What are the Futures Month Codes

The following table lists the Month Codes for futures symbols. These are standard Month Codes established and standardized by futures exchanges.  They are used by appending the Futures symbol with the Month code and then the year (FuturesSymbol + MonthCode  + Year).  E.g. in TradeStation, the January 2030 Crude futures contract would be CL + F + 30, or CLF30.  Some platforms use a single-digit year in the code, while others use 2 or 4.  Many people chart the continuous contract, which automatically rolls from month to month and provides a history going back before specific-month contracts.  However, some platforms, like Tradestation, chart the continuous contract, but require the specific-month contract when placing a trade.  TradeStation uses @ + FuturesSymbol for a continuous contract, e.g., @CL.  Thinkorswim uses / + FuturesSymbol for theirs, e.g., /CL.  And in Thinkorswim, you can trade the continuous contract.

Why do they skip letters?  Probably because some letters are difficult to discern from other letters or numbers.  For example, the letter I and the number 1 may look similar when displayed and could create confusion.

Want a text version of this table?  Here are the futures month codes in a text list:

Futures Month Codes

F: January

G: February

H: March

J: April

K: May

M: June

N: July

Q: August

U: September

V: October

X: November

Z: December