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DFX Advisor Movement Monitor · monthly edition

Financial advisor moves in April 2025

For RIA recruiters, wealth-firm M&A teams and advisor-industry analysts who need to see which firms are gaining and losing advisors each month.

Data as of 5 November 2026. The SEC's IAPD file has been incomplete since 3 November 2026: 22,370 people are missing from the latest file, and we carry them forward unchanged from the 2 November file, so any moves they have made since then are not yet counted.

2,210 financial advisors changed firms in April 2025, counted from SEC Form ADV and IAPD registration records. Independent RIAs gained a net 116 from wirehouses and broker-dealer affiliated firms: 70 arrived from wirehouses and 7 went the other way; 211 arrived from broker-dealer affiliated firms and 158 went back.

2,210

advisors changed firms in April 2025

116

net advisors gained by independent RIAs from wirehouses and broker-dealer affiliated firms in April 2025

5,851

advisors changed firms in 2026 Q3

24,508

advisors changed firms, 2025 Q4 to 2026 Q3

How much April 2025 may still rise

April 2025 reads 2,210, in line with the November 2024 to February 2025 monthly average of 1,862. Late registrations can still add a few moves; the next edition prints the revised count.

Channel to channel, April 2025

Rows are the kind of firm an advisor left, columns the kind they joined. Darker cells hold more moves.

From Wirehouse
  • Wirehouse153
  • Broker-dealer affiliated198
  • Independent RIA70
  • Newly formed firm2
  • State-registered RIA5
From Broker-dealer affiliated
  • Wirehouse135
  • Broker-dealer affiliated566
  • Independent RIA211
  • Newly formed firm19
  • State-registered RIA38
From Independent RIA
  • Wirehouse7
  • Broker-dealer affiliated158
  • Independent RIA260
  • Newly formed firm28
  • State-registered RIA43
Source: DFX Intelligence, DFX Advisor Movement Monitor, from SEC Form ADV and IAPD registrations. 317 further moves involve firms outside these channels and are counted in the total only.
  • Wirehouse and Independent RIA: 70 moved to Independent RIA firms, 7 moved the other way, a net 63 toward Independent RIA firms.
  • Broker-dealer affiliated and Independent RIA: 211 moved to Independent RIA firms, 158 moved the other way, a net 53 toward Independent RIA firms.
  • Wirehouse and Broker-dealer affiliated: 198 moved to Broker-dealer affiliated firms, 135 moved the other way, a net 63 toward Broker-dealer affiliated firms.

The last six months

MonthAdvisors who changed firms
November 20241,799
December 20241,921
January 20252,033
February 20251,695
March 20252,005
April 20252,210

Who gained and lost advisors, last 90 days

Net advisors joined minus advisors who left each firm, from the same SEC registrations. Bulk transfers and same-firm re-registrations are left out. The newest moves, dated, are on the DFX RIA Movement Tracker.

See who in your network knows the firms gaining advisors: upload your contacts

Largest net gains

  1. LPL Financial LLC+179
    481 joined, 302 left, SCAsk DFX about this firm
  2. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC+153
    311 joined, 158 left, NYAsk DFX about this firm
  3. Advice And Planning Services+90
    104 joined, 14 left, NYAsk DFX about this firm
  4. Empower Advisory Group, LLC+86
    102 joined, 16 left, COAsk DFX about this firm
  5. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc+80
    169 joined, 89 left, FLAsk DFX about this firm

Largest net losses

  1. Commonwealth Financial Network-141
    14 joined, 155 left, MAAsk DFX about this firm
  2. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated-77
    229 joined, 306 left, NYAsk DFX about this firm
  3. Edward Jones-59
    84 joined, 143 left, MOAsk DFX about this firm
  4. Equitable Advisors, LLC-50
    38 joined, 88 left, NYAsk DFX about this firm
  5. UBS Financial Services Inc.-40
    93 joined, 133 left, NJAsk DFX about this firm

+5 additional gaining firms in the top 10

Every name, record and relationship behind this count, with the source on each.

+5 additional losing firms in the top 10

Every name, record and relationship behind this count, with the source on each.

On DFX Platform you see every firm and advisor behind these moves by name, and follow the firms you recruit from or compete with. 7 days free, then $199 a month.

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Method

A move is an advisor's registration ending at one firm (CRD) and starting at another, from SEC Form ADV and IAPD registration records; same-firm re-registrations and bulk corporate transfers are excluded; complete quarters only; history before 15 September 2026 counts only people still registered, so earlier quarters are lower bounds. Not observed: why anyone moved or the client assets that moved with them.

This edition counts one complete month, by the day each advisor left. The series begins with the fourth quarter of 2024. Counted hourly from the published RIA views; the tracker's method page has the channel definitions: DFX RIA Movement Tracker.

Cite and reuse

Recommended citation:

DFX Advisor Movement Monitor, April 2025 edition (dfxintel.com/trackers/ria-movement/monitor/2025-04), CC BY 4.0.

Quarterly counts by move type: data.csv (free to reuse with attribution, CC BY 4.0).

Every month since October 2024, by the channel advisors left and joined: monthly.csv (README, CC BY 4.0).

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