I just noticed that many people are confused about the CA stock suffix and other abbreviations in the trading application. Let me explain what they really mean.

Let’s start with CA. This abbreviation comes from the term Corporate Action, meaning that the stock will have some activity within the next 7 days. If you click to view the details, CA will tell you what is happening and when it will occur.

As for other abbreviation marks, they can be divided into three main groups.

The first group is the X family. It comes from the word Excluding, meaning investors will not receive certain rights. For example, XD (Excluding Dividend). If you buy the stock during the XD period, you won’t receive that round’s dividend. But if you hold the stock until XD appears again, you will receive the dividend in the next round. XM (Excluding Meetings) means you will not attend shareholder meetings. XR (Excluding Right) means you do not have the right to subscribe for newly issued shares.

Another example is XW (Excluding Warrant), which means you do not receive the right to buy warrants—warrants are subsidiary shares that can be converted into the parent share. XN (Excluding Capital Return) means you do not receive a refund from a capital reduction. XA (Excluding All) means you do not receive all rights that the company will announce.

The second group is the T family. Stocks with these marks often jump very quickly and have high speculation, so there is regulation from the exchange: T1 (Trading Alert Level 1) requires buying using a Cash Balance account only. This lasts for 3 weeks. If it still meets the criteria, it will move up to T2 (Trading Alert Level 2). In addition to requiring purchases with Cash Balance, it also prohibits using this stock as collateral.

If the CA stock under T2 continues to meet the criteria, it will rise to T3 (Trading Alert Level 3), which is the strictest level. In addition to the T2 requirements, it also prohibits settlement (Settlement). This means that when you sell the stock, your buying power will not be restored on that day, but will return the next day—this is to prevent multiple rounds of trading on the same day.

The third group is warning marks to alert investors to be careful: H (Trading Halt) means trading is temporarily halted for one session. It often happens when news leaks but the company has not yet reported it to the stock exchange. SP (Trading Suspension) means trading is suspended for more than one session.

NP (Notice Pending) means the company has something it needs to report. Once it reports, it changes to NR (Notice Received). NC (Non-Compliance) means the company is in a condition that may lead to delisting. The company has 1 year to fix it. ST (Stabilization) appears when the company does a Greenshoe to support the IPO stock price during the first 30 days.

Finally, C (Caution). The company has financial problems and a high risk level. This is a warning to avoid investing in that stock for now. It may be because shareholders are less than 50% of paid-up capital, a court accepts a petition for business rehabilitation, or the company is a Cash Company.

Understanding these CA marks and other abbreviations is very important for investors because it helps us know the status and risks of the stock we are interested in investing in. Try to practice recognizing these marks in your application. Once you understand them, your investment decisions will become much clearer for sure.