Regular option quotes can sometimes be complicated and hard to comprehend. The following explains how option symbols are constructed and how they work.

To determine what the option symbol is, you need to know that they are broken down into three separate sections.

Example:

Option Symbol XYZAF

The first three letters of the option symbol represent the underlying security. (Some securities have options that contain only 3 or 4 characters.) For a listed stock, these first letters are generally the underlying security's symbol. For NASDAQ stocks, it can vary greatly.

The next to last symbol represents the expiration month and identifies whether it is a put or a call. As shown in the Expiration Month Code Table below, letters A through L are used for call option contracts. Letters M through X are used for put option contracts. In this example, the letter "A" indicates that this is a January call.

Generally, when a stock split, corporate merger, or spinoff occurs, new strike prices will be generated and a letter will be assigned that may not coincide with the above chart.

Symbols for short-dated options, which are also called "Weeklys", are slightly different from standard option symbols. Because their expiration schedule is different from standard options expiration, the third character of a short-dated option symbol corresponds to the week of the month during which the series expires.

As with standard option symbols, the first three characters represent the underlying security.

The third character in the option symbol will be:
 

• "A" for options expiring on the first Friday of a month
• "B" for options expiring on the second Friday of a month
• "D" for options expiring on the fourth Friday of a month
• "E" for options expiring on the fifth Friday of a month (if necessary)
  Please note: There is no "C" because there will be no short-dated options listed for expiration on the third Friday of the month

The fourth character represents the month of expiration and put/call feature, which are the same as those for standard options, listed above.

The final character of a short-dated option symbol represents the strike price, which are also the same as those for standard options, listed above.