NEW YORK — On Wall Street, the next best thing to making money is not losing it. That’s why one trading technology company, InfoReach, is spearheading an effort to introduce two fake stock tickers that would help investors test out trading connections without risk.
Traders or brokers setting up connections to a new stock exchange or to a new client, or testing a new algorithm, currently have access to test symbols offered by each of the biggest exchanges. But no universal ticker exists, making it harder to realistically test how trades would work in the broader market.
After quietly testing the waters, InfoReach is preparing to propose two new test symbols that would work across all exchanges and be easy to remember: OOOO and 0000. Like the stock market’s version of a more-successful Esperanto, the symbols could be used by traders to make sure all systems are functioning properly before sending orders in actual securities.
“You don’t want to start sending real money into the market just to see how it works,” said Allen Zaydlin, chief executive of InfoReach, which frequently sets up new trading systems for clients. Zaydlin expects to approach stock exchanges as soon as next week with the idea.
Most traders now rely on a handful of symbols run by the Nasdaq OMX Group, the most popular of which goes by the ticker ZVZZT. But traders said the Nasdaq symbols can at times run up to unrealistic prices like $2,000 per share, making it a less-relevant way to test how an algorithm or new client would really interact with the market.
