Observed moves
—Firm-to-firm registrationsADVISORWIRE / BY CONTINUUM
THE ADVISOR MOVEMENT INTELLIGENCE DESK
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The data shows the patterns. The decision is personal.™
Inspired by the telegraph and telephone wires linking branch offices, AdvisorWire connects advisors to a changing industry through movement data and research.
SEC IAPD / REGISTERED IARsConnecting to the latest published snapshot…
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National snapshotLast 12 months
TRAILING 12 MONTHSAggregate registration data. Updated by the daily SEC pipeline.
Firms touched
—Distinct origins & destinationsMARKET BREADTHClustered movement
—Same route, within 30 daysA PATTERN, NOT A CONFIRMED TEAMEarly exits
—Departures within 12 months of arrivalTENURE AT THE FIRM BEING LEFTFIRM LANDSCAPE
Firm movement
LAST 12 MONTHS
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All markets
How to read this map
Tile sizeLarger tiles mean more starting advisors.
Value and colorNet moves are arrivals minus departures.
Select any firm to explore its movements.
Color ranges
Tile area shows the starting IAR roster. Select a firm for exact counts and routes.
DIRECTION THROUGH TIME / ALL MARKETS
Full Momentum Watch ↗Monthly arrivals and departures
Monthly arrivals and departures from the published Momentum Watch.
BEYOND THE MOVE COUNT
Full Veteran Advisor Flow ↗Who is moving?
Industry experience at the time of the recorded move. Arrivals and departures may have different career profiles.
Experience is estimated from the move year minus the earliest available exam or registration year; it is a calendar-year estimate. It is separate from tenure at the firm being left. Each direction needs at least 20 known observations to be published.
BEYOND THE TOP ROUTES
Published counterparties
Counts are relative to the selected firm. A dash means that direction was not published; smaller routes may be omitted. Select a linked firm to follow its flows.
YOUR RESEARCH STARTS HERE
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SIDE BY SIDE
Firm comparison
Choose up to three firms. Compare their arrivals, departures, and monthly patterns in the same reporting window.
MONTH BY MONTH
Monthly comparison
Net moves = arrivals − departures. Counts describe registrations within the window. Asterisks mark partial calendar months.
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MOVEMENT THROUGH TIME
Market activity
—observed moves in complete calendar periods
Complete calendar periods only. Registration dates can lag the underlying move.
View the counts
OPERATING MODELS
Channel balance
Arrivals minus departures, by operating model.
Coverage is limited to moves classified at both ends.
BY STATE
Local markets
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Registration activity by advisor branch state
Fewer movesMore moves
States use the advisor's reported branch location. Firm changes do not establish that an advisor relocated.
THE DESK NOTE
What the data says.
Readings from this snapshot.
Questions to take into the research.
Snapshot commentary appears once the data loads.
MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Research library
Explore the reports behind this desk. Each includes its sources and methodology.
Event study
Where Commonwealth advisors went
Reported departures after the LPL announcement, with destinations and the corporate-event context.
Open report ↗ Firm intelligenceAdvisor Flow Index
Arrivals, departures, tenure, and the routes behind each firm’s movement.
Open report ↗ Roster & retentionFirm Churn
Competitive departures relative to a reconstructed starting IAR roster.
Open report ↗ Firm-to-firm flowsMigration Lanes
Follow repeated routes and examine the exchange between two firms.
Open report ↗ Local intelligenceMovement Map
Explore movement by reported advisor branch location, with local firms and routes.
Open report ↗ Direction & paceMomentum Watch
Explore changes in a firm’s observed movement pattern over time.
Open report ↗ Operating modelsAdvisor Channel Flow
Registration flows between wirehouse, regional, IBD, RIA, bank, and insurance models.
Open report ↗ Experienced arrivalsLanding Durability
Examine whether experienced advisors who arrive at a firm stay.
Open report ↗ Tenure at exitFlight Window
Understand how long advisors were registered at a firm before leaving.
Open report ↗ Clustered movementTeam / Burst Radar
Inspect registrations clustered on the same route within 30 days.
Open report ↗ Career experienceVeteran Advisor Flow
Movement among advisors with at least 15 years in the industry.
Open report ↗ CredentialsCredentialed Advisor Flow
Movement among advisors whose registration records include the CFP designation.
Open report ↗ Channel transitionsTransition Durability
Early-exit patterns following a move between operating models.
Open report ↗ Corporate eventsConversion Watch
The mergers, rebrands, and conversions behind registration changes.
Open report ↗ State-by-stateLocal Market Movement
A closer look at each state and Washington, D.C.
Open report ↗No reports match this search. Try a firm, market, or retention topic.
FROM RESEARCH TO A DECISION
Your situation has more context
than a heat map can hold.
Discuss what the market means for your practice, your team, and your next move.
Sources, definitions & limits
Source. SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD), processed by Continuum's daily data pipeline. Counts cover registered investment adviser representatives (IARs). Not all states require IAR registration. Counts reflect the most recent qualifying firm change per advisor within the reporting window. Broker-dealer-only representatives are outside this dataset. A registration change may be filed after an underlying move.
Scope. Competitive moves exclude corporate conversions identified by the existing Market Intelligence methodology. All firm moves includes those events and uses legal firm entities; firm families and entities can differ between the views. These numbers do not describe assets under management, advisor intent, recruiting offers, or future moves.
The heat map. Starting IAR roster uses reconstructed starting cohorts from Firm Churn. Matches use the exact published label first, then a unique identical complete set of SEC CRD identifiers and firm/family type. Incomplete or ambiguous matches remain unavailable. Roster sizing is available for competitive moves; firms without a match are omitted from that view. Move sizing uses arrivals plus departures. Color and tile value follow the selected net-move, arrival, or departure metric. Values can be counts or moves per 100 starting IARs. The fixed roster baseline is shown beside the map; quarterly rates are not annualized. Color ranges stay consistent across search, channel, and size filters within the same snapshot, period, metric, and unit. Low-activity firms (fewer than 15 moves over the last 12 months, or 25 in the previous quarter) have dotted tiles; exact counts remain available, and normalized rates are withheld. A missing matched roster receives a separate unavailable marker. Equal tiles give every shown firm the same area. The summary describes only the firms shown, not the whole market.
Routes and channels. Routes use published Migration Lanes and firm-profile leaders; smaller routes may be omitted. A missing directional count means not published, not zero. Published channel coverage is shown beside the chart. State locations use current reported branches first, with registration or employment-state fallback. These are not verified locations at the time of the move, and do not establish relocation.
Time. The terminal follows the latest successful published snapshot. Failed refreshes retain a clearly dated previous view. Market activity shows only complete calendar months or quarters covered by that snapshot, and its total covers the periods shown. Other charts follow their stated reporting windows and mark partial calendar periods. Saved comparisons stay in this browser. A shared firm-workspace link can include the selected comparison firms.
Read the complete methodology ↗ADVISORWIRE / BY CONTINUUMThe data shows the patterns. The decision is personal.™