Preparatory Course Series 34 USA American Broker Examination Retail Forex (FINRA)
Series 34 – Retail Off-Exchange Forex Exam
The Series 34 exam—the Retail Off-Exchange Forex Examination—is a National Futures Association (NFA) exam administered by FINRA. The exam consists of 40 scored questions. Candidates have one hour to complete the exam. The passing score is 70%.
Each individual seeking approval as a forex firm or forex associated person pass the Series 34 examination before engaging in off-exchange retail forex unless:
- the applicant has satisfied the Series 3 or Series 32 proficiency requirement (as described above) and
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- NFA has received satisfactory evidence that the applicant has passed the Series 34 within two years of the date the application is filed or
- since the date the applicant last passed the Series 34 there has been no period of two consecutive years during which the applicant has not been either registered as an AP or FB or FCM, RFED, IB, CPO, CTA or LTM that is a Member of NFA; or
- the applicant was registered as an AP, FB or an approved sole proprietor on May 22, 2008, and there has been no period of two consecutive years since that date during which the applicant has not been either registered as an AP or FB, or FCM, RFED, IB, CTA, CPO or LTM that is a Member of NFA.
Information is based on content in https://www.finra.org/registration-exams-ce/qualification-exams/series34 and https://www.nfa.futures.org/registration-membership/how-to-register/proficiency-requirements.html
Definitions and Terminology
1
American terms, European terms
2
Base currency, quote currency, terms currency, secondary currency
3
Bid/ask spread
4
Collateral, security deposit, margin
5
Counterparty, dealer: Futures Commission Merchant, Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer, other regulated entities listed in the Commodity Exchange Act
6
Cross rates
7
Currency crosses
8
Currency pairs
9
Direct quotes, indirect quotes
10
Exchange rate
11
Forward points
12
Forward rate, bid forward rate
13
Interest rate differential
14
Interest rate parity
15
Mark-ups, mark-downs
16
PIPs
17
Rollovers
18
Spot rate, spot price
19
Tom-next and spot-next
20
Trade date and settlement date
21
Swaps
Forex Trading Calculations
1
Cross rate transactions
2
Effects of leverage calculations
3
Netting of positions
4
Open trade variation
5
Profit & loss calculations
6
Pip values, price after pips
7
Return on collateral, security deposit, margin
8
Transaction costs
Risks Associated with Forex Trading
1
Country or sovereign risk
2
Credit risk
3
Exchange rate risk
4
Interest rate risk
5
Liquidity risk
6
Market risk
7
Operational risk
8
Settlement risk, Herstaat risk
Forex Market - Concepts -Theories - Economic Factors and IndicatorsParticipants
1
Balance of payments
2
Balance of trade
3
Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
4
Capital account and current account
5
Central bank activities, intervention, sterilized intervention
6
Clearing House Interbank Payment System (CHIPS)
7
Discount rate
8
Economic indicators: employment, consumer spending, income, industrial and inflation indicators
9
Elasticity of exchange rates
10
Exchange rate intervention
11
Exchange rate volatility
12
Federal Reserve Board, Fedwire
13
Fiscal policy
14
Fisher effect
15
Foreign investment indicators
16
Gross national product, gross domestic product
17
Inflation
18
Interbank funds transfer and settlement systems
19
International Fisher effect
20
International Monetary Fund
21
Portfolio balance
22
Role of central banks
23
Theory of elasticities
24
Theory of purchasing power parity
25
World Trade Organization
Forex Regulatory Requirements
1
Close out of offsetting positions
2
Disclosure of profitable vs. non-profitable accounts
3
Prohibition of guarantees against loss
4
Registration requirements
5
Re-quoting
6
Security deposits
7
Specific authorization for trades
8
CFTC jurisdiction and jurisdictional limitations
9
Conflicts of interest
10
Disclosures to customers
11
Jurisdictional & regulatory framework
12
Know your customer
13
NFA Interpretive Notices
14
NFA membership and associate membership requirements
15
Promotional material & solicitation
16
Reports to customers, confirmations, monthly summaries
17
Security deposit rules
18
Security of customer funds, no segregation
