Decoding Those Obscure Commodity Futures Codes

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Ever wonder what those letters mean on the various futures market quotations?  The first letter designates the commodity (BO = soy bean oil, W = Chicago soft red winter wheat, KW = Kansas Hard Red Winter wheat, etc.)  The next letter indicates the month of the future market we are trading.  The number at the end of the symbol designates the year. 

 

 

One of the more confusing bits of the code is that month designation.  Here they are:


F

January

G

February

H

March

J

April

K

May

M

June

N

July

Q

August

U

September

V

October

X

November

Z

December

So, MWN12, for example, indicates that you are looking at the Minneapolis Hard Spring Wheat market, July option (N), for 2012

 

Just don’t ask me why these are the letters used.