The Letter R at the end of a NASDAQ ticker symbol means the security being quoted is a rights offering. Rights offerings that are sold by shareholders are traded on the open market.

But you're likely to see other symbols as well, including the designations "TM" or "SM," which can appear in circles or as stand-alone letters. These symbols all mean different things, but the R ...

It sounds a lot like the letter R. Forty-five years ago, Laos's communist government officially dropped the "R" sound from the Lao alphabet, calling it a symbol of foreign influence.

Whether a company uses the letters "TM" or the R circle symbol depends on whether the trademark is officially registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

If X ever goes public, Musk may have a shot at getting the X ticker symbol. The current X holder is U.S. Steel , which announced on Monday that it was being acquired by Nippon Steel in a $14.9 ...