Stockwatch > Quotes > Symbol Help

Stockwatch Symbol Guide

Available Items
Nasdaq Equity Symbols
New York/Amex Equity Symbols
US Index Symbols
US Option Symbols
US Mutual Fund Symbols
Foreign Exchange Symbols
Canadian Equity Symbols
Canadian Mutual Fund Symbols
Canadian Option Symbols
Canadian Futures Symbols
Canadian Commodity Symbols

Available Items

US equities, options and indexes
Canadian equities, indexes, options, futures, commodities and mutual funds.
Foreign Exchange quotes
US commodities, futures and mutual funds are NOT available at this time

Nasdaq Equity Symbols

Nasdaq assigns symbols for all Nasdaq and OTC issues including OTCBB and Pink Sheets. Nasdaq symbols are up to 5 characters with no suffixes. The first 4 characters are the base symbol for the company. If there is a 5th character it represents one of the following:

A - Class A
B - Class B
C - Issuer granted an exception to NASDAQ-quoted company standards for a limited time
D - New
E - Delinquent in filings with the SEC
F - Foreign
G - First bond
H - Second bond
I - Third bond
J - Voting
K - Non-voting
L - Misc
N - Fourth preferred
N - Third preferred
O - Second preferred
P - First preferred
Q - Bankruptcy
R - Rights
S - Shares of beneficial interest
T - With warrants or with rights
U - Units
V - When issued and when distributed
W - Warrants
X - Mutual Funds
Y - American Depository Receipts
Z - Misc

New York/Amex Equity Symbols

NYSE and AMEX are consolidated into a single feed with exchange code 'Z'. The base symbol is optionally followed by a suffix:

.PR - preferred

The base symbol or a suffix may be followed by a period and a character to indicate the share class.

US Indexes

All US index symbols begin with a dollar sign "$" which is followed by an alphanumeric string. This is to avoid symbol conflicts with equities. If the index is generated by an exchange such as Nasdaq or NYSE, use that exchange code. Non-exchange indexes, such as the Dow Jones indexes, use exchange code I.

US Option Symbols

US option Format is XXXMS where XXX is a 1 to 3 character symbol which represents the underlying equity. If the symbol is less than 3 characters it is extended to three characters using hyphens. The symbol is different for LEAPS options. M is the expiry month code and S is strike price code.
US Option symbology is explained on the CBOE website: http://www.cboe.com/TradTool/strikepricecode.aspx (or google for "month strike code site:cboe.com").

US Mutual Fund Symbols

US mutual fund data is received from the Nasdaq feed, therefore the symbols conform to the Nasdaq standard above. Each fund has a five letter symbol of which the last letter is always X. The exchange code is Q.

Foreign Currency Exchange Symbols

Foreign currency exchange quotes are available for a wide variety of foreign currencies. The symbol format is FX$AAA/BBB where AAA and BBB are the ISO three-letter currency codes. For instance, the Canadian dollar to US dollar rate symbol is FX$CAD/USD and the reverse rate is FX$USD/CAD.
Currency quote symbols are filed in the US region under exchange code I.
The names of these symbols are of the form Forex AAA COUNTRY UNIT / BBB COUNTRY UNIT where AAA and BBB are the ISO codes, which are followed by the country's name and the name of the currency. Therefore you can use the country name or currency unit in the symbol search form. For instance:
Symbol FX$CAD/GBP - name is: Forex CAD Canada Dollar / GBP United Kingdom Pound Sterling
Symbol FX$AFN/CHF - name is: Forex AFN Afghanistan Afghani / CHF Switzerland Franc
ISO codes can be found here: http://www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-services/popstds/currencycodeslist.html.

Canadian Equity Symbols

Consist of a 1 to 3 character symbol root, optionally followed by one of:

.PR - preferred share
.DB - debenture
.IR - installment receipt
.WT - warrant
.RT - right
.UN - unit

The base symbol or a suffix may be followed by .X to indicate a class of share.

Canadian Mutual Fund Symbols

Canadian mutual fund symbols are of the form GGG*FFF where GGG represents the fund group, and FFF represents the specific fund.

Canadian Option Symbols

Format is XXXMS where XXX is a 1 to 3 character symbol which represents the underlying equity. If the symbol is less than 3 characters it is extended to three characters using hyphens. M is the expiry month code and S is strike price code. For instance, AC-CA is the symbol for the option for equity AC, March call, $12.50 strike price.

Options expiring more than a year in the future are called LEAPS. In this case the symbol XXX bears no resemblence to the underlying equity. The first letter of the symbol indicates which year they expire. Symbols beginning with "V" expire in 2003, symbols beginning with "L" expire in 2004, etc...

Month Codes:

Call Codes Put Codes Month
A M January
B N February
C O March
D P April
E Q May
F R June
G S July
H T August
I U September
J V October
K W November
L X December

Option Price Strike Codes:

Strike Price Code
4.00 Z
5.00 A
6.00 L
7.00 N
7.50 U
8.00 P
9.00 R
10.00 B
11.00 H
12.00 I
12.50 V
13.00 J
14.00 K
15.00 C
16.00 M
17.00 O
17.50 W
18.00 Q
19.00 S
20.00 D
21.00 L
22.00 N
22.50 X
23.00 P
24.00 R
25.00 E
26.00 T
27.00 A
27.50 Y
28.00 B
29.00 I
30.00 F
31.00 J
32.00 K
32.50 Z
33.00 M
34.00 O
35.00 G
36.00 Q
Strike Price Code
37.00 S
37.50 U
38.00 L
39.00 M
41.00 V
42.00 P
43.00 U
44.00 Z
42.50 V
45.00 O
47.50 W
50.00 J
52.50 A
55.00 K
57.50 B
60.00 L
62.50 C
65.00 M
67.50 D
70.00 N
72.50 E
75.00 O
80.00 P
85.00 Q
90.00 R
95.00 S
100.00 T

Bond Options (OBA, OBK, OBV, OBZ) - M - Strike Price Codes: TBA
Bond Future Options (OGB) - M - Strike Price Codes: TBA
Index Options Strike Price Codes: TBA
Toronto 35 Index Participation Unit Options (TIP) Strike Price Codes: TBA

Canadian Futures Symbols

Format is XXXYM where XXX is a 3 character symbol which represents the underlying equity. Y is the last digit of the delivery year and M is the delivery month code.

Month Codes

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