Complete guide to Futures Symbols | Months, exchanges and contract info

In the following post I’ll provide a complete guide to understanding futures symbols. I’ll explain what a Futures symbol is and how to interpret the symbols.

I’ll also provide a detailed list of some of the most traded future contracts for easy reference.

Futures symbols explained

Individual futures contracts are identified by a unique future contract symbol.

Unlike traditional stocks or currency pairs that can be traded in perpetuity and have no maturity date. Futures contracts expire after a specified period of time. The expiry of individual futures contracts depends on the commodity, Index or currency futures contract being traded. Typically contract durations are between one and three months.

Futures symbols help to identify individual contracts and their expiration date.

Futures symbols are categorized by the commodity, Index or currency. The month that the futures contract expires and the year the contract expires.

The table below illustrates a typical futures symbol code:

ES	H	22
Contract Symbol (S&P 500)	Expiration month (March)	Expiration year (2022)

The example above illustrates the S&P 500 index futures contract that expires in March 2022. The symbol for this contract would be SPH22.

Futures contract exchanges

Each futures and futures options contract can be traded through a specific exchange. It’s important that if you want to trade a specific futures contract you have the right data feed to the relevant exchange.

When you sign up for a brokerage account you will typically be given the option to select the a data feed for a single exchange or a package that includes several exchanges.

Exchange data is typical charged on a monthly basis. The cost of the exchange data will depend on the exchange plus data feed technology of the various providers.

The main Futures and futures options exchanges include: CME, CBOT, COMEX, KCBT, MGEX, ICE and NYMEX.

Futures symbols month codes

In the table below you can find the futures symbol codes for each month of the year.

Month symbols are used to identify what month a contract is due to expire.

Unfortunately the the monthly symbol code letters have little in common with each of the months. So it’s either you need to memorizer each letter or have the following table on hand for reference.

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
F	G	H	J	K	M

Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
N	Q	U	V	X	Z

Futures symbols and contract information

The following sections provide information for the most common futures contracts. Each section lists the instrument symbol, futures contract being traded, exchange the instrument is listed on, contract expiration months, contract size, minimum tick size and the tick value:

Important note: The data above is sourced from time of writing. for the most up to date information please refer to the relevant exchanges.

Micro E-mini futures symbols & Micro futures symbols

Futures Contract Name	Symbol	Exchange	Expiry month	Contract size	Min Tick / Tick $ Value
Micro E-mini S&P 500	MES	CME	H,M,U,Z	$5 x S&P Index value	0.25 / $1.25
Micro E-mini Nasdaq100	MNQ	CME	H,M,U,Z	$2 x Index value	0.25 / $0.50
Micro E-mini Dow	MYM	CBOT/CME	H,M,U,Z	$0.50 x DJIA Index value	1.00 / $0.50
Micro E-mini Russell 2000	M2K	CME	H,M,U,Z	$5 x Russell 2000 Index value	0.10 / $0.50
Micro DAX	FDXS	Eurex	H,M,U,Z	€1 x Index value	0.5/€0.50
Micro AUD/USD	M6A	CME	H,M,U,Z	10K AUD	0.0001 / $1.00
Micro GBP/USD	M6B	CME	H,M,U,Z	6250 £	0.0001 / $0.625
Micro CAD/USD	MCD	CME	H,M,U,Z	10000 CAD	0.0001/ $1.00
Micro EUR/USD	M6E	CME	H,M,U,Z	12500 €	0.0001 / $1.25
Micro JPY/USD	MJY	CME	H,M,U,Z	1.25 mil ¥	0.000001 / $1.25
Micro CHF/USD	MSF	CME	H,M,U,Z	12500 CHF	0.0001 / $1.25
Micro WTI Crude Oil	MCL	NYMEX/CME	All	100 Barrels	0.01 / $1.00

Stock Indices futures symbols & Indices E-mini futures symbols

Futures Contract Name	Symbol	Exchange	Expiry month	Contract size	Min Tick / Tick $ Value
E-mini S&P 500	ES	CME	H,M,U,Z	$50 x Index value	0.25 / $12.50
E-mini Nasdaq100	NQ	CME	H,M,U,Z	$20 x Index value	0.25 / $5.00
E-mini Dow ($5)	YM	CBOT/CME	H,M,U,Z	$5 x Index value	1.00 / $5.00
E-mini Russell 2000	RTY	CME	H,M,U,Z	$50 x Index value	0.1 / $5.00
DAX	FDAX	Eurex	H,M,U,Z	€25 x Index value	1.00/€12.50
FTSE 250 Index	Y	ICE	H,M,U,Z	£2 x Index value	0.5/£1

Currencies futures symbols & Currency E-mini futures symbols

Futures Contract Name	Symbol	Exchange	Expiry month	Contract size	Min Tick / Tick $ Value
Australian Dollar	6A	CME	H,M,U,Z	100K AUD	0.0001 / $10.00
British Pound	6B	CME	H,M,U,Z	62.5K £	0.0001 / $6.25
Canadian Dollar	6C	CME	H,M,U,Z	100K CAD	0.00005 / $5.00
Euro FX	6E	CME	H,M,U,Z	125K €	0.00005 / $6.25
Japanese Yen	6J	CME	H,M,U,Z	12.5 mil ¥	0.0000005 / $6.25
New Zealand Dollar	6N	CME	H,M,U,Z	100K NZD	0.00005 / $10.00
Swiss Franc	6S	CME	H,M,U,Z	125K CHF	0.0001 / $12.50
E-mini Euro FX	E7	CME	H,M,U,Z	62.5K €	0.0001 / $6.25
E-mini Japanese Yen	J7	CME	H,M,U,Z	6.25 mil ¥	0.000001 / $6.25

Energies futures symbols & Energies E-mini futures symbols

Futures Contract Name	Symbol	Exchange	Expiry month	Contract size	Min Tick / Tick $ Value
Crude Oil	CL	NYMEX/CME	All	1000 Barrels	0.01 / $10.00
E-mini Crude Light	QM	NYMEX/CME	All	500 Barrels	0.025 / $12.50
Natural Gas	NG	NYMEX/CME	All	10000 mmBtu	0.001 / $10.00
E-mini Natural Gas	QG	NYMEX/CME	All	2500 mmBtu	0.005 / $12.50

Metals symbols

Futures Contract Name	Symbol	Exchange	Expiry month	Contract size	Min Tick / Tick $ Value
Gold	GC	COMEX/CME	G,J,M,Q,V,Z	100 oz	0.1 / $10.00
E-mini Gold	QO	COMEX/CME	F,G,J,M,Q,V,Z	50 oz	0.25 / $12.50
Copper	HG	COMEX/CME	All	25K lbs	0.0005 / $12.50
E-mini Copper	QC	COMEX/CME	All	12500 lbs	0.002 / $25.00
Silver	SI	COMEX/CME	F,H,K,N,U,Z	5000 oz	0.005 / $25.00
E-mini Silver	QI	COMEX/CME	F,G,H,K,N,U,Z	2500 oz	0.0125 / $31.25
Platinum	PL	NYMEX/CME	F,J,N,V	50 oz	0.1 / $5.00

Grains symbols

Futures Contract Name	Symbol	Exchange	Expiry month	Contract size	Min Tick / Tick $ Value
Corn	ZC	CBOT/CME	H,K,N,U,Z	5000 bu	1/4 / $12.50
Chicago SRW Wheat	ZW	CBOT/CME	H,K,N,U,Z	5000 bu	1/4 / $12.50
Soybeans	ZS	CBOT/CME	F,H,K,N,Q,U,X	5000 bu	1/4 / $12.50
Oats	ZO	CBOT/CME	H,K,N,U,Z	5000 bu	1/4 / $12.50

Softs symbols

Futures Contract Name	Symbol	Exchange	Expiry month	Contract size	Min Tick / Tick $ Value
Lumber	LBS	CME	F,H,K,N,U,X	110K board feet	0.10 / $11.00
Cocoa	CC	ICE	H,K,N,U,Z	10 tons	1.00 / $10.00
Cotton	CT	ICE	H,K,N,V,Z	50k lbs	0.0001 / $5.00
Coffee	KC	ICE	H,K,N,U,Z	37.5k lbs	0.0005 / $18.75

Interest rates symbols

Futures Contract Name	Symbol	Exchange	Expiry month	Contract size	Min Tick / Tick $ Value
2 Year US Treasury Note	ZT	CBOT/CME	H,M,U,Z	$200K note	1/128 / $15.625
3 Year US Treasury Note	Z3N	CBOT/CME	H,M,U,Z	$300K note	1/128 / $15.625
5 Year US Treasury Note	ZF	CBOT/CME	H,M,U,Z	$100K note	1/128 / $7.8125
10 Year US Treasury Note	ZN	CBOT/CME	H,M,U,Z	$100K note	1/64 / $15.625

If your interested in finding knowing the exact date that an individual futures contract expires check out my previous post by clicking the link.