Guidance
We offer guidance to firms in the form of podcasts, webinars, FAQs, reports, and more. Use the toggle below to find guidance by topic, type or date.
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State and national securities regulators and legislators came together on November 6, 2019 in Gaithersburg, MD to talk to area savers and investors about how to make informed investment decisions and to protect their retirement savings from fraud. Hear from FINRA Foundation President, Gerri Walsh, about how Marylanders are doing with their finances.
The tables below provide a reference description for all of the elements found in all views of the TRACE Quality of Markets Corporate Bond and Agency Debt Report Cards. (See TRACE Quality of Markets Report Card Figures 1 - 3 for a sample report.)
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Q: Is the exemption under paragraph (f)(1)(B) of Rule 4360 for “members whose business is solely that of a Designated Market Maker... and who does not conduct business with the public” available to members whose business consists solely of market making activities on one or more national securities exchanges, regardless of whether the member is designated or registered in such capacity on a particular exchange?
Background
FINRA promotes the capital-raising process through appropriately tailored rules that are designed to promote transparency and to establish important standards of conduct for the benefit of all market participants, including investors and issuers participating in offerings.
For any public offering that is required to be filed pursuant to FINRA Rule 5110(a)(2), FINRA Rule 5110(a)(3)(A) describes that the required documents and information must be filed by participating members with FINRA no later than three business days after any documents are filed with or submitted to the SEC, including confidential filings or submissions, or any state securities commission or other similar U.S.
The TRACE Markup/Markdown Analysis Report is a monthly report designed to assist firms in their supervision activities by providing transparency into a portion of FINRA's surveillance program of corporate and agency fixed income transactions customer pricing.
The TRACE Markup/Markdown Analysis Report is built upon logic developed to pair purchase and sale transactions reported to TRACE.
Background
An important part of FINRA's work involves providing investors the information and tools they require to make informed decisions about their assets and avoid dealings with bad actors. Several respondents to the Special Notice on Engagement issued in March 2017 provided a range of recommendations related to FINRA's efforts in the area of investor education—including the types of investor education content we develop and our dissemination strategies.
- Q1. My firm has been granted an exemption from both the recording and reporting requirements of the OATS Rules and does not currently have an obligation to report to OATS. Does my firm’s OATS exemption extend to the Consolidated Audit Trail (“CAT”) recording and reporting requirements?
- A1. No. Neither SEC Rule 613 nor the CAT NMS Plan provide exemptive relief to any class of broker-dealers.
What is the FINRA CRCP CE System?
The FINRA CRCP® CE System is a web-based portal for Certified Regulatory and Compliance Professional (CRCP)® graduates to self-report their CRCP continuing education (CE) requirements (CRCP graduates who graduated after 2004 are required to complete 12 hours of CRCP CE every three years), maintain and update contact information, and view their CE progress.
The table below provides a reference description for all of the elements found for ATS Cross Manipulation exceptions identified during the month.
The Market Order Timeliness Statistical Report is published monthly based upon firm-reported data detailing the number of customer market orders executed by your firm in NMS securities and classifying these orders based on time duration to execute. Supplementary Material .01 of FINRA Rule 5310 – Best Execution and Interpositioning - states that member firms must make every effort to execute marketable customer orders it receives fully and promptly.
Q. What is a duplicate disclosure and how is a duplicate disclosure created?
Background
In response to the March 2017 Special Notice on Engagement issued as part of FINRA360, FINRA received a number of comments and suggestions regarding engagement in connection with FINRA's rulemaking process. After carefully reviewing and analyzing the comments, FINRA is taking a number of actions to address the comments and suggestions that it received.
Rulemaking Process
FBI Fingerprint Reuse Policy Update – No Action at This Time
The FBI recently issued an updated fingerprint reuse policy in its January 2026 Outsourcing News newsletter. This update, referred to as the "Reuse Information Letter," was distributed to Authorized Recipients (ARs) and is available here for reference.
The Web CRD Late Filing Fee Report is a monthly analysis of FINRA firms' ability to meet certain filing obligations. In accordance with FINRA rules, firms are required to submit information related to registered representatives. This report displays a firm's performance in submitting certain U4 and U5 filings in the required time frame.
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Description |
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Exceptions Periods |
Date of all listed options position, as reported. |
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Total Number of Exceptions |
Total number of issues reported during the period. |
Large Options Positions Reported (LOPR) - Listed Detail Data
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1. Does Rule 5110 apply to public offerings that also are regulated under Rule 2310?
Yes. Rule 2310 regulates the underwriting terms and arrangements of direct participation programs and unlisted real estate investment trusts (collectively, “Investment Programs”) that are publicly offered. All public offerings in which a member participates, with limited exceptions provided in Rule 5110(h), must be filed, including Investment Programs.