Twitter Rolls Out ‘Cashtags’ for Stock Symbols

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Following the stock market with social media is now easier than ever thanks to a new Twitter feature. “Cashtags,” which require a “$” followed by the ticker symbol, are a similar concept (obviously) as hashtags. Users can click on the cashtag and see other posts that contain the same ticker.

So if someone tweets about Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) with $GOOG, or Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) with $AAPL, you can click on the symbol and see what else is being said about that same stock — just as you can currently do with hashtags like #nbcfail.

The idea, though, isn’t original — StockTwits started using it years ago.

And StockTwits doesn’t seem to be too happy about Twitter implementing their feature. “You can hijack a plane but it does not mean you know how to fly it,” CEO Howard Lindzon wrote recently.

Twitter had announced the new feature, fittingly, in a tweet. It read, “Now you can click on ticker symbols like $GE (NYSE:GE) on twitter.com to see search results about stocks and companies.”