Finance

Futures Month Codes

The single-letter month codes in futures tickers, plus common contract roots and how a symbol is built.

Futures contract month codes

Every futures contract expires in a specific month, and that month is written as a single letter in the contract's symbol. This tool decodes those letters both ways — letter to month and month to letter — and helps you read a full contract symbol.

The twelve codes

F Jan, G Feb, H Mar, J Apr, K May, M Jun, N Jul, Q Aug, U Sep, V Oct, X Nov, Z Dec. They're the same across every exchange, so once you know them you can read any contract.

Reading a full symbol

A symbol is the root + month code + year. "CLZ25" is crude oil (CL), December (Z), 2025. "ESH26" is the E-mini S&P 500 (ES), March (H), 2026. Common roots include CL (crude oil), GC (gold), SI (silver), ES (E-mini S&P 500), NQ (E-mini Nasdaq), ZC (corn), ZW (wheat), and ZS (soybeans).

Common question

Why letters instead of month numbers?

The single-letter codes date back to open-outcry trading, where a compact, unambiguous symbol mattered. They stuck around because they keep tickers short and avoid confusing a month number with the year.