Welcome to Customer Accounts, the unit that covers every account type you need to know for the SIE exam, from basic cash accounts to complex retirement plans.
Exam Weight: This unit is part of Understanding Trading, Customer Accounts and Prohibited Activities. The full section accounts for 23 scored questions (31% of the exam). The official outline does not assign a separate question count to this unit.
What You'll Learn
- Full-payment trading rules and freeriding violations in cash accounts
- How margin accounts work, including Regulation T and maintenance requirements
- The approval process and disclosure requirements for options accounts
- Authority levels and supervision for discretionary vs. non-discretionary accounts
- How fee-based and commission-based compensation models create different conflicts
- 529 plans and Coverdell Education Savings Accounts for education funding
- JTWROS vs. Tenants in Common and how individual and joint accounts work
- Documentation and authorization requirements for corporate and institutional accounts
- How revocable and irrevocable trust accounts operate
- Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) and Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA) rules for custodial accounts belonging to minors
- General vs. limited partner authority in partnership accounts
- IRAs, 401(k)s, and Required Minimum Distribution rules for retirement accounts
Why This Matters
The SIE exam heavily tests account types and registrations. You need to know which accounts require special approval, what documentation is needed to open each type, and the key rules that govern how each account operates. Many exam questions present scenarios where you must identify the correct account type or spot a rule violation.
Let's start with the simplest account type, cash accounts.