Futures Symbols, Months, Exchanges and Basic Info

Futures Months

• January – F
• February -G
• March – H
• April – J
• May – K
• June – M
• July – N
• August Q-
• September – U
• October – V
• November – X
• December – Z

For example, a gold future that expires in December 2017 would have the symbol: GCZ17 (GC December 2017).

In the world of trading futures there are many different letters and symbols that correspond to different futures contracts, months of expiry, and exchanges which are denoted on the following graphics.

Futures Month Symbols

Below you can find the symbols associated with each month of expiry for future contracts. While the letters might seem erratically dispersed, this is most likely because the preceding letters already have associations in trading contexts ( A= Ask, B= Bid, C= Corn, E=Eggs, O= Oats, S= Soybeans, W= Wheat etc.). This leaves the remaining letters to be served for the months of the year. However, the original future trading commodities dealt with agricultural resources, therefore corn and wheat are represented, while crude oil is not. While this explanation seems probable, there is no definitive reason for the denotations but they are still globally accepted as the correct symbols.

Futures Specification

What is "Min Tick"?

Min Tick is the minimum movement that is captured for a given instrument. For instance if the Tick is 0.01 this means the minimum price movement that will be recorded is 0.01. For example CL (the futures contract for oil) is trading today at 67.01 and the minimum change in price that will be recorded is from 67.01 to 67.02 or from 67.01 to 67.00 this is the definition of Min Tick being 0.01

What is "Tick Value"?

This means how much each tick movement is worth. For example assume we are talking about the futures contract for oil which is denoted as CL. The definition of the oil contract size is for 1000 barrels . Thus since the "Tick" is 0.01 the tick value is equal to the contract size multiplied by minimum tick, in our oil contract example 0.01*1000 =$10. In summary; Tick Value = Tick*Contract Size.

Futures Symbol List

Below you can find the symbols associated with every kind of futures contract, where they are exchanges, the month of delivery, the minimum tick size/price shift, and the $-value (amount of profit or loss incurred with each tick). You can also find the initial margin of each future contract, which signifies the minimum amount to be available in your account as a collateral for each contract that you have open position on. When you purchase a futures contract, the initial margin is the minimum amount of money that must be deposited into your account which is refunded with any gains or losses when your contract is liquidated. The amount in this margin account fluctuates daily in response to the market in relation to your futures contract.

Currencies Futures Symbols

Energies Futures Symbols

Meats Futures Symbols

Grains & Soy Complex Futures Symbols

Metals Futures Symbols

Interest Rates Futures Symbols

Soft and Fibers Futures Symbols

BONUS – Desktop Background