The transfer takes nine days and you refresh your inbox forty times. Normal, terrible, fixable with tracking.

- ACATS stages: request submitted, old broker acknowledged, assets in transit, arrived, cost basis pending - Demand stage-by-stage status with timestamps, not a nine-day "processing" spinner - Cost basis can trail by weeks; dividends paid mid-transfer land in the old account and sweep later - Rejections usually mean name mismatches or unsettled trades; a good tracker says why and what to fix - The receiving broker's app has the freshest status; start there

BrokerMatch ($2.99 one-time) includes a switch checklist with every ranked match, so the move has a plan, not just a prayer.