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A futures symbol has three parts. The root names the product, a letter names the expiry month, and a digit names the year. ESZ6 is the E-mini S&P 500 for December 2026.
The exchanges use one letter per month. F is January, G February, H March, J April, K May, M June, N July, Q August, U September, V October, X November and Z December. The letters skip ones that could be confused with other codes, which is why there is no A, B or I.
ES is the E-mini S&P 500 and MES the micro. NQ is the E-mini Nasdaq 100 and MNQ the micro. YM is the Dow, RTY the Russell 2000. CL is crude oil, GC gold, SI silver, NG natural gas. ZB is the 30-year Treasury bond, ZN the 10-year note. 6E is the euro, 6B the pound, 6J the yen. Grains use ZC for corn, ZS for soybeans and ZW for wheat.
NQH7 is the E-mini Nasdaq 100 expiring in March 2027. CLX6 is crude oil for November 2026. Some platforms write the year with two digits, so you may see ESZ26 for the same contract as ESZ6. Prefixes and suffixes change by platform too. TradingView adds an exchange, such as CME_MINI:ESZ2026, and some brokers put a slash in front.
A symbol such as ES1! or @ES is not a real contract. It is a chart that stitches the front months together so you can see years of history. You cannot trade it. Check which month is the front month before you place an order, and roll before expiry.
See futures contract for how the contracts work and our futures market hours tool for the trading hours of each group.
The expiry month. H is March, M is June, U is September and Z is December, which are the quarterly months for index and currency futures.
A continuous chart of the E-mini S&P 500 front month. It is for charting, not for trading.
Sources: CME Group product codes and month codes, checked 25 September 2026. Checked 25 September 2026.
Risk warning: trading forex and CFDs on margin carries a high risk of losing money. Most retail accounts lose money. Never trade with money you cannot afford to lose.