CUSIP is basically like a Dewey Decimal number for stocks and U.S./local government bonds. CUSIP stands for Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures.
CUSIPs are alphanumeric identifiers of certain types of securities, but most commonly used for stocks and bonds. The first six characters identify the issuer and use letters; the seventh and eighth characters (which can be alphabetical or numerical) identify the type of issue; and the last digit is used as a check digit.
To give an example, Apple Inc.’s CUSIP is 037833100.
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