Free SIE study guide lessons

📖 SIE glossary

342 SIE terms explained in one plain sentence each.

📝 SIE practice test questions

Free questions by topic, with the answer and a rationale for each.

📘 SIE guides

How the exam works, study plans, exam day, SIE vs Series 7 and the math.

🧭 How the SIE Works

Know the test before you study for it: format, outline, test day and how to read the questions

• 1What the SIE Is (and Isn't)
• 2The Outline: Where the Points Are
• 3Enrolling, Test Day and Retakes
• 4Reading SIE Questions Like a Pro

🏛️ Regulators & Market Participants

Who writes the rules, who enforces them, who protects investors and who does what in the market

• 1The SEC and the Big Six Laws
• 2SROs: FINRA, MSRB and the Exchanges
• 3The Fed, Treasury, the States, FDIC and SIPC
• 4SIPC: What's Protected and What Isn't
• 5Who's Who in the Market

🔁 Market Structure

Where securities are born, where they trade, and who sits on the other side of every order

• 1Primary, Secondary, Third and Fourth Markets
• 2Exchanges, OTC and the Bid-Ask Spread
• 3Agent or Principal: Commission vs Markup
• 4ATSs, ECNs and Dark Pools

📈 Economic Factors

The Fed, rates, the business cycle and the numbers that move markets

• 1The Fed's Toolkit: Tightening and Easing
• 2Rates, Bond Prices and the Yield Curve
• 3Boom, Bust and Who Survives
• 4Leading, Coincident, Lagging
• 5The Dollar Abroad and Reading the Books

🚀 Securities Offerings

From registration to the red herring, Reg D to Rule 144: how new securities reach investors

• 1Filing, Cooling Off and Going Effective
• 2Syndicates, Spreads and Commitments
• 3Securities That Skip SEC Registration
• 4Private Placements, Reg A and Friends
• 5Rule 144: Selling Restricted and Control Stock
• 6Hot IPOs, Spinning and Muni Deals

🧾 Equity Securities

Owning a piece of the company: common, preferred, rights, warrants, ADRs and what stock pays you

• 1Common Stock: Owners Last in Line
• 2Preferred Stock: The Fixed-Dividend Hybrid
• 3Rights vs Warrants: Short and Cheap, Long and Pricey
• 4ADRs: Foreign Stock in U.S. Dollars
• 5How Stock Pays: Dividends, Gains and Yield

💵 Debt Securities

Lend the money, collect the coupon: bonds, Treasuries, MBS and the money market

• 1Par, Coupon, Maturity: Reading a Bond
• 2The Price–Yield Seesaw
• 3Who Gets Paid First: Corporate Bonds
• 4Bills, Notes, Bonds, TIPS and STRIPS
• 5Ginnie, Fannie, Freddie and the Mortgage Pool
• 6The Money Market: Short, Safe, Liquid
• 7Who Holds the Option: Calls, Puts, Conversion

🏙️ Municipal Securities

Who backs the bond, who skips the tax, and who writes (but never enforces) the rules

• 1Taxes or Tolls: Who Pays the Bondholders?
• 2Tax-Free Interest and the Tax-Equivalent Yield
• 3TANs, RANs, BANs: Borrowing Until the Money Arrives
• 4529s, ABLE Accounts and LGIPs
• 5The MSRB Writes the Rules, Others Enforce Them

🎯 Options

Calls up, puts down: rights, obligations and the math the SIE loves to test

• 1Calls Up, Puts Down: Who Has the Right?
• 2What a Premium Is Made Of
• 3Breakeven, Max Gain and Max Loss
• 4Protective Puts and Covered Calls
• 5Exercise, Expiration and the OCC
• 6Opening an Options Account: ODD, Approval, Agreement

🧺 Packaged Products

Mutual funds, ETFs and annuities: how they are built, priced, sold and charged for

• 1Open, Closed or Fixed: The 1940 Act Family
• 2NAV, POP and the Next Price Rule
• 3A, B, C Shares and the Breakpoint Rules
• 4Fund Flavors, Fees and the Prospectus
• 5ETFs, Leveraged ETFs and ETNs
• 6Variable Annuities: Units, AIR and Rule 2330
• 7Fixed vs Indexed Annuities and Variable Life

🧩 DPPs, REITs & Alternatives

Partnerships, property trusts, private funds and notes that are harder to sell than to buy

• 1Limited Partnerships: The Tax Pipe
• 2REITs: Owning Buildings Through a Share
• 3Hedge Funds and Private Equity: Locked Doors
• 4Structured Notes, ETNs and Volatility Products

⚠️ Investment Risks

Name the risk, then know what can and cannot shrink it

• 1The Risk You Can Diversify and the Risk You Can't
• 2Rates Up, Prices Down: Rate, Inflation and Reinvestment Risk
• 3Will They Pay, Can I Sell, Will They Call?
• 4Currency, Country and the Rest of the Risk Zoo
• 5Managing Risk: Allocate, Diversify, Rebalance, Hedge

⚡ Trading & Settlement

Orders, shorts, T+1 settlement, margin and the paperwork that follows every trade

• 1Market, Limit, Stop: Which Order Does What
• 2Going Long, Selling Short and Who Is on the Other Side
• 3T+1: When the Cash and Shares Change Hands
• 4Measuring the Payoff: Yields and Returns
• 5Buying on Margin: 50% In, 25% to Stay
• 6After the Trade: Reports, Confirms and Statements

📣 Corporate Actions

Dividend dates, splits, takeovers and proxies: what happens to shareholders when the company acts

• 1Four Dividend Dates and the One That Decides
• 2More Slices, Same Pizza: Splits and Stock Dividends
• 3Offers You Can Take or Leave: Rights, Tenders and Mergers
• 4Voting From Afar: Proxies and Street Name

👥 Customer Accounts

Who owns the account, who can trade it, and the rules that protect the customer from day one to the final transfer

• 1Opening an Account: Know Who You Are Serving
• 2Suitability, Reg BI and Form CRS
• 3Individual and Joint Accounts: Who Gets It When Someone Dies
• 4Custodial, Trust and Entity Accounts
• 5Cash, Margin and Who Decides the Trade
• 6Traditional and Roth IRAs (Tax Year 2026)
• 7Employer Plans: 401(k), 403(b), 457, SEP and SIMPLE
• 8Education Savings and Special Situations

🛡️ Compliance Considerations

Money laundering, customer ID, records, privacy, ads and phone calls: the rules that keep a firm clean

• 1Placement, Layering, Integration
• 2Know Who You're Dealing With
• 3Six, Three, and Forever
• 4Reg S-P and Red Flags
• 525 in 30: Communications Rules
• 6Cold Calls and Complaints

🚫 Prohibited Activities

Manipulation, insider trading, churning and the shortcuts that end careers

• 1Fake Volume, Fake Prices
• 2Inside Information, Outside Penalties
• 3Churning, Discretion and Permission
• 4Hands Off the Customer's Money
• 5Selling Away, Breakpoints and Hot Issues
• 6The Rules Behind the Rules

🪪 Registration & Qualification

Who needs a license, the forms that follow you, CE deadlines and what can end a career

• 1Who Needs a License (and Who Doesn't)
• 2U4 In, U5 Out: The Forms That Follow You
• 3Continuing Education and Keeping Your Exams Alive
• 4Disqualified: Felonies, 8210 and FINRA Discipline

🤝 Employee Conduct & Reportable Events

Side jobs, selling away, gifts, political checks and what you must tell your firm

• 1Side Hustles: Tell Your Firm First
• 2Selling Away: The Deal Your Firm Never Saw
• 3Gifts, Dinners and Campaign Checks
• 4Your Own Accounts and Events You Must Report
• 5Supervision: Every Rep Has a Principal

✨ The big ideas of the SIE

Eight 60-second lessons on the ideas the exam keeps coming back to.

• 1The Bond Seesaw
• 2T+1 and the Dividend Dates
• 3Call Up, Put Down
• 4Reg T: Half Down
• 5Breakpoints: Bigger Buy, Smaller Load
• 6SIPC vs FDIC
• 7Spot the Money Launderer
• 8What Passing the SIE Gets You