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Option symbol (OCC symbology)

The standardised ticker that encodes underlying, expiration date, call or put, and strike into one string.

Since 2010 US listed options use a single format: root symbol, then the expiration as YYMMDD, then C or P, then the strike padded to eight digits with three implied decimals. It is ugly but unambiguous, and it is what your broker's confirmations, tax forms and API responses actually contain.

Reading it by hand is a useful skill when a fill looks wrong. A mistyped strike or a wrong expiration shows up instantly once you can decode the string.

Example: XYZ 260320C00052500 is the XYZ call expiring 20 March 2026 with a $52.50 strike. Change the C to a P and you have the put. Change 00052500 to 00055000 and you have the $55 strike. An adjusted-option usually carries a modified root such as XYZ1.

Related: option-series, adjusted-option, occ, expiration-date

See it drawn

Original diagrams for the ideas on this page. Illustrative, not real market data.

How an option's time value decaysA curve sliding gently downward at first and then dropping steeply into expiry, where it reaches zero.Extrinsic (time) value6420906030Value bleeds away slowly at firstDecay speeds up hereWorth nothing at expiryexpiryDays to expiry
Time decay of an option's value. The part of an option's price that is only time — its extrinsic value — drains away every day and must reach zero at expiry. The slide is gentle months out and steepest in the final weeks, which is what traders call theta.

Educational only, not advice. Spotted an error? Post in Site Feedback.