Plenty of people stay with a broker they’ve outgrown for one reason: moving feels like a hassle with hidden risks. They picture a week of phone calls, a portfolio stuck in limbo and a surprise tax bill at the end. In practice, moving an account between US brokers is a well-worn process, and most of the problems people run into come from a handful of avoidable mistakes.

I was a licensed stock broker in the 1990s. When a transfer stalls, the paperwork is usually the reason. Here’s how to do it cleanly.

The system behind the switch

Transfers between brokerage firms run through a system called ACATS, the Automated Customer Account Transfer Service. You never deal with it directly. What matters is the order of operations, which surprises a lot of people: you start at the new broker, and the new firm contacts the old one on your behalf.

You open an account at the receiving firm and fill out its Transfer Instruction Form, giving details of the account you’re leaving. The new firm submits the request through ACATS, and your old firm is then required to act on it. According to the SEC’s Investor.gov guidance, if a problem with the request isn’t resolved within two business days, the transfer is purged from the system and has to be submitted again from scratch.

When everything is in order, a transfer usually takes about a week.

Get the form exactly right

Incorrect or incomplete forms cause most transfer delays. The old firm compares your request against its records, and any mismatch can bounce it. Three details need to match precisely:

  • Your name, spelled exactly as it appears on the old account, including a middle initial if one is there.
  • The account number, copied from a recent statement.
  • The account type. An individual account goes to an individual account, a joint account to a joint account, and a Roth IRA to a Roth IRA. Sending a traditional IRA into a taxable account is a different transaction entirely.

Attach a recent statement from the old firm. It gives the receiving broker everything it needs to fill gaps and is the single easiest way to head off a rejection. If you’ve never looked closely at what a statement contains, my guide on how to read your brokerage statement is a good companion to this step.

Move the holdings, keep the gains intact

The most important choice on the form is whether to transfer “in kind” or in cash. An in-kind transfer moves your actual shares and funds, with their original cost basis, to the new firm. Nothing is sold. In a taxable account, that matters a great deal, because selling a position with a large gain to move the proceeds as cash can trigger capital gains tax for no good reason.

Some assets resist the move. Proprietary mutual funds, the house-brand funds a broker manages itself, sometimes can’t be held at another firm. Certain other securities may be in the same position. If something can’t transfer in kind, it may have to be sold first, and in a taxable account that sale is a tax event. Ask the new broker to review your holdings before you submit, so you know what’s coming.

Fractional shares are another common casualty. Many firms can’t move a partial share, so it often gets sold and sent over as cash. The amounts are usually small, but they’ll show up on your tax forms.

Retirement accounts are more forgiving here, since buying and selling inside an IRA generally doesn’t create a tax bill. Even so, transferring in kind keeps you invested the whole time.

What it costs, and who pays

Many brokers charge an outgoing transfer fee when you leave, commonly somewhere around $75 to $125. Check your current firm’s fee schedule so you know the number in advance.

The receiving side often softens the blow. Many brokers reimburse transfer fees to win your business. Schwab, for example, reimburses up to $125 in transfer fees for accounts of $10,000 or more moved in. Interactive Brokers charges no ACAT fee at all. If you’re unsure whether your new broker covers the fee, ask before you start; it’s a routine question.

A tip that saves aggravation: leave a little cash in the old account. Final fees, a last bit of accrued interest or a stray dividend can arrive after the main transfer, and a cash cushion keeps the old account from going negative.

Don’t close the old account yourself

This one trips people up. It feels tidy to call the old broker and close the account before starting the transfer. Resist the urge. The transfer request needs an open account at the other end to pull from, so leave the old account alone until the move is complete and your first statement at the new firm checks out.

Sign-up bonuses and their strings

Brokers compete hard for transferred assets, and several are running offers this fall:

  • tastytrade pays $50 to $2,000 for accounts funded with $2,500 or more within 30 days. The money has to stay 12 months, IRAs are excluded, and the offer ends November 30, 2026.
  • E*TRADE pays $50 to $10,000 for accounts opened by October 31, 2026, with $1,000 or more in new money deposited within 60 days and held for 12 months.
  • Schwab’s referral offer pays $100 to $1,000 for $25,000 or more deposited within 45 days, held for a year.

The holding requirement is the part to read twice. If you move $100,000 to collect a bonus and then pull money out after eight months, you may forfeit it. Treat a bonus as a reason to choose between two brokers you already like. I track the current offers, along with support hours and account features, on the BrokerNimble features page.

A simple checklist

  1. Pick the new broker first, based on fees, platform and the account types you need. My seven questions for choosing a broker cover the essentials.
  2. Download your most recent statement from the old firm.
  3. Open a matching account type at the new firm.
  4. Ask the new firm which holdings will transfer in kind and whether it reimburses transfer fees.
  5. Submit the Transfer Instruction Form with the statement attached, choosing an in-kind transfer.
  6. Leave a small cash balance behind, and don’t close anything yourself.
  7. When the move completes, compare the first statement at the new firm with the last one at the old firm, position by position, and confirm the cost basis came across.

What protection covers

SIPC coverage protects up to $500,000, including $250,000 in cash, if a member broker fails. It doesn’t cover market losses, and futures, crypto and event-contract accounts generally fall outside it. If you hold any of those at the old firm, ask both brokers how they’ll be handled before you submit.

Done carefully, a transfer costs you some paperwork and, in many cases, nothing else. For the bigger picture on picking the right destination, see my full guide to choosing and using a broker in 2026.

Disclosure: Peter Agro runs BrokerNimble.com, an independent broker comparison site that plans to join broker affiliate programs and may earn referral fees in the future. Figures were checked in October 2026 and change often; confirm current terms with the provider. This article is for information only and is not investment, tax or legal advice.