Reuters Instrument Code
Encyclopedia
A Reuters instrument code, or RIC, is a ticker
-like code used by Thomson Reuters
to identify financial instruments
and indices. The codes are used for looking up information on various Thomson Reuters financial information networks (like Bridge and RMDS
) and appear to have developed from the Quotron service they purchased in the 1980s.
For equities the codes were composed of a RIC Root (one to four characters – A through Z), followed by a period sign, then a one- or two-character (A through Z) code denoting the exchange on which the instrument is traded. Each company was meant to have a unique RIC root. Thus the RIC Root for International Business Machines would be IBM irrespective of the exchange on which International Business Machines was traded.
Glen Renfrew, the CEO at that time, was persuaded to veto the idea of unique RIC Roots. Also vetoed was Skeete’s intention of making RICs freely available and becoming an ISO standard. Much of Skeete’s original work is still contained within today’s RIC structure, but some key elements have changed over the years.
The RIC is made up primarily of the security's
ticker symbol
, optionally followed by a period and exchange code based on the name of the stock exchange
using that ticker. For instance, IBM.N is a valid RIC, referring to IBM being traded on the New York Stock Exchange
. IBM.L refers to the same stock trading on the London Stock Exchange
. The exchange code used in the RIC is proprietary to Reuters. Exchange codes have an ISO standard, ISO 10383
, which is not used by the Reuters Instrument Code, but is in common use elsewhere. Ticker symbols are often reused on different exchanges, so in many cases the same ticker symbol references different securities.
RIC codes use "artificial" tickers for common indexes and money market instruments. For instance, the US 10-year money market bond is assigned the ticker US10YT, the "T" at the end referring to "Treasury". Commodities are similarly assigned tickers, for instance crude oil is CL. Indexes have a leading period, for instance .DJI is the Dow Jones Industrial Average
.
Confusingly the "dot notation" is also used for a number of other purposes. Units are signified with a ".UN", and a particular exchange like NASDAQ
by ".OQ". This confusion seems to be the result of Reuters attempting to merge together the standards used by the wide variety of services they purchased in the 1980s and 90s.
Other examples:
Examples of indices:
Examples of commodity futures:
The opening of proceedings does not imply that the Commission has proof of an infringement. It signifies that the Commission will conduct an in-depth investigation of the case as a matter of priority.
Ticker symbol
A stock symbol or ticker symbol is a short abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. A stock symbol may consist of letters, numbers or a combination of both. "Ticker symbol" refers to the symbols that were printed on the ticker...
-like code used by Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation is a provider of information for the world's businesses and professionals and is created by the Thomson Corporation's purchase of Reuters Group on 17 April 2008. Thomson Reuters is headquartered at 3 Times Square, New York City, USA...
to identify financial instruments
Financial instruments
A financial instrument is a tradable asset of any kind, either cash; evidence of an ownership interest in an entity; or a contractual right to receive, or deliver, cash or another financial instrument....
and indices. The codes are used for looking up information on various Thomson Reuters financial information networks (like Bridge and RMDS
Rmds
Reuters Market Data System is an open market data platform provided by Reuters. RMDS is used to transport, integrate and manage financial data from stock exchanges and other data sources to end users using multicast or broadcast technology.The underlying Broadcast technology protocols are called...
) and appear to have developed from the Quotron service they purchased in the 1980s.
Description
The Reuters instrument code (RIC) was originally defined by Herbie Skeete, the Reuters Executive who wrote the original product specifications for the first products on Reuters' Integrated Data Network (IDN). RICs as originally defined by Skeete were meant to be logical and intuitive.For equities the codes were composed of a RIC Root (one to four characters – A through Z), followed by a period sign, then a one- or two-character (A through Z) code denoting the exchange on which the instrument is traded. Each company was meant to have a unique RIC root. Thus the RIC Root for International Business Machines would be IBM irrespective of the exchange on which International Business Machines was traded.
Glen Renfrew, the CEO at that time, was persuaded to veto the idea of unique RIC Roots. Also vetoed was Skeete’s intention of making RICs freely available and becoming an ISO standard. Much of Skeete’s original work is still contained within today’s RIC structure, but some key elements have changed over the years.
The RIC is made up primarily of the security's
Security (finance)
A security is generally a fungible, negotiable financial instrument representing financial value. Securities are broadly categorized into:* debt securities ,* equity securities, e.g., common stocks; and,...
ticker symbol
Ticker symbol
A stock symbol or ticker symbol is a short abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. A stock symbol may consist of letters, numbers or a combination of both. "Ticker symbol" refers to the symbols that were printed on the ticker...
, optionally followed by a period and exchange code based on the name of the stock exchange
Stock exchange
A stock exchange is an entity that provides services for stock brokers and traders to trade stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, and capital events including the payment of income and...
using that ticker. For instance, IBM.N is a valid RIC, referring to IBM being traded on the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
. IBM.L refers to the same stock trading on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
. The exchange code used in the RIC is proprietary to Reuters. Exchange codes have an ISO standard, ISO 10383
ISO 10383
ISO 10383 is an ISO standard which "specifies a universal method of identifying exchanges, trading platforms and regulated or non-regulated markets as sources of prices and related information in order to facilitate automated processing." The codes defined by the standard are known as Market...
, which is not used by the Reuters Instrument Code, but is in common use elsewhere. Ticker symbols are often reused on different exchanges, so in many cases the same ticker symbol references different securities.
RIC codes use "artificial" tickers for common indexes and money market instruments. For instance, the US 10-year money market bond is assigned the ticker US10YT, the "T" at the end referring to "Treasury". Commodities are similarly assigned tickers, for instance crude oil is CL. Indexes have a leading period, for instance .DJI is the Dow Jones Industrial Average
Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Dow Jones Industrial Average , also called the Industrial Average, the Dow Jones, the Dow 30, or simply the Dow, is a stock market index, and one of several indices created by Wall Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company co-founder Charles Dow...
.
Confusingly the "dot notation" is also used for a number of other purposes. Units are signified with a ".UN", and a particular exchange like NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
by ".OQ". This confusion seems to be the result of Reuters attempting to merge together the standards used by the wide variety of services they purchased in the 1980s and 90s.
Other examples:
- WMT.N means shares of Wal-MartWal-MartWal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
traded at the New York Stock ExchangeNew York Stock ExchangeThe New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
(N)
Examples of indices:
- .DJI Dow Jones Industrial Average
- .IXIC NASDAQ Composite Index
- .SPX S&P 500S&P 500The S&P 500 is a free-float capitalization-weighted index published since 1957 of the prices of 500 large-cap common stocks actively traded in the United States. The stocks included in the S&P 500 are those of large publicly held companies that trade on either of the two largest American stock...
- .GSPENTE is the abbreviation for the S&PStandard & Poor'sStandard & Poor's is a United States-based financial services company. It is a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks and bonds. It is well known for its stock-market indices, the US-based S&P 500, the Australian S&P/ASX 200, the Canadian...
(GSP) entertainment (ENTE) index.
Examples of commodity futures:
- CL crude, light oil
- GC gold
- HU unleaded gasoline
- HO heating oil
| Delivery Month Codes | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st quarter | 2nd quarter | 3rd quarter | 4th quarter | ||||
| January | F | April | J | July | N | October | V |
| February | G | May | K | August | Q | November | X |
| March | H | June | M | September | U | December | Z |
Antitrust issues
In November 2009, The European Commission opened formal anti-trust proceedings against Thomson Reuters concerning a potential infringement of the EC Treaty's rules on abuse of a dominant market position (Article 82). The Commission will investigate Thomson Reuters' practices in the area of real-time market datafeeds, and in particular whether customers or competitors are prevented from translating Reuters Instrument Codes (RICs) to alternative identification codes of other datafeed suppliers (so-called 'mapping') to the detriment of competition.The opening of proceedings does not imply that the Commission has proof of an infringement. It signifies that the Commission will conduct an in-depth investigation of the case as a matter of priority.
See also
- Ticker symbolTicker symbolA stock symbol or ticker symbol is a short abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. A stock symbol may consist of letters, numbers or a combination of both. "Ticker symbol" refers to the symbols that were printed on the ticker...
- CUSIPCUSIPThe acronym CUSIP historically refers to the Committee on Uniform Security Identification Procedures, which was founded in 1964, during the paper crunch in Wall Street. This 9-character alphanumeric code identifies any North American security for the purposes of facilitating clearing and settlement...
- SEDOLSEDOLSEDOL stands for Stock Exchange Daily Official List, a list of security identifiers used in the United Kingdom and Ireland for clearing purposes. The numbers are assigned by the London Stock Exchange, on request by the security issuer...
- ISIN
- NSINNSINA National Securities Identifying Number or NSIN is a generic nine-digit alpha numeric code which identifies a fungible security. The NSIN is issued by a national numbering agency designated for that country. Regional substitute NNAs have been allocated the task of functioning as NNAs in those...
- Option symbolOption symbolAn option symbol is a code by which options are identified on a futures exchange.-:This article is obsolete, as of February 12th, 2010 when the five-character ticker format described in this article stopped being used in the US and Canada.New standard is now fully in place, as in the first few...
- CNBC TickerCNBC TickerThe CNBC Ticker is a computer simulation of ticker tapes shown as a crawl on the lower part of the TV screen on the business television network CNBC from Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, in the U.S...
- EC Launches Antitrust Probe Involving Thomson Reuters Codes