What Is a DTC Number for Brokerage Account Transfers?

A DTC number for brokerage account transfers is the four-digit code the Depository Trust Company assigns to each participating bank and brokerage, and it tells the settlement system where your securities should be delivered. When you move stocks, bonds, or funds from one firm to another, your new broker uses the sending and receiving DTC numbers to route the assets through DTC’s electronic ledger. Think of it as a routing number, but for securities instead of cash.

Where to Find the Right DTC Number

Large brokerages hold their own DTC participant numbers. Charles Schwab’s is 0164 and Vanguard’s is 0062, per the DTCC’s public participant directory.¹ You can usually find the number you need on an account statement, in your broker’s online help pages, or by calling back-office support. The DTCC also publishes a free directory sorted alphabetically and by number.²

One catch: smaller brokerages without direct DTC membership often clear through a larger firm and use that clearing firm’s DTC number for transactions.³ If your broker works this way, the number that belongs on the transfer form is the clearing firm’s, not the broker’s own. Ask directly if you aren’t sure.

What to Give Your New Broker

Along with the receiving DTC number, you’ll need to provide:

Your account number at both the old and new firms.
The exact registration name on the old account. It must match the new one. Trusts, joint accounts, and custodial accounts each have specific titling that has to line up.
For a partial transfer, a full list of what you want moved: ticker symbol, share or unit quantity, and security type.

Your new broker will have you sign a Transfer of Assets form or similar authorization. If the transfer involves re-registration or physical certificates, you may also need a Medallion Signature Guarantee, a special stamp from a participating financial institution. A regular notary stamp does not substitute.⁴

If you’ve changed your name or switched titling since the old account was opened, gather supporting paperwork before you start. A marriage certificate or court order may be required before the old firm will release the assets.

How the Transfer Moves

Most account transfers flow through the Automated Customer Account Transfer Service, or ACATS, operated by DTCC’s National Securities Clearing Corporation subsidiary.⁵ Your new firm enters the request, your old firm validates it, and the settled securities are delivered through DTC and other channels.

FINRA Rule 11870 sets the deadlines. Once your new broker submits the transfer instructions, the carrying firm has one business day to validate or flag an exception, then three business days after validation to complete the transfer.⁶

Not everything goes through ACATS. Manual transfers happen outside the automated system for some partial liquidations and certain account types, and they carry no regulatory time limit.⁷ If you’re doing a partial transfer, tell your new firm you want it routed through ACATS. Some partial transfers default to manual processing, which can drag things out.

How Long It Takes

For an ACATS transfer without problems, the SEC says the process should complete within six business days from the point your new firm enters the request. Realistically, the end-to-end experience often takes two to three weeks once you factor in opening the new account, gathering paperwork, and resolving any hiccups.⁷

While the transfer is in progress, you generally can’t trade the securities being moved. If you know you’ll need to rebalance or sell, plan around that window.

Fees You Should Expect

Your old firm, the delivering broker, typically charges an outbound fee for a full account transfer. Published schedules from major brokerages show these commonly falling in the $50 to $100 range, with some firms charging nothing for partial transfers. Advisory clients and larger accounts sometimes get the fee waived.

Your new broker may offer to reimburse the outbound fee, especially for sizable accounts, but you usually have to ask. Other costs can appear too: redemption fees on proprietary funds that have to be liquidated, and margin balances that must be paid off before the old firm will release securities used as collateral.

Assets That May Not Transfer

Under FINRA rules, proprietary products of the carrying broker — the firm’s own money market funds, certain annuities, or in-house mutual funds — are treated as nontransferable unless the receiving broker has agreed to accept them.⁶ When one of these shows up in a full transfer, your old firm has to contact you for instructions. You can typically liquidate the position (with any redemption fee disclosed) or leave it behind in the old account.

Fractional shares are a separate issue. Most brokerages won’t accept inbound fractional shares through ACATS, so your old broker will sell the fractional portion and transfer the cash proceeds. In a standard taxable account, the IRS treats that cash as a capital gain or loss based on your cost basis in those shares. In an IRA, 401(k), or other tax-advantaged account, no immediate tax applies.

Cost Basis After the Transfer Settles

Your cost basis information has to travel with the securities. Federal rules require the transferring broker to send a written transfer statement to the receiving broker within 15 days of settlement, including adjusted basis, original acquisition date, and holding period adjustments for each covered security.⁸

Even so, cost basis data sometimes arrives incomplete or late. After the transfer settles, check your new account against your own records. If figures are missing or wrong, you can give the new broker your documentation for correction. Accurate basis matters when you eventually sell — errors lead to overpaid capital gains or misstated losses.

Why Transfers Get Rejected or Delayed

A few recurring problems account for most delays:

Registration mismatch. The old and new account titles must match exactly. A joint-to-individual switch (or vice versa) needs extra documentation.⁷
Outstanding margin balance. The old broker has a lien on marginable securities and may not release them until the debit is paid.
Missing Medallion Signature Guarantee when re-registration or physical certificates are involved. A notary stamp doesn’t substitute.⁴
Form errors. A wrong DTC number, missing account number, or inconsistent security details will trigger a rejection.
Pending transactions. Recent trades have to settle first. Standard securities transactions now settle T+1 (one business day after the trade date), so waiting a business day after your last trade before filing avoids the problem.⁹

If the old firm rejects the transfer, it must tell the new broker why. You can then correct the issue and resubmit. Check both account portals during the process so you catch problems early rather than weeks in.

1
DTCC. DTC Participant Report (Alphabetical Sort)
2
DTCC. DTC Member Directories
3
DTCC. Correspondent Clearing Service
4
Investor.gov. Medallion Signature Guarantees: Preventing the Unauthorized Transfer of Securities
5
DTCC. Automated Customer Account Transfer Service (ACATS)
6
FINRA. FINRA Rule 11870 – Customer Account Transfer Contracts
7
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Transferring Your Brokerage Account: Tips on Avoiding Delays
8
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-B (2026)
9
eCFR. 17 CFR 240.15c6-1 – Settlement Cycle