Option naming convention

In financial markets, an option naming convention is a method of identifying which of many possible options is being quoted or traded.

Standard Equity Option Convention

US equity options, typically cleared by the Options Clearing Corporation, underwent an initiative between 2008 and 2010 to change the standard symbology. The proposed revision was meant to address several deficiencies with the old standard convention described below. In particular:

Lack of uniformity for LEAP option convention
Use of illogical identifiers for both options and underliers
Difficulties encountered when rolling LEAP options to standard options as they age.
Ambiguous naming, such as when options for both 105 strike and 205 strike exist on the same expiration for an underlier.

The new symbology does away with the letter codes for strike and expiration, and instead employ a 21-byte series key in the style of Root symbol + Expiration Year + Expiration Month + Expiration Day + Call/Put Indicator + Strike Price:

Symbol
Year
Month
Day
Call or Put
Strike Price listed with five digits before the decimal and three digits following the decimal

For example, an April 16, 2015 $30.00 Call Option on Yahoo would be listed as "YHOO150416C00030000".
All options that settle into the same underlier share the same symbol field.

Old convention

Prior to 2010, standard equity option naming convention in North America, as used by the Options Clearing Corporation, was as follows:
For example, an Apple Inc AAPL.O call option that would have expired in December 2007 at a $122.50 strike price would be displayed as APVLZ in old convention.
Stock option names are written in the following format: SYMBOL+'MONTH+STRIKE

SYMBOL = Option Root Symbol, normally the stock's ticker symbol
MONTH = Month the option expires

STRIKE' = Strike price

Expiration Month Codes

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