Series designation of options & futures

Options

Options series is designated by the symbol for the underlying stock or index as well as by giving certain codes for the expiration year, exercise price, expiration month and the type of option.

Assume a standardized options contract with the following series designation ERICB8A30. What underlying stock the option is related to is designated by the company symbol, for example ERICB for Ericsson B. The expiration year is designated by the last number of the year the option expires, for example the figure 8 stands for year 2008. The month the contract expires, whether the contract is a call option or a put option, is shown by a letter code which goes from A to L for call options and from M to X for put options, as shown below:
 

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Call options

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

Put options

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

For example, the letter A shows that the contract is a call option with expiration month in January. Finally, the two last figures in the series designation show the option’s exercise price. For example, 30 in the series designation: ERICB8A30 tells us that the agreed price for the Ericsson B stock is 30 SEK.
 

In the event of a share split, new issue of shares or similar events that imply a change in the strike price and/or the number of underlying stocks this is shown by the letter X, Y, Z or Q in the end of the series designation.

 

Futures and forwards

Futures and forward series are designated by the symbol for the underlying stock or index as well as by giving certain codes for the expiration year and month.

 

Assume a standardized futures contract with series designation OMXS308G. What underlying instrument the future is related to is designated by the instrument symbol, in this case the OMXS30 index. The expiration year is designated by the last number of the year the futures expires, for example the figure 8 stands for year 2008. The month the contract expires, whether it is a stock futures or an index futures, is shown by a letter code which goes from A to L for index futures and from M to X for stock forwards and futures, as shown below. In our example, the letter G shows that the contract is an index futures with expiry in July.

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Index futures

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

Stock futures/forwards

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

 

In the event of a share split, new issue of shares, or similar event that imply a change in the price of the stock forward, and/or the number of underlying stocks, this is shown by the letter X, Y, Z or Q in the end of the series designation.

Series designation of options & futures