Can You Transfer Stock From One Broker to Another?

You can transfer stock from one broker to another without selling your shares, keeping your cost basis and holding period intact. The move runs through the Automated Customer Account Transfer Service, known as ACATS, an electronic system that shifts assets directly between firms. You start the process at the new broker, not the old one. If everything matches up, the transfer completes in about six business days.

What ACATS Is and How It Moves Your Shares

ACATS is operated by the National Securities Clearing Corporation, which sits between brokerages as a central clearinghouse.¹ Your new broker submits a Transfer Initiation Form (TIF) into the system, which assigns a control number and notifies your old broker that a transfer has been requested.² You don’t call your old firm. You don’t fill out paperwork for them. The receiving firm drives the whole process.

You can request a full transfer that moves the entire account or a partial transfer covering specific positions or a portion of cash. ACATS handles stocks, corporate and municipal bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, options, annuities, and cash.²

What Transfers Cleanly and What Doesn’t

Most ordinary holdings move without any trouble. A handful of positions need attention before you start:

Fractional shares. ACATS only accepts whole shares. Your old broker liquidates any fractional positions and sends the cash to your new account.³
Proprietary mutual funds. If your old broker’s house funds can’t be held at the new firm, those positions must be sold. That sale is a taxable event.
Options expiring soon. Open option positions that expire within seven business days of the transfer cannot move through ACATS, and your old broker will cancel all open orders on the account being transferred.⁴
Margin debits. You generally need to pay off a margin balance or request a partial transfer that excludes margin-related positions. Any outstanding margin call must be satisfied first.⁵

What to Have Ready Before You Start

Most rejected transfers come down to paperwork that doesn’t match. Pull up your most recent statement from your current broker and check the exact legal account name, the account number, and your Social Security Number or Taxpayer Identification Number. All of it has to match precisely at both firms.¹

Account registrations need to line up too. An IRA has to go to an IRA. A joint account with rights of survivorship needs the same ownership structure, with identical names and titles, at both institutions. Mismatched registrations get rejected automatically. Before you submit anything, confirm the owners, beneficiaries, and account type are set up correctly at the receiving broker.

The Transfer Process, Step by Step

Open and fund the new account. Set up the correct account type at the receiving broker with matching registration details.
Let pending trades settle. Unsettled trades can block a transfer. For stocks, that usually means waiting one business day after a trade.
Turn off automatic activity at the old broker. Shut down dividend reinvestment and recurring contributions so new buys don’t complicate the move.
Submit the Transfer Initiation Form at the new broker. Most firms offer a secure online portal; mail is also usually an option. The new firm enters your name, SSN, account number, and the list of assets into ACATS.⁶
Wait for validation. The old broker has three business days to validate the request or flag an exception. The account is frozen during this window; no new orders.¹
Assets move. Securities and cash shift to the new account. Residual cash from dividends or interest that lands during the transfer typically follows a little later.

How Long It Takes and What You Can Do While You Wait

A clean ACATS transfer should take no more than six business days from the moment the new firm submits the TIF.⁷ The first three business days belong to the delivering firm for validation.¹

You generally can’t trade in the account while it’s moving. Once the old broker validates the transfer, it freezes the account so asset counts stay accurate between both firms. If you expect to need access to specific positions during that window, consider a partial transfer and leave those behind until the main move is done.

Fees and Reimbursements

Your new broker almost never charges to receive assets. The cost comes from the firm you’re leaving, in the form of an ACATS-out or account closeout fee. Expect somewhere between $0 and $150. Partial transfers are sometimes free even when full transfers are not.

Many brokers will reimburse your old firm’s fee to win the account. These offers usually require a minimum balance, often around $2,500, and you typically have 60 days to submit a copy of the statement showing the charge. Read the terms: some firms claw the reimbursement back if your balance drops below the minimum within 12 months because of withdrawals.

Why Transfers Get Rejected

If ACATS rejects the request, you fix the problem and resubmit. The common causes are mismatches the system catches automatically:

The account number doesn’t exist at the delivering firm. Check your statement and resubmit.
The Social Security Number on the TIF doesn’t match the old firm’s records.
The account name doesn’t match. Even a middle initial on one account but not the other can trigger a rejection.
The account has a restriction: an outstanding margin call, a legal lien, or a pending regulatory action.
No signature on file at the delivering firm.

If a problem isn’t resolved within six business days, the request is deleted from ACATS and you have to start over.⁷

Taxes and Cost Basis

A standard ACATS transfer isn’t a taxable event. You’re not selling anything, so there’s no gain to report. Your new broker receives the original cost basis along with the shares, because federal law requires the delivering broker to pass basis data to the receiving broker.⁸ Once the transfer settles, confirm that the cost basis and acquisition dates on the new account match your own records.

Taxes enter only when something has to be sold. Liquidating fractional shares, proprietary mutual funds, or other non-transferable positions each produces a capital gain or loss. You’ll get a Form 1099-B for reportable proceeds, though brokers are not required to issue a 1099-B for fractional share sales with gross proceeds under $20.⁹ If you hold appreciated house funds that must be sold, run the tax numbers before you start the move.

Moving an IRA or Other Retirement Account

Retirement accounts need extra care because the method you choose decides whether taxes come due. The safe way is a direct transfer, sometimes called a trustee-to-trustee transfer, in which the assets move straight from one custodian to the other and never pass through your hands. Direct transfers aren’t rollovers, and they aren’t limited by the once-per-year rollover rule.¹⁰ A standard ACATS move of an IRA from one broker to another is a direct transfer.

An indirect rollover, where the old custodian cuts you a check, creates real tax risk. IRA distributions paid to you are subject to 10% federal income tax withholding, and distributions from an employer plan face a mandatory 20% withholding.¹⁰ You then have 60 days to redeposit the full original distribution, including the amount that was withheld, which you’ll have to replace from other funds. Miss the window or come up short, and the shortfall counts as taxable income. If you’re under 59½, an additional 10% early distribution penalty may apply.

1
FINRA. Customer Account Transfers
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DTCC. Automated Customer Account Transfer Service (ACATS)
3
SEC.gov. No-Action Letter – Financial Information Forum
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FINRA.org. FINRA Rule 11870 – Customer Account Transfer Contracts
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eCFR. 12 CFR Section 220.4 – Margin Account
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U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Transferring Your Brokerage Account
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U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Transferring Your Brokerage Account – Tips on Avoiding Delays
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Internal Revenue Service. Basis Reporting by Securities Brokers and Basis Determination
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-B (2026)
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Internal Revenue Service. Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions