FINRA Series 9Exam information
Exam information
What it is, what's tested, and how it's scored.
Series 9 exam details
The Series 9 exam and Series 10 exams are known together as the General Securities Sales Supervisor Qualification Exams. When you pass these exams and gain your General Securities Sales Supervisor registration, you will be managing the activities of other registered representatives - typically Series 7 licensees. Therefore, these exams cover the functions of a general securities sales supervisor that are most important for maintaining lawful conduct among you and your subordinates, including: the customer account creation, approval, and handling; sales and sales supervisory personnel training; trading and options activities; and the proper maintenance of records.
The Series 9 is all about options, and covers options strategies themselves, how to supervise the implementation of these strategies, suitability for different types of options trades for customer accounts, options rules and regulations, and training and personnel management related to options trading.
The Series 9 exam is hosted by FINRA and costs $130 to register. Participants have 1 hour 30 minutes to answer 55 multiple-choice questions. The passing score is 70% (39/55).
Eligibility and sponsorship
The Series 9 exam has two prerequisites: you must have an active and in-good-standing FINRA Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) license and General Securities Representative (Series 7) license. Additionally, in order to earn your General Securities Sales Supervisor registration, you must also pass the Series 10 exam, which is considered part of an exam pair with the Series 9 by FINRA.
You must be sponsored by a FINRA member firm in order to register for and take the Series 9 exam. You will need to work with your company's compliance department to fill out and submit a Form U4 in order to register for the exam.
Administration of the exam
The Series 9 exam is administered via computer. A tutorial on how to take the exam is provided prior to taking the exam.
Each candidate's exam includes 5 additional, unidentified pretest items that do not contribute toward the candidate's score. The pretest items are randomly distributed throughout the exam. Therefore, each candidate's exam consists of a total of 60 items (55 scored and 5 unscored).
There is no penalty for guessing. Therefore, candidates should attempt to answer all items.
Candidates will be allowed 90 minutes to complete the Series 9 exam.
Candidates are not permitted to bring reference materials to their testing session. Severe penalties are imposed on candidates who cheat or attempt to cheat on FINRA-administered exams.
Scoring of the exam
All candidate test scores are placed on a common scale using a statistical adjustment process known as equating. Equating scores to a common scale accounts for the slight variations in difficulty that may exist among the different sets of exam items that candidates receive. This allows for a fair comparison of scores and ensures that every candidate is held to the same passing standard regardless of which set of exam items they received.
FINRA's Series 9 exam summary
Supervise the Opening and Maintenance of Customer Options Accounts
33%
18 questions
The creation and management of customer options accounts by your sales subordinates. Topics include types of customers and customer accounts; reviewing customer options trading activities to determine if they meet applicable standards; margin account handling; CBOE, FINRA, and NYSE rules related to options accounts and their requirements; and other rules and regulations.
Supervise Sales Practices and General Options Trading Activities
34%
19 questions
Supervising options trading activities and handling any issues. Topics include reviewing and handling customer complaints; overseeing the correction of options trading errors; reviewing daily trading activity for completeness and accuracy; and managing general options trading operations.
Supervise Options Communications
9%
5 questions
Supervising communications to customers and the public related to options trading. Topics include options retail communication (such as social media or public appearances); reviewing options correspondence from your subordinates to customers; and reviewing institutional options communications.
Supervise Associated Persons and Personnel Management Activities
24%
13 questions
Personnel management related to your team and options, including training. Topics include knowing the terms, definitions, rules, regulations, economics, and taxation of sophisticated options products and strategies, and training your team on them.
Achievable Series 9 content outline
1
Introduction
Introduction to the Series 9 exam.
2
Strategies
The fundamentals of options contracts, including their issuance, structure, and specifications. Basic and advanced options strategies are covered, including single-leg, hedging, income, synthetic, ratio, straddles, combinations, spreads, and iron condors. Non-equity options such as index, VIX, foreign currency, and yield-based options are also covered. Additionally, this chapter discusses the suitability of the various strategies.
3
Customer accounts
The process of opening brokerage cash and margin accounts, particularly focusing on accounts eligible for options trading. Customer and intra-industry disputes involving arbitration and litigation claims are also discussed.
4
Rules & regulations
The various rules and regulations that apply to the securities markets and participants, particularly related to options activity. Topics such as registration, reporting, market dynamics, contract adjustments, taxation, public communications, fiduciary standards, anti-money laundering, and record retention are covered.
Pass the FINRA Series 9. Guaranteed.
Achievable is the best Series 9 exam prep course: effective, personalized, and convenient. With Achievable, you'll spend less time studying and pass your exam the first time, or your money back.