ProphetDirect offers you stock and index options dating back to November 1, 1995. This data includes the open, high, low, close, volume, and open interest for any options that were traded for U.S.-listed issues. This data is updated promptly each trading day, about one hour after the market closes.

Some programs construct the options symbols for you automatically. However, here are the instructions for how an option symbol is put together:

The first character is the exchange code. The various exchanges are:

The second, third, and fourth characters are the characters of the root symbol. For example, the root symbol for the stock IBM is simply IBM. However, the root symbol isn't always equal to the stock symbol, particularly if the stock is more than three characters long (as is the case with NASDAQ stocks). If the root is only one or two characters long, use spaces to fill in the remaining characters.

For your convenience, here is a link to CBOE's symbol guide, which will provide you with the root symbol for any stock.

The fifth character is the month code. This code dictates whether the option is a call or a put, as well as designating its expiration month. The codes are:

The sixth character is the strike code, which indicates the strike price. It will be one of these letters:

Finally, the seventh and eight characters are for the year. For instance, the year 1999 would be 99.

An example stock option symbol, for instance, would be:

CIBMLT99

That option would be a December $100 call on IBM for 1999 traded on the CBOE.