Symbol picker: contracts, front month and recent symbols
The symbol picker lists the instruments available on the current source, grouped by family, with the front-month contract code, the expiring contract during the roll window and a tick size hint.
Senzoukria · Documentation · Updated September 2026
Where to find it
- Where
- Chart toolbar → symbol button → “Select symbol · <exchange>” dialog
- Close
- Esc, ✕ button or click on the backdrop
- Futures families
- Index Futures, Treasuries, Currencies, Metals, Energy, Grains, Livestock, Crypto Futures (CME)
- Crypto families
- Majors, Alts, Memes
- Recent symbols
- 6 most recent, shown on the welcome dashboard
What it does
The picker is a modal dialog titled “Select symbol” followed by the exchange label: Rithmic CME, Databento CME, Binance Spot, Binance USD-M Perp or Bybit Linear. A search field at the top is focused when the dialog opens; the query is upper-cased and matched against both the ticker and the display label, so “btc”, “BTCUSDT” and “Nasdaq” all work. Rows show the label, the ticker, the contract month for futures and a “tick” hint with the quotation step. The row of the current symbol is highlighted; clicking a row selects it and closes the dialog.
For CME sources the catalog is derived from the contract specifications file at the moment the dialog opens: each product produces one row with its current front-month code (for example MNQZ6), computed from the product’s listed months and expiry rule. During the roll window, the expiring contract is listed as a second row after the front month with an “exp DD/MM” badge and its last trading day in the tooltip, so a trader holding a position can still select it until it really stops trading. For Binance and Bybit the catalog is a fixed list of pairs with their tick size and, for the main pairs, a footprint grouping step.
Settings
| Element | Default / rule | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Search field | Empty, placeholder “Search MNQ, ES, GC…” or “Search BTC, ETH, SOL…” | Filters rows by ticker or label, case-insensitive. |
| Contract month | Front month of the product | Human-readable month of the listed contract, computed at dialog open. |
| exp badge | Only during the roll window | Marks the contract that expires soon; hover shows “Last trading day YYYY-MM-DD”. |
| tick hint | From the contract spec or the crypto list | Quotation step. Informational: the renderer infers the real tick size from incoming trades. |
| Default Rithmic symbol | Last symbol used, else front-month MNQ | Read from the saved symbol; an expired saved contract is replaced by the live contract of the same root and written back. |
| Recent symbols | Up to 6, most recent first | Updated when the instrument changes, not on every tick; shown on the welcome page under “Recent symbols”. |
How to use it
Click the symbol button in the chart toolbar, type the root (MNQ, ES, CL, GC) and click the row. In the Rithmic and Databento catalogs the families are ordered Index Futures, Treasuries, Currencies, Metals, Energy, Grains, Livestock and Crypto Futures (CME). On crypto sources, choose among Majors, Alts and Memes. If you need a contract that is not in the catalog, the chart accepts the code you type into the symbol field; the picker only covers products declared in the specification file.
When a new quarter approaches, both the front month and the expiring contract appear for the same product. The front month always comes first, so surfaces that take the first entry of a root (such as the replay setup) keep pointing at the current contract.
Limits or pitfalls
- The catalog is computed when the dialog opens. A session left open across a roll shows the right contracts the next time you open the picker, without restarting.
- Selecting a listed contract does not guarantee data: the feed still depends on your market-data entitlement on that plant or on the Databento licence.
- The tick hint is not the footprint grouping step: BTCUSDT quotes at 0.01 but is grouped in steps of 5 by default so a one-minute candle stays readable.
- Recent symbols are a dashboard convenience only; they never decide what history is loaded.
Related pages
This page in other languages
Frequently asked questions
- Why do I see two rows for the same product?
- During the roll window the picker lists the new front month first and the expiring contract second, with an “exp” badge. The old contract still trades until its last trading day, so it stays selectable.
- Why did my saved contract change at startup?
- A saved contract that has expired is replaced by the live contract of the same root before the chart loads, and the correction is written back so it does not repeat. Subscribing to a dead contract would leave the chart on “Waiting for data…” forever.
- Where are recent symbols shown?
- On the welcome dashboard under “Recent symbols”, crossed with the local bar cache to display a last known price. The list keeps the six most recent instruments.