The use of sophisticated softwares for real-time trading has not only increased the number of retail traders in the Indian stock markets but has also improved the speed, transparency, and tracking of data in real-time. However, when we get to the nitty-gritty of the trades, what is the key information needed to execute your trades on any software correctly?
The information about the script name and the other details like strike price, expiration date etc. Given here is a list of symbols used on the TrueData Amibroker / Motivewave, etc., NinjaTrader and Metastock software to provide a simplified and clear understanding in order to use them efficiently and execute trades in a timely manner.
The symbols used for trading on softwares supported by TrueData are broadly classified into many categories like equity trading, futures trading, options trading, commodity trading, currency trading and more. Let us focus on the three main segments of trading on the Amibroker / Motivewave, etc., NinjaTrader 7& 8 and Metastock software in this blog. The details of the same are mentioned below.
The details of symbols used for equity trading are further classified into individual stock scrips and indices. The details of the formation of these symbols are mentioned below.
When it comes to using the softwares for trading in individual stocks, traders need to use the ‘TICKER’ symbols used by the NSE and BSE. The ticker symbol is the unique symbol used for individual stocks on the NSE or BSE.
For example, if a trader wants to trade in the stock of ‘Abbott India’, the symbol to use is either ‘ABBOTT INDIA’ (NSE ticker symbol) or ABBOTINDIA_BSE (BSE Ticker Symbol).
The only difference between the two options is the use of ‘_BSE’ for the BSE ticker symbol and that the BSE ticker symbol does not support the use of space in between the name of the script.
The complete list of symbols that can be used for trading in stocks using the softwares supported by TrueData can be found using the following links.
For NSE stocks -
https://www.truedata.in/downloads/symbol_lists/5.ALL_NSE_EQ.txt
For BSE Stocks
https://www.truedata.in/downloads/symbol_lists/32.ALL_BSE_EQ.txt
When it comes to trading in indices on NSE and BSE, traders need to use the following format
For NIFTY 50, use the symbol ‘NIFTY’, or
For SENSEX’, use the symbol ‘SENSEX.
The complete list of symbols that can be used for trading in indices using the software supported by TrueData can be found using the following links.
For NSE Indices - https://www.truedata.in/downloads/symbol_lists/A.NSE_INDICES.txt
For BSE Indices - https://www.truedata.in/downloads/symbol_lists/C.BSE_INDICES.txt
Let us now focus on the symbols used for trading in futures contracts. A futures contract is not a simple contract and has many elements, primarily the expiry date, the strike price, the script name, etc.
These contracts are further classified into two categories namely the fixed expiry contracts and continuous futures contracts
Under this type of futures contract, each contract for the future will only be active during a certain month. When the month changes, that contract will expire and won't work in Velocity anymore. The format of the symbol to be used in this case is,
Symbol Name + YY + MM + FUT
Where,
YY represents the years (For example, 2023 will be ‘23’)
MM represents the month name represented as the first three letters of the month (For example, October will be shown as ‘OCT’)
The contract symbol will end with ‘FUT’ to represent the futures contract.
This entire symbol is explained with an example below.
Consider a trader who wants to trade in the index futures contract of Nifty in the month of October, they will have to use the symbol ‘NIFTY23OCTFUT’.
Post-expiry of the index futures contract at the end of October, the symbol for the following month's contract will change to ‘NIFTY23NOVFUT’
Similarly, consider a trader who wants to trade in the individual future contract of Abbott India for the month of October 23. The symbol to be used will be ‘ABBOTINDIA23OCTFUT’.
Again, post expiry of the October 23 month, the symbol to be used for the November contract will be ‘ABBOTINDIA23NOVFUT’
In the case of continuous futures contracts, the continuous future symbol will switch to the next month when the current month's contract expires. The continuous futures contracts symbols for the indices and stocks are explained below.
For stocks, the traders will have to use the ticker for the stock followed by ‘-/_’ (depending on whether it is used on Amibroker / Motivewave, etc. or NinjaTrader 7 & 8) and finally add the Roman number ‘I’ at the end.
Similarly, for indices, traders will have to use the ticker symbol for the index followed by ‘-/_’ (depending on whether it is used on Amibroker / Motivewave, etc. or NinjaTrader 7&8) and finally add the Roman number ‘I’ at the end.
This is further explained using the example below.
Consider a trader who wants to trade in a continuous futures contract of Abbott India, they will have to use the symbol ‘ABBOTINDIA-I (for Amibroker / Motivewave, etc.), or, ABBOTINDIA_I (for NinjaTrader 7&8)
Consider a trader who wants to trade in a continuous futures contract of Bank Nifty, they will have to use the symbol ‘BANKNIFTY-I (for Amibroker / Motivewave, etc.), or, BANKNIFTY_I (for NinjaTrader 7&8)
The complete list of symbols that can be used for trading in stocks and indices using the softwares supported by TrueData can be found using the following links.
For stocks -
https://www.truedata.in/downloads/symbol_lists/8.NSE_FUTURES_CONTINUOUS-I.txt (for Amibroker / Motivewave, etc.)
https://www.truedata.in/downloads/symbol_lists/9.NSE_FUTURES_CONTINUOUS_NINJA_I.txt (for NinjaTrader 7&8)
For indices -
https://www.truedata.in/downloads/symbol_lists/35.BSE_FUTURES_CONTINUOUS-I.txt (BSE indices for Amibroker / Motivewave, etc.)
https://www.truedata.in/downloads/symbol_lists/36.BSE_FUTURES_CONTINUOUS_NINJA_I.txt (BSE indices for NinjaTrader 7&8)
The third most important or popular segment of trading is the options trading segment. These contracts are also These contracts are further classified into two categories namely the fixed expiry contracts and continuous options contracts. The
The symbol for the options contract is similar to the futures contract with a small addition of the date due to the weekly expiry of the options contract. The format for the symbol used in the contract options is,
Symbol Name + YY + MM + DD + Strike Price + CE/PE
Where,
Symbol name - Stock Ticker / Index Ticker
YY - Current year
MM - Current Month
DD - Current Expiry
Strike Price - Weekly Strike Price
CE / PE - Call option / Put Option
This is further explained using the example given below.
Consider a trader who wants to trade in the options contract of Abbott India for October 2023 with a weekly expiry of Thursday 19th October 2023 and has a strike price of Rs. 22000.
If the trader buys a Call Option with the above details, the symbol to be used will be - ABBOTINDIA23101922000CE.
Similarly, if the trader wants to buy a Put Option with the above details, the symbol to be used will be - ABBOTINDIA23101922000PE
Post-expiry of the above weekly options contract, a contract option with the same details but with the weekly expiry of next Thursday, 26th October 2023 will have the symbol ABBOTINDIA23102622000CE (for buying call option) and ABBOTINDIA23102622000PE (for buying put option).
In the case of the index contract option, the only change will be in the symbol name where traders will have to use the ticker symbol for the index (like NIFTY / BANKNIFTY / SENSEX)
The complete list of symbols that can be used for trading in stocks and indices using the software supported by TrueData can be found using the following links.
For stocks -
https://www.truedata.in/downloads/symbol_lists/13.NSE_ALL_OPTIONS.txt
For indices -
https://www.truedata.in/downloads/symbol_lists/12.NSE_INDICES_OPTIONS.txt (NSE indices)
https://www.truedata.in/downloads/symbol_lists/39.BSE_INDICES_OPTIONS.txt (BSE indices)
Similar to continuous futures contracts, there are also continuous options contracts. Unlike the above contract options, there is no need to change the weekly expiry date in these contracts while putting the symbol to trade. Instead, the symbol to be used here will be in the following format.
Symbol Name + Strike Price + C1/P1
Where,
Symbol name - Stock Ticker / Index Ticker
Strike Price - Weekly Strike Price
C1 / P1 - Call Option / Put Option
This can be further explained using the example given below.
Consider a trader who wants to trade in Nifty Options with a strike price of 20000 and wants to buy a call option. The symbol to be used will be - NIFTY20000C1. If the trader wants to buy a put option, the symbol to be used will be NIFTY20000P1.
Unlike contract options, the weekly expiry date will not reflect in the symbol but will be rolled over in the alias on the software.
The complete list of symbols that can be used for trading in indices using the softwares supported by TrueData can be found using the following links.
For NSE Continuous Options -
https://www.truedata.in/downloads/symbol_lists/D.NSE_CONTINUOUS_OPTIONS.txt
For BSE Continuous Options -
https://www.truedata.in/downloads/symbol_lists/F.BSE_CONTINUOUS_OPTIONS.txt
TrueData also has a small change in the symbol list for trading using the Market Data (WebSocket) API. While there was a slight confusion in using the NSE Options symbol formats for Weekly and Monthly, the same has been removed. The majority of the symbol list given above for trading in the equity segment, futures segment and options segment is retained for trading on Market Data API. The only difference is in the case of the name of the NSE indices. Traders should not lose the space used in the name of the indices and use the same format of the index name as mentioned on the NSE website.
For example,
For Nifty 50, traders need to use the symbol ‘NIFTY 50’. Similarly, for Bank Nifty, use the symbol ‘NIFTY BANK’. For the Nifty Midcap 100 index, use the symbol ‘NIFTY MIDCAP 100’.
The complete list of symbols used for NSE and BSE indices for Market Data API can be found using the following links.
For NSE - https://www.truedata.in/downloads/symbol_lists/1.WEB_SOCKET_API_NSE_SPOT_INDEX.txt
For BSE - https://www.truedata.in/downloads/symbol_lists/16.WEB_SOCKET_API_BSE_INDEX.txt
Given above was the comprehensive idea of using the symbols for trading on software supported by TrueData. Furthermore, additional key points must be considered while using these individual software.
All the software (Amibroker / Motivewave, etc., NinjaTrader 7&8, and Metastock) use the format hyphen (-), underscore (_), and Roman numbers (I, II, III) for naming the continuous future contract. However, NinjaTrader does not support symbol names with a hyphen (-), space, or ampersand (&).
Read More: Is Amibroker your best trading decision-making software?
Marisha Bhatt is a financial content writer @TrueData.
She writes with the sole aim of simplifying complex financial concepts and jargon while attempting to clarify technical and fundamental analysis concepts of the stock markets. The ultimate goal is to spread vital knowledge and benefit the maximum audience. Her Chartered Accountant background acts as the knowledge base to help clarify crucial concepts and create a sound investment portfolio.
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