ACI Dealing Certificate: Exam Format, Cost, and Syllabus Explained

hat 002-101 Exam Actually Certifies

The ACI Dealing Certificate 002-101 isn't a broad finance credential — it's a narrowly scoped competence test for people who are about to sit, or already sit, on a dealing floor or in the functions that support one. ACI FMA built it around five specific "Topic Baskets": Financial Markets Environment, Foreign Exchange, Rates (money markets and interest rate instruments), FICC Derivatives, and Financial Markets Applications (mainly risk). Passing tells an employer you can read a spot quote, calculate a forward rate from spot and interest rate differentials, work out a simple discount instrument's value, and explain what a repo haircut is — not that you understand corporate finance or portfolio theory in general.

It's also, since the 2020 rewrite, explicitly tied to the FX Global Code, the Global Precious Metals Code, and the UK Money Markets Code — candidates are tested on knowing what these codes are and why they exist, not just on market mechanics.

Who 002-101 Exam Is For (and Who It's Not)

ACI FMA writes the syllabus for people with 0–24 months of dealing-room experience, plus middle office, operations, compliance, and risk staff who need to understand what the front office is actually doing. It's a genuine entry point — no finance degree or prior certification is required to sit it.

It's the wrong exam, though, for anyone already comfortable pricing derivatives or running a book; the ACI Diploma sits above it and goes considerably deeper into the same subject areas. It's also not a compliance or AML credential in itself, despite the ethics content — candidates working purely in regulatory compliance are usually better served by a credential built specifically for that function.

Exam Format and Structure

Two hours, 70 questions, computer-based, at an ACI-authorized test centre. Every question has four answer options. What trips people up isn't usually the 60% overall bar — it's the 50% minimum per Topic Basket. A candidate can score comfortably above 60% overall and still fail outright by bombing the Rates or FICC Derivatives basket, because both carry a heavier share of calculation-based questions than the other three sections.

A basic on-screen calculator is provided; candidates may also bring their own hand-held calculator, provided it isn't text-programmable or capable of graphical display beyond two lines.

Cost Breakdown

ACI FMA runs a two-tier fee structure that's easy to misread. The discounted rate applies only to individual members whose national ACI association has current, paid-up dues — not to anyone who happens to call themselves an ACI member. Fall into the "member but unpaid" bucket, or sit as a non-member entirely, and the price is the same higher rate. Fees have risen over time — the exam cost roughly €230/€280 as recently as mid-2022 — so treat any figure, including the one in the table above, as something worth reconfirming at registration rather than banking on months in advance. There's no separate retake fee structure published; a failed attempt is simply re-booked and paid for as a new sitting.

Prerequisites and Eligibility

None, formally. ACI FMA doesn't gate entry with a required course or a membership requirement — anyone can register through the Global Education Centre and book a seat at a test centre. That said, the syllabus assumes some baseline comfort with interest-rate arithmetic and market terminology; candidates with zero prior exposure to banking or markets typically need meaningfully more prep time than the "junior dealer" audience the exam is written for.

How 002-101 Exam Is Scored and What Passing Requires

Scoring is binary at the pass/fail line (60% overall, 50% floor per basket) but ACI FMA also grades above it: Merit for 70–79.99%, Distinction for 80% and above. Neither Merit nor Distinction unlocks anything formally — no shortcut to the Diploma, no fee waiver — but some employers and training providers treat the grade as a genuine signal of how strong a candidate is, not just whether they cleared the bar.

Renewal, Recertification, or Continuing Education Requirements

ACI FMA does not publish an expiration date or a continuing-education requirement for the Dealing Certificate itself. It's a pass-once credential. Candidates who want current confirmation of that policy — since certifying bodies do occasionally revisit renewal rules — should check directly with ACI FMA rather than relying on any third-party summary, this one included.

How 002-101 Exam Compares to Its Closest Alternatives

Two comparisons actually matter here, and they're different kinds of comparison.

ACI Operations Certificate is the Dealing Certificate's mirror image rather than its rival: same five-topic structure, same 70-question format, same fee bands, but built for settlements and processing staff instead of front-office dealers. Firms that need both trading and operations staff certified often run candidates through whichever of the two actually matches their job function, not both.

ACI Diploma is the natural next step, not a competitor — it explicitly builds on the Dealing Certificate and ACI Operations Certificate syllabi and goes deeper into the same five subject areas, with a higher fee (roughly €370/€420) to match. Candidates sometimes ask whether to skip straight to the Diploma; ACI FMA's own positioning treats the Dealing Certificate as the intended entry point, and the Diploma assumes that foundational level is already in place.

Outside the ACI FMA family, the more meaningful comparison is against something like AFP's Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) credential — a different scope (broader corporate treasury management rather than dealing-room mechanics) aimed at a different career stage, so it's less a straight substitute than a separate track entirely.

 Preparation Timeline

Six weeks of steady study is a common structure among training providers who run preparatory courses for this exam, working roughly one Topic Basket area every week or so, with the final stretch reserved for timed practice under exam conditions. Candidates already working in a dealing-room-adjacent role — someone who's spent a year in FX operations, for instance — often compress that considerably, since large parts of the Financial Markets Environment and Foreign Exchange sections overlap with what they do daily. Candidates coming from outside finance entirely, by contrast, frequently need longer than six weeks, particularly to get comfortable with the calculation-heavy Rates and FICC Derivatives baskets, where the 50%-per-basket rule offers no room to coast on strength elsewhere.