In order to trade a particular option, you might need to look up its symbol. (If you trade with us, we will of course provide you with the exact symbols you require to place a trade). In order to understand how options symbols are structured, we have created a hypothetical example below:

Hypothetical Option Symbol: “ABCDEF”

• Every option symbol consists of three distinct parts, but the six letters it contains are stringed together.
   
• The first part of an options symbol consists of three letters, which represent the name of the underlying security. For an option based on a stock, it is generally the ticker symbol of the underlying stock. For Nasdaq stocks, it can vary greatly.
   
• The middle part of an option symbol is comprised of two letters. These represent (a) the expiration month and (b) identify whether it is a put or a call option (see the table below for details).
   
• To determine what the option symbol is, you need to know that they are broken down into three separate sections. Let's use an example to explain this.

• The final letter of an option symbol represents the strike price. In our particular example, the letter "F" represents a strike price ending with 30.