Months

CME

Technique

Hand holds throat between thumb and index finger.

Origin

Scarf around neck for the cold.

January

1 of 32

Hand holds throat between thumb and index finger.

Scarf around neck for the cold.

With hand facing away from body, middle finger, index finger and thumb form the letter "F."

First letter of the month.

Index, middle, ring and pinky fingers are pointed away from body and wiggled.

Fingers marching.

Fingers are pointed outward and wiggled while hand is lowered.

April rainfall.

Hand grabs lapel of trading jacket.

Reference to the actress Mae West, who had large breasts

Index and pinky fingers pointed downward.

Commodity code for June is "M."

Index finger is pointed at eye.

Eye rhymes with July.

Hand is held flat against the forehead and moved laterally.

Wiping sweat from brow in August heat.

All fingers are pointed upward to form the letter "U."

Commodity code for September is "U."

Index and middle fingers are angled upward to form the letter "V."

Commodity code for October is "V."

Index finger is pointed outward and draws an "X" in the air.

Commodity code for November is "X."

Tip of middle finger is pressed to index finger.

Fingers form the letter "D" in the space between them. Also resembles "X" for Xmas.

Thumb, index and pinky fingers fully extended with ring and middle fingers closed in palm.

Combination of the commodity codes "M" and "U."

With tip of middle finger pressed to tip of index finger, thumb is extended outward and ring and pinky fingers are curled.

Combination of signals for September and December.

Futures and options contracts are standardized for monthly expiration cycles and different hand signals evolved to signify each month. Like most signals, the monthly signals were developed based upon simplicity and sometimes based upon the letter of the alphabet which serves as an industry code for each month. For instance, the commodity codes are F - January, G - February, H - March, J - April, K - May, M - June, N - July, Q - August, U - September, V - October, X - November, Z - December.