SIE Outline Checklist

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Official outline: FINRA - SIE Content Outline (2025). 75 scored questions, 1 hr 45 min, pass: 70 (scaled).

[ ] Knowledge of Capital Markets (16%, 12 questions)

• [ ] Regulators and their lanes: SEC (federal securities law), SROs such as FINRA, MSRB and Cboe, state regulators (NASAA members), plus the Fed, Treasury/IRS, SIPC and FDIC.
• [ ] Market participants: accredited, institutional and retail investors; introducing vs. clearing broker-dealers; transfer agents; DTCC and the OCC.
• [ ] Primary vs. secondary market; the third market (listed stock traded OTC) and fourth market (institution to institution).
• [ ] Fed tools and economics: monetary vs. fiscal policy, open market operations, discount rate vs. fed funds rate, business-cycle phases, leading/lagging/coincident indicators.
• [ ] Offerings: best efforts vs. firm commitment, shelf registration, IPO vs. follow-on, Regulation D and Rule 144/144A basics.

Trap: Mixing up who regulates what: the MSRB writes municipal rules but does not enforce them against broker-dealers; FINRA and other regulators do.

[ ] Understanding Products and Their Risks (44%, 33 questions)

• [ ] Equity: common vs. preferred, rights vs. warrants, ADRs; order of liquidation.
• [ ] Debt: Treasuries, agencies, corporates, munis (GO vs. revenue); the inverse relationship between price and yield; callable and convertible features.
• [ ] Options basics: calls vs. puts, strike, premium, in/out of the money, American vs. European, the ODD and the OCC.
• [ ] Packaged products: open-end vs. closed-end funds, UITs, variable annuities; loads, share classes, breakpoints, letters of intent and rights of accumulation.
• [ ] 529 plans, ABLE accounts, DPPs, REITs, hedge funds and ETPs (ETFs vs. ETNs), and the risk list: credit, interest-rate, liquidity, inflation, currency, political, prepayment.

Trap: Treating ETNs like ETFs: an ETN is unsecured debt of the issuer and carries that issuer's credit risk.

[ ] Understanding Trading, Customer Accounts and Prohibited Activities (31%, 23 questions)

• [ ] Order types: market, limit, stop, stop-limit, GTC; principal vs. agency capacity.
• [ ] Dividend dates (record, ex-dividend, payable) and settlement (regular way is T+1 for most securities since May 28, 2024).
• [ ] Account types and registrations: cash vs. margin, discretionary, joint (JTWROS vs. TIC), custodial (UTMA/UGMA), trusts, IRAs and qualified plans.
• [ ] AML: placement, layering, integration; SARs, CTRs (cash over $10,000), OFAC and the SDN list.
• [ ] Prohibited activities: market manipulation, insider trading, front running, borrowing from customers, sharing in accounts, and financial exploitation of seniors.

Trap: Confusing the stages of money laundering or the thresholds: a CTR is for cash transactions over $10,000; a broker-dealer SAR threshold is $5,000 of suspicious activity.

[ ] Overview of the Regulatory Framework (9%, 7 questions)

• [ ] SRO registration: Form U4 (registration) and U5 (termination) filing requirements.
• [ ] Continuing education (Regulatory Element and Firm Element) and the Maintaining Qualifications Program.
• [ ] Statutory disqualification, and FINRA's disciplinary and arbitration processes.
• [ ] Outside business activities and private securities transactions (selling away) notice requirements.

Trap: Assuming passing the SIE registers you. It does not: registration requires a top-off exam and a sponsoring firm filing Form U4.

Checked against the official outline on 2026-09-23. FINRA and NASAA do not endorse SeriesPrepKit.

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