Here is a number that should make you suspicious: 0 dollars. That is the recorded one time total in the SwitchCost report for leaving Charles Schwab in the screenshot above, and the report itself tells you not to trust it as a total. The outgoing transfer (ACAT) fee and the account closeout fee are marked "Not recorded in the dataset", because the dataset records neither fee for any of its 50 brokers. The 0 is a floor. Your real cost will be higher. That kind of honesty is exactly what you need before a move, applied to these seven costs.
1. Broker transfer fees, the ACAT question
Most brokers charge to send your assets out, and many receiving brokers reimburse it if you ask before the transfer, not after. Our transfer fees guide walks through the mechanics. The SwitchCost report cannot price this line from its dataset, so check your broker's current fee schedule for it directly. It is the single most important number in the move.
2. Closeout and termination fees on retirement accounts
IRAs often carry a separate closing fee on top of the transfer fee. Same story in the dataset: not recorded, labelled as such. If you hold a Roth or traditional IRA, add this to your fee schedule check, and tick those account types in the checker so the alternatives it ranks actually support them.
3. The commission comparison you think you already did
Stock and ETF commissions are 0 dollars per trade at Schwab as recorded, and at most major rivals too, which is why the "2026 lowest online brokerage commission comparison" question has moved elsewhere: the differences now live in the next three lines. A switch justified on headline commissions alone is usually a switch to the same bill.
4. Options contract fees
Here the recorded numbers do separate brokers: 0.65 dollars per contract at Schwab as recorded, 0.50 at the top ranked alternative in the sample report. Trade ten contracts a week and that gap is real money by December. Our options contract fees breakdown shows how fast it compounds.
5. Margin rates, by your actual balance tier
Schwab's margin base rate as recorded is 11.825 percent. Whether that is good depends entirely on your tier, which is why our margin rates by balance tier table is the most read page on BrokerCompare. If you carry a margin balance, this line dwarfs every other fee in the report. Check it before the promo banners check you.
6. Promos, read as recorded offers, not promises
The sample report ranks Ally Invest first on its recorded fee basis and shows a recorded promo: up to a 200 dollar cash bonus, 200 dollars recorded with a 1,000 dollar minimum deposit, recorded expiry December 31, 2026. Shown exactly as recorded, with the caveat printed on the report: a recorded offer name is not a promise that you qualify. FINRA's investor pages are a sound neutral check on any offer before you move money for it.
7. The payback period
Add your rough trading picture (trades per month, contracts, margin balance) and the checker computes whether switching pays for itself, and in how many months, using recorded fees only. A switch that pays back in a quarter is a decision. One that pays back in nine years is a hobby. Our seven fees comparison is the wider version of this list.
Workflow, start to finish: run your current broker through SwitchCost Checker, note the labelled gaps, price those two gaps on your broker's own fee schedule, then decide. If you are also rethinking your fund holdings in the move, the ETF Overlap X-Ray at ETFCompare checks whether your funds duplicate each other, and the short SwitchCost explainer covers the basics. Moving brokers is paperwork. Moving blind is optional.