The Options Symbology Initiative (OSI) is an industry-wide overhaul of the existing five-character options symbol to a 21-character symbol. Effective February 12, 2010, all market participants and firms that trade in options must be fully converted to the new symbology.

The new symbols will explicitly identify the underlying equity, whether it is a put or call, the full expiration date and the strike price. This paper is designed to help firms prepare for the change. It includes:

• A description of asset classes and option types that will be affected
• How the new symbols will be structured and what they’ll look like
• A six-step process to make transitioning easier
• How Advent can help