Symbology Initiative

An industry consortium, headed by the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), is collaborating to address the limitations of the current method many organizations use for identifying options contracts during back-office processing. Most organizations typically use a three to five alpha-character representation to denote listed options, the first three characters are used to identify the root symbol with the remaining two alpha-characters used to identify the expiration month, call/put indicator and strike price. 

The current alpha-character method has been used for over 25 years and has limited today’s marketplace. The Board of Directors at the OCC has recommended a plan to replace the alpha codes and fractional pricing. The plan intends to match options symbols with the underlying security symbol, in order to reduce corporate action symbol conversions, eliminate the need for wrap symbols and the LEAPS® rollover process, reducing errors in all back-office processes while providing more flexibility in new product development for various marketplaces.

OCC Symbology Initiative June 2008 - December 2008
Systems affected:

• ArcaDirect
• iPOPs
• GTC Extract

Test Plan for validation of new OCC format
Order Processing:

1. Round Trip testing in Cert environment from gateway to drop copy
2. Production data available in OCC format
   • POPs extracts and reports
   • GTC extracts
   • Billing backup reports
   • ArcaVision executions
3. Mockups of all affected screens will be available on the website by end of March 2008
4. Training for Electronic Order Capture system users will be available starting in May 2008

Testing schedule for June - December 2008
Cert environment testing available as of June 2008, for more information contact the FIX team @ 888-689-7739 (option 1) or email fix@nyx.com

POPS extracts, GTC extracts and billing backup reports from production data in OCC symbology available as of June 2008. 

For more information on POPS extracts and billing reports contact Kim Koppien at 415-393-4123 kkoppien@nyx.com or Averian Goldenstein at 415-393-4049 or agoldenstein@nyx.com. For more information on GTC extracts contact Bob Sides at 312-442-7157 or rsides@nyx.com .

For more information regarding the Options Symbology Plan or upcoming Milestones, visit the OCC website .

For questions regarding implementation contact Cary Broniszewski at 312.442.7028 or Pam Zielezinski at 312.442.7016.