Getting this information about futures is a bit more tricky because futures do not have a fixed ticker symbol and different futures change their ticker symbols in different ways. Overall, determining the ticker symbol for a future has two steps.
Futures tickers are a little different from stocks. Each futures market has a ticker symbol that is followed by symbols for the contract month and the year. For example, crude oil futures have a ticker symbol - CL. The complete ticker symbol for December 2012 Crude Oil Futures would be - CLZ12.
The "CL" stands for the underlying futures contract.
The "Z" stands for a December.
(F=Jan, G=Feb, H=Mar, J=Apr, K=May, M=June, N=July, Q=Aug, U=Sep, V=Oct, X=Nov, Z=Dec)
The "12" stands for the year 2012."