Moving Brokerage Accounts Between Robinhood and Charles Schwab
Do you have a brokerage account at Schwab but want to try Robinhood? Or are you at Robinhood and want to move to Schwab? In either case, it’s fairly easy to move an investment account from one firm to the other thanks to the Automated Customer Account Transfer Service (ACATS). Just follow the guide below, and you’ll be able to move your account without much trouble.
Transfer from Robinhood to Schwab
To transfer a brokerage account at Robinhood to Schwab,
the first step is to open a Schwab account. Simple enough. This matters because in an ACATS transfer, what actually moves are the assets inside the Robinhood account into an account at Schwab. The accounts themselves do not move.
If you already have a Schwab brokerage account, it may or may not work. In an ACATS transfer, the two
accounts must be the same type. Because Robinhood offers individual, joint, and Traditional/Roth IRA accounts, your Schwab account must match one of these. A different account type won’t work.
A second requirement is that the names on the two accounts must match exactly. If the names on the two
accounts don’t match, you can open a second account at either firm and use that account in
the transfer. If you open the second account at Robinhood, you can move assets from the first account to the second account seamlessly.
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Preparing the Accounts
Once you have the correct accounts open, you’ll need to prepare them for the upcoming move. This could
involve several steps, but don’t worry, they won’t take too long.
In your Schwab account, you’ll need to add options trading if you plan to move option contracts. If you plan to transfer any multi-leg strategies, you’ll need to verify that you have the correct options level added to your account.
On the Robinhood side, you could zero out any margin balances you have. Alternatively, you can move a margin debit to Schwab (be sure your Schwab account is first enabled for margin trading).
Robinhood won’t send option contracts if they expire in less than
7 business days. You can either do a partial transfer and leave them behind or close them out in the case of a full transfer.
One really important note about cryptocurrencies here: although Robinhood offers them, Schwab does not. In any case, cryptos can’t be moved in an ACATS transfer. You should not try to do a full transfer from any account that has digital currencies in it. You could do a partial transfer and leave the cryptocurrencies behind. At Robinhood, cryptocurrencies are held separately from securities for ACATS purposes.
Initiating the Transfer
A transfer through the ACATS system is always started with the receiving brokerage firm. In this case,
that’s Schwab. Log into the Schwab website (the broker’s mobile app can’t be used for this) and click
on the Move Money tab in the top menu. In the lower menu that appears, click on Transfer Account.
Now you’ll have Schwab’s ACATS form. You’ll need to search for Robinhood in the search bar for outgoing brokers. After selecting Robinhood, you can choose full or partial transfer. For the latter, you can choose to transfer the entire cash balance or a portion of it. For positions of securities, you can transfer the entire position or a specific number of shares (only whole shares).
After filling in all requested details, submit the digital form, and Schwab will take it from there.
Potential Cost
Robinhood does charge $100 for an outgoing ACATS transfer. Schwab will reimburse this fee if account moved is $10K+.
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Transfer from Schwab to Robinhood
It’s also possible to move a securities account in the other direction. Notice we said
“securities account.” Any futures contracts you have at Schwab can’t be transferred to Robinhood.
And while we’re on this topic, there are many other investments that can’t be moved from Schwab
to Robinhood. These include mutual funds, bonds and other fixed-income securities, annuities, certificates of deposit, foreign shares, cryptocurrencies, fractional shares, derivatives, and option contracts that expire within 7 days.
It is possible to transfer stocks, ETFs, and options into Robinhood. Here’s how to go through the process:
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Free stock + 3% IRA match or 2% transfer match at Robinhood.
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Getting the Accounts Ready
Obviously, if you don’t yet have a Robinhood account open, you need to
head over to the Robinhood site and apply for one.
Individual, joint, and Traditional/Roth IRA are the account types Robinhood accepts for ACATS transfers, so that’s what you must have at
Schwab (at least at the point of transfer). If you have some other account type, you could open an
individual account and move securities into the individual account (this could have tax consequences in
some situations).
With both accounts open (with the same names on them), it’s time to prepare them. This could include adding margin, selling assets at Schwab that can’t be moved (this could have tax consequences, too), or adding options trading.
Robinhood won’t accept transfers of option contracts if they expire within
7 days.
Requesting a Transfer
On the Robinhood mobile app (the website won’t work here), you can submit a transfer request. The
appropriate form can be found by going into the Account settings menu and tapping on the Transfers link. On the next page, tap on “Transfer accounts in.” This will give you a list of brokers. Schwab is one of the available choices in the alphabetical list (Charles Schwab is the brokerage name you should look for).
Now, enter the requested pieces of information, such as account number and type of transfer. Robinhood’s form will let you choose either a full or partial transfer. Remember that many asset classes at Schwab can’t be moved, so a partial transfer may be the better choice, depending on what you have inside your Schwab account.
Robinhood Promotion
Free stock + 3% IRA match or 2% transfer match at Robinhood.
Open Robinhood Account
Cost, Refund, and Time Frame
Schwab does charge
$0 for a partial outgoing transfer and
$50 for a full outgoing transfer. Robinhood will reimburse up to
$75 of that fee for eligible transfers of
$7,500 or more. Be sure to hang onto your most recent Schwab statement with the fee.
A brokerage account transfer through the ACATS system typically takes about
5 to 7 business days to complete.
Updated on 4/17/2026.
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