Symbol Formats

Contents

Since Medved Trader has to connect to all kinds of data sources, brokerages, and exchanges, and they all use different conventions for their symbols for options/futures/forex/crypto, etc., our solution is that we use our own symbology conventions in MT, and we translate them each source's conventions as needed.

Here is the way you should enter various securities' symbols in MT:

NOTE: CRYPTO CURRENCIES are handled the same as FOREX/CASH Symbols. Will be referred to as "Crypto" for short.

Stocks	These are just the several-letter symbols, like AAPL or MSFT, with no prefix.
Options	Prefixed by a period (.) - these should be entered in MT through the Option Chain Input - by clicking on the and choosing the right option symbol on the input dialog that pops up.
Indexes	Prefixed by a $
Mutual Funds	Prefixed by _
Futures	Prefixed by @ - crypto futures are a special case, see below
Future Options	Prefixed by ^
Warrants	Prefixed by !
Crypto/Cash/Forex	Prefixed by #
Bonds	Prefixed by &
Commodities	Prefixed by %

There are other optional qualifiers you can add to the symbol, such as exchange and currency. The full format for an MT symbol is:

[TYPECODE]SYMBOL[:[EXCHANGE[$CURRENCY[*MULTIPLIER]]]] - where the square brackets - [ ] - denote optional parts.

For example, in the symbol @ESZ13:GLOBEX the @ prefix signifies that this is a futures symbol, the ESZ13 is the symbol itself, and the :GLOBEX is the optional exchange suffix. You can just simply use @ESZ13 since MT knows the exchange for most of the common futures symbols.

The Symbol portion is also standardized for Futures, Options and Forex

Crypto	Two currencies separated by a period - (like this BTC.USD). Since, as seen above, the prefix for Crypto Currencies is #, the full symbol would be: #BTC.USD
Forex	Two currencies separated by a period - (like this EUR.USD). Since, as seen above, the prefix for forex is #, the full symbol would be: #EUR.USD
Futures	Regular futures: Root symbol followed by month code followed by two-digit year (like this: ESU13). With the futures prefix @, it becomes @ESU13. Crypto futures: Perpetual: two currencies separated by a period (for example, @BTC.USDT or @BTC.USD) Delivery: two currencies separated by a period, followed by _ and the delivery date yymmdd - for example, @BTC.USDT_210625
Options	Root symbol followed by an underline _, then the YYMMDD date, the one-character call/put designator (C or P), followed by the strike price. For example AAPL7 Mar 22 2014 515.0 Call would be: .AAPL7_140322C515.00 (note the period in front - the prefix that indicates that this is an option symbol)

MT symbol format should always be used. MT will then auto convert everything as needed when requesting data from the datafeeds.

Also, MT does automatic defaulting of the exchange for many common symbols. so you can enter either @ESZ15 or @ESZ15:GLOBEX. Either will work, as long as you don't enter both.

NOTE: Interactive Brokers requires the multiplier to be specified for some symbols where there are two securities with the multiplier being the only distinction. In that case, you can add *## after the symbol separator, where ## is the multiplier. For example

DAX futures can have multiplier of 25 (default if not specified) or 5. This can be entered as

**** With 25 multiplier

@DAXZ15 (this is same as @DAXZ15:*25 or @DAXZ15:DTB*25)

**** With 5 multiplier

@DAXZ15:*5 (this is same as @DAXZ15:DTB*5)