What Is Q?

The letter Q used to be part of the ticker symbol for a stock trading on the Nasdaq, specifying that a particular company was in bankruptcy proceedings.

Q Explained

Nasdaq-listed securities generally have four or five letters in their listings. If a fifth letter appears, it identifies the issue as other than a single issue of common stock or capital stock. If the letter Q appeared as the final letter, it means "bankrupt: issuer has filed for bankruptcy," as the Nasdaq put it.

The system changed in 2016. Nasdaq now uses the Financial Status Indicator to denote when a company has filed for bankruptcy but notes other markets may still use "Q" for this purpose.