Learn Futures Symbology: Trading Basics
Understanding Futures Symbols
Three components make futures symbols: The root of the symbol, the month of expiry, and the year of expiry. For a given market, there may be numerous active futures symbols with various expiration months and years to trade.
Trading Symbols in Context of the Futures Market
A common futures symbol would resemble this formula: ES JAN24, where JAN is the expiration month (January), 24 is the expiration year (2024), and ES is the symbol root.
Root Symbol
The exact futures contract to trade is identified by one or more characters (letters and integers) that make up the symbol root. Crude Oil (CL), Gold (GC), E-Mini S&P 500 (ES), and so forth are a few examples. The futures exchange typically determines the symbol root.
Month of Contract
The contract month, which is January (JAN), February (FEB), March (MAR), April (APR), May (MAY), June (JUN), July (JUL), August (AUG), September (SEP), October (OCT), November (NOV), and December (DEC), is a three-letter code that represents the expiration month. For every futures market, there may be variations in the precise day of the month on which a contract expires. Another common method for describing futures months is illustrated in the table below:
|
JAN |
FEB |
MAR |
APR |
MAY |
JUN |
|
F |
G |
H |
J |
K |
M |
|
JUL |
AUG |
SEP |
OCT |
NOV |
DEC |
|
N |
Q |
U |
V |
X |
Z |
Year of Contract
The expiration year is represented by two numbers in the contract year, so 24 would be the year 2024.
Illustration of Symbols Used in Futures Trading
Examples of some common contract symbols for futures products are provided below:
- MES MAR24: Micro E-mini expiring March 2024.
- CL JUN24: Crude Oil expiring June 2024.
- ZN SEP24: 10-Year Notes expiring September 2024.
- GC DEC24: Gold expiring December 2024.
