community ideas, and more — all related to the selected symbol.
  
  

Symbol Search on Supercharts

Symbol Search is also accessible from our Supercharts, but there are some unique features worth mentioning. 

On Supercharts, the Symbol Search button is to the left of the upper toolbar., but you can also open the search window by simply starting typing.

One of the key differences when it comes to looking for symbols from the chart is the Options tab. Here, rather than opening the list of particular contracts, it opens underlyings, and when you click on one, you see the option chain containing info on calls and puts as well as ask and bid prices, implied volatility, and more.

Head to the knowledge base to learn more about what options are and how to trade them.

Another difference is that you can build various types of equations that comprise different symbols. Say, you want to know what the Nvidia and Apple stocks' compound price is. For that, just type in NVDA+AAPL and press Enter. 

This way you create spread charts — they provide a new perspective of financial instrument value and can also help traders alleviate risks. 

While some symbols come and go, Symbol Search remains. It is an inseparable part of TradingView, always there to help you find instruments and data you need and people to connect with.

Once you've mastered your search, learn about other TradingView charts features. Read about different chart types and how to use each of them. Check out how to set up alerts, effectively use drawings, and much more.