Brokerage Transfer: In-Kind Holdings vs. Cash Proceeds
Check transferability before authorizing sales or moving investments.
For a U.S. taxable brokerage account, an in-kind transfer moves investments without selling them first. Check which holdings can actually move.
Confirm the receiving firm’s plan
The SEC’s transfer bulletin recommends asking the new firm which assets it accepts before initiating a transfer. Use your existing statement to complete its transfer instructions accurately. Some proprietary funds, unavailable mutual funds and other holdings may not transfer.
For assets left behind, compare selling and transferring cash with keeping them at the old firm. Ask about tax consequences before selling and any fee for an inactive account. Neither choice is automatically cost-free.
Ask both firms about transfer charges, the expected schedule and trading restrictions. Trading during the move can delay it; do not assume you can trade throughout the transfer.
Separate whole and fractional shares
FINRA’s fractional-share guidance warns that fractional shares cannot currently transfer between brokerage firms. Selling them can involve taxes and fees. Ask how your firm executes fractional sales: it may aggregate orders rather than execute immediately, affecting the price received.
Illustration: if the receiving firm accepts the whole shares in a 12.4-share holding, track 12 shares separately from the 0.4-share fraction to be sold. This is a share-count check, not a sale-price or tax estimate.
Read the authorization and verify arrival
Schwab’s transfer form, for example, authorizes liquidation of nontransferable proprietary money-market holdings unless otherwise instructed. It also permits asset sales to cover outstanding fees when available cash is insufficient. Read the authorization before signing.
Schwab uses the delivering firm’s cost-basis information but does not guarantee its completeness or accuracy. Check the transferred basis against your records and raise discrepancies.
Compare the first new statement with the last old one. Track later dividends or interest too. If something is missing, ask both firms to explain the difference.
This comparison excludes retirement rollovers and does not recommend a broker, investment or sale. Checked October 24, 2026.
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