Series 9 and 10 guide for the FINRA General Securities Sales Supervisor route, including options supervision, sales supervision, corequisites, and study order.
Use this Series 9 and 10 guide when your search starts with the General Securities Sales Supervisor route rather than with one part of the exam. FINRA treats Series 9 and Series 10 as a paired limited-principal qualification for sales supervision. Series 10 is the larger general-sales-supervision part, while Series 9 is the options-supervision part.
The route is narrower than Series 24. Series 9/10 is built around supervising sales activities. It does not give the same broad principal authority over underwriting, trading, market making, advertising, or overall financial-responsibility compliance that may be tested in broader principal routes.
| Item | Current FINRA reference point |
|---|---|
| Full route | General Securities Sales Supervisor Qualification Exams |
| Part 1 | Series 10 - general securities sales supervision |
| Part 2 | Series 9 - options sales supervision |
| Corequisites | SIE and Series 7 |
| Registration logic | Both Series 9 and Series 10 must be passed for the General Securities Sales Supervisor registration |
| Scope | Sales supervision for covered products, not all principal functions |
FINRA lets candidates choose which part to take first. A practical study order depends on risk.
| If your weak area is… | Start here |
|---|---|
| customer accounts, sales-practice review, personnel supervision, trading review, or public communications | Series 10 |
| options account approval, options trading supervision, options communications, or options product mechanics | Series 9 |
| deciding whether sales-supervisor registration is the correct route | this Series 9/10 overview |
| Part | Exam focus | Study priority |
|---|---|---|
| Series 10 | General securities sales supervision | Learn customer-account controls, sales-practice supervision, personnel review, trading review, and communications oversight. |
| Series 9 | Options sales supervision | Learn options account approval, strategy risk, uncovered-writer controls, options trading supervision, and options communications review. |
Series 10 usually carries the broader workload. It asks whether the supervisor can control people, accounts, sales conduct, trading activity, records, and communications. Strong answers protect the customer, verify documentation, and escalate exceptions through written supervisory procedures.
Series 9 is narrower but more specialized. It asks whether the supervisor understands options enough to recognize strategy risk, approval problems, margin and position-limit issues, communications defects, and trading-control failures.
| Route | Best fit |
|---|---|
| Series 9/10 | branch or sales supervisor route for covered sales activities |
| Series 24 | broader general securities principal route |
| Series 4 | registered options principal route with broader options-principal authority |
| Series 23 | general securities principal sales supervisor module for candidates with Series 9/10 |
Do not choose Series 9/10 just because it includes options and municipal securities. FINRA describes the route as sales supervision. If the role requires broader options-principal, municipal-principal, trading, underwriting, advertising, or financial-responsibility authority, confirm the separate principal route before scheduling.
Use FINRA’s Series 9 and 10 exam page to confirm the current combined route, corequisites, and permitted activities. Use the Series 9/10 content outline when you need the official function weights for Series 10 and Series 9.
If you already know which part you need, go directly to the matching guide:
If you are still choosing between Series 9/10 and another supervisory route, decide the job scope first. Sales supervision points toward Series 9/10. Broader principal authority usually requires a different FINRA or MSRB route.