Plain-English definitions of terms that come up constantly in FINRA Series 7 study, grouped roughly in the order the four job functions cover them. Definitions are simplified for learning; FINRA’s official content outline and rules are authoritative.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| General Securities Representative (GS) | The registration the Series 7 qualifies you for. Together with the SIE co-requisite, it permits selling the full range of securities products at a FINRA member firm. |
| Form U4 | The Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer. Your sponsoring firm files it through the CRD system to register you and open your 120-day exam window. |
| SIE exam | The Securities Industry Essentials exam, FINRA’s general-knowledge co-requisite. The General Securities Representative registration requires passing both the SIE and the Series 7, in either order. |
| FINRA | The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority: a self-regulatory organization (SRO) that oversees broker-dealers under SEC supervision and administers the Series 7. |
| SIPC | The Securities Investor Protection Corporation. It protects customers of a failed broker-dealer up to $500,000 per customer (including a $250,000 limit for cash); it never covers market losses. |
| Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) | The SEC rule requiring broker-dealers to act in a retail customer’s best interest when recommending a security, strategy or account type, without placing the firm’s interests first. |
| Retail communication | Any written or electronic communication distributed to more than 25 retail investors within 30 calendar days. It generally requires approval by a registered principal before use. |
| Correspondence | Written or electronic communication sent to 25 or fewer retail investors within 30 calendar days. It is subject to supervision and review rather than pre-approval. |
| Institutional communication | Communication distributed only to institutional investors. It is exempt from pre-approval but must be supervised, and firms must have policies to stop it reaching retail investors. |
| Customer Identification Program (CIP) | The USA PATRIOT Act requirement to verify each customer’s identity: name, date of birth, residential address and an identification number such as an SSN. |
| JTWROS | Joint tenants with rights of survivorship: a joint account in which a deceased owner’s interest passes directly to the surviving owner(s), bypassing the estate. In a tenancy in common, the share goes to the deceased’s estate instead. |
| Custodial account (UTMA/UGMA) | An account an adult custodian manages for a minor, who is the beneficial owner. One custodian and one minor per account; no margin; gifts to the account are irrevocable. |
| Discretionary account | An account with written authorization letting the representative choose the security, the amount or whether to buy or sell without asking first. Choosing only time or price does not count as discretion. |
| Margin account | An account in which the customer borrows part of the purchase price from the firm and pledges the securities as collateral, after signing the margin agreement. |
| Regulation T | The Federal Reserve rule governing broker-dealer credit. It sets the initial deposit for margin purchases (currently 50%) and payment deadlines in cash accounts. |
| Maintenance margin | FINRA’s minimum ongoing equity in a margin account: 25% of market value for long positions and 30% for short positions. Firms may impose stricter house requirements. |
| SMA | The special memorandum account: a bookkeeping line of credit that records excess equity created in a margin account and preserves that buying power even if the market later falls. |
| Preferred stock | Equity paying a fixed dividend with priority over common stock for dividends and in liquidation, usually without voting rights. It trades like an interest-rate-sensitive income security. |
| Warrant | A long-term certificate to buy the issuer’s stock at a fixed price set above the market price at issuance. Often attached to bond offerings as a sweetener. Contrast rights, which are short-term and priced below market. |
| American depositary receipt (ADR) | A US-traded receipt for foreign shares held by a depositary bank. It trades and pays dividends in US dollars, but the holder still bears currency risk. |
| Ex-dividend date | The first day a stock trades without its pending dividend. Buy before the ex-date and you receive the dividend; buy on or after it and the seller keeps it. |
| Current yield | Annual interest (or dividend) divided by the current market price. It sits between the coupon rate and yield to maturity for a bond trading away from par. |
| Yield to maturity (YTM) | The total annualised return of a bond held to maturity, reflecting coupon income plus the gradual amortisation of any purchase discount or premium. |
| Convertible bond | A corporate bond the holder can exchange for a fixed number of the issuer’s common shares. It usually pays a lower coupon than a comparable non-convertible bond because the conversion right has value. |
| Accrued interest | Interest the buyer pays the seller for the period from the last coupon up to, but not including, settlement. Corporate and municipal bonds count 30-day months (30/360); government notes and bonds use actual days. |
| TIPS | Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities. The principal adjusts with CPI inflation and the fixed coupon rate is paid on the adjusted principal, protecting real purchasing power. |
| CMO | A collateralized mortgage obligation: cash flows from a mortgage pool divided into tranches with different priorities and different exposure to prepayment and extension risk. |
| General obligation (GO) bond | A municipal bond backed by the issuer’s full faith, credit and taxing power. Issuance typically requires voter approval and is subject to statutory debt limits. |
| Revenue bond | A municipal bond repaid only from the earnings of the facility it finances. Analysed through feasibility studies, rate covenants and debt-service coverage rather than taxes. |
| Official statement | The disclosure document for a new municipal issue, describing the offering, the issuer’s finances and the security behind the bonds. Provided to purchasers. |
| Legal opinion | Bond counsel’s opinion accompanying a municipal issue, stating that the bonds are legally valid and that interest is exempt from federal income tax. |
| Net asset value (NAV) | A fund’s assets minus liabilities divided by shares outstanding. Open-end funds sell and redeem at the next NAV computed after the order arrives (forward pricing). |
| Breakpoint | A purchase level at which an open-end fund’s sales charge drops. Recommending a purchase just below one to earn a higher commission - a breakpoint sale - violates FINRA rules. |
| Letter of intent (LOI) | A pledge to invest enough within 13 months to reach a breakpoint, earning the lower sales charge immediately. It can be backdated up to 90 days to count earlier purchases. |
| 12b-1 fee | An annual distribution and marketing fee deducted from a mutual fund’s assets. Unlike a one-time sales load, it reduces returns every year the shares are held. |
| Variable annuity | An insurance contract whose value depends on the performance of investments held in a separate account. Earnings grow tax-deferred and payout amounts vary with results. |
| Assumed interest rate (AIR) | The benchmark return built into a variable annuity’s payout calculation. If the separate account beats the AIR, the next payment rises; if it lags the AIR, the payment falls. |
| 1035 exchange | A tax-free exchange between qualifying insurance or annuity contracts under the tax code, letting a holder switch contracts without recognising accumulated gains. |
| Direct participation program (DPP) | A limited partnership that passes income, gains and losses directly through to investors. Interests are illiquid, and the program’s economic viability matters more than its tax benefits. |
| General partner (GP) | The manager of a limited partnership. The GP has unlimited personal liability and a fiduciary duty to the limited partners, who risk only their investment. |
| Call option | The right to buy 100 shares of the underlying at the strike price before expiration. Buyers profit when the stock rises; sellers keep the premium if the option expires worthless. |
| Put option | The right to sell 100 shares of the underlying at the strike price before expiration. Buyers profit when the stock falls or use puts to protect long stock; assigned sellers must buy. |
| Intrinsic value | The amount an option is in the money: market price above the strike for calls, below it for puts. Premium minus intrinsic value equals time value. |
| Covered call | Selling a call against stock you already own to earn premium income. It cushions small declines but caps the upside at the strike price plus the premium received. |
| Protective put | Buying a put against a long stock position as insurance. The maximum loss is limited to the distance to the strike plus the premium paid. |
| Straddle | A call and a put on the same underlying with the same strike and expiration. Long straddles profit from a large move in either direction; short straddles profit from a flat market. |
| Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) | The issuer and guarantor of listed options. It standardises contracts and allocates exercise notices randomly among member firms carrying short positions. |
| Stop order | An order that activates only after the stop price is reached, then executes at the market. A stop-limit order activates the same way but may execute only at the limit price or better. |
| Regular way settlement | The standard settlement cycle: one business day after the trade date (T+1) for equities and corporate and municipal bonds. Cash settlements occur the same day. |
| ACATS | The Automated Customer Account Transfer Service. The receiving firm submits the customer’s transfer instructions, and the carrying firm must validate them or take exception. |
| Wash sale | Selling a security at a loss and buying it, or one substantially identical, within 30 days before or after the sale. The loss is disallowed and added to the new position’s cost basis. |