Charles Schwab reported a sharp year-over-year increase in total client assets for April, extending the firm’s scale advantage across retail brokerage, independent adviser custody, workplace investing and banking at a time when wealth-management platforms are competing for deeper client relationships and higher-value advice revenue.

The Westlake, Texas-based company said total client assets reached $12.61 trillion as of April 30, 2026, up 27% from April 2025 and 7% from March 2026. The monthly activity update, released May 14, showed a rebound in asset levels after March market pressure and pointed to strong investor engagement across equities, exchange-traded funds and margin lending.

For the wealth-management industry, the figure is more than a balance-sheet milestone. Schwab’s asset base sits across several channels that shape adviser economics and household portfolio behavior: self-directed brokerage accounts, managed-account relationships, independent registered investment adviser custody, workplace plans and bank-linked client cash. A move of more than $800 billion in total client assets from March to April, according to the company’s monthly table, shows how quickly market appreciation and client positioning can alter the operating backdrop for large wealth platforms.

Schwab reported $7.2 billion of core net new assets in April. That was sharply below March’s $79.7 billion, but the company said the month reflected the impact of client tax disbursements, a recurring seasonal pattern. April has often been a difficult month for net flows because investors draw on cash and taxable accounts to meet federal and state obligations. The firm’s ability to remain positive on core net new assets despite those disbursements is likely to be read by advisers and analysts as a sign that underlying client acquisition and retention remained intact.

The update also showed that Schwab continued to add accounts. New brokerage accounts totaled 437,000 in April, flat with the year-earlier period. Active brokerage accounts stood at 39.3 million at month-end, up 5% from April 2025. Banking accounts rose to 2.3 million, up 12% from a year earlier, while workplace plan participant accounts increased to 5.9 million, up 6%.

The brokerage-account data are important for the wealth category because Schwab’s long-term model depends on converting account growth and client engagement into broader relationships. A new account may begin with self-directed trading or cash management, but it can later feed advisory programs, retirement planning, lending, banking products or independent adviser referrals. With more than 39 million active brokerage accounts, Schwab remains one of the largest distribution points for consumer investing in the U.S. market.

Trading activity remained elevated. Schwab said client daily average trades reached a record 10.3 million in April, up 24% from a year earlier and slightly above March. The company said the activity was driven by sustained engagement in equities and ETF products. Derivative trades represented 21.4% of total trades, up from 18.4% in April 2025, suggesting that options activity remains a meaningful component of client behavior.

For advisers and wealth managers, higher trading activity can be interpreted in two ways. On one hand, it indicates that clients are engaged and actively repositioning portfolios, especially in market environments where equity indexes move quickly. On the other hand, elevated trading and derivatives use can raise questions about risk appetite, concentration and portfolio discipline, particularly among self-directed investors. The April update gives advisers another reason to emphasize risk management, tax efficiency and allocation discipline as markets advance.

Margin balances were another notable feature of the report. Schwab said client margin loan balances reached a record $136.0 billion at month-end, up 21% from year-end 2025 and 78% from April 2025. Of that amount, $29.6 billion was related to long/short strategies. Margin lending can support Schwab’s revenue through interest income, but it also reflects greater client leverage and more confidence among active investors and certain advisory strategies.

The increase in margin balances matters for wealth clients because leverage can amplify both gains and losses. For family offices, sophisticated investors and long/short managers, margin can be part of a deliberate portfolio strategy. For households using margin against concentrated equity positions, however, the risk profile can change quickly when markets reverse. Schwab’s record margin figure therefore points to a more active and potentially more risk-tolerant client base than in the same period last year.

Schwab’s average interest-earning assets on its balance sheet were $444.6 billion in April, up 3% from April 2025 and 2% from March 2026. Transactional sweep cash stood at $467.6 billion at month-end, up 16% from a year earlier and 1% from March. Total money market fund balances were $688.1 billion, down 2% from March but up 8% from April 2025.

Cash remains one of the most closely watched lines in Schwab’s monthly reports because it affects both client allocation trends and company earnings. Schwab’s client cash as a percentage of client assets fell to 9.2% at the end of April, down from 10.5% a year earlier and 9.9% in March. The decline suggests that market appreciation and investment deployment have reduced cash’s share of client portfolios, even as absolute sweep-cash balances remain higher than a year ago.

The cash mix has strategic implications. Over the past several years, investors have become more sensitive to yield on idle cash, with many moving balances into money market funds, Treasury products and higher-yielding alternatives. For Schwab, which earns revenue on sweep cash and interest-earning assets, the composition of client cash can influence net interest revenue and margin. For advisers, the lower cash percentage may mean clients are more fully invested, leaving less dry powder for new allocations or market pullbacks.

Advisory assets also expanded. Schwab reported that Investor Services client assets receiving ongoing advisory services reached $895.0 billion at the end of April, up 30% from a year earlier and 6% from March. Advisor Services assets receiving ongoing advisory services were $5.53 trillion, up 27% from a year earlier and 6% from March. Those figures show how much of Schwab’s asset base is tied to advised relationships rather than purely transactional accounts.

The Advisor Services line is especially relevant to registered investment advisers that custody client assets at Schwab. The RIA channel has benefited from secular growth as clients migrate from commission-based brokerage relationships to fee-based advice, planning and portfolio management. Schwab’s April figures indicate that the independent adviser ecosystem remains a major source of assets and a central part of the company’s wealth-management identity.

At the same time, Schwab’s direct-to-investor advisory business gives the company a broader wealth funnel. Clients can start with self-directed brokerage, use digital planning tools, enter managed-account programs or seek advice through Schwab’s own offerings. The April update, by showing growth in both Investor Services and Advisor Services advisory assets, reinforces the company’s dual role as both a consumer-facing wealth platform and an infrastructure provider to independent advisers.

The report was released on the same day Schwab hosted its 2026 Institutional Investor Day. The timing gave investors a monthly operating snapshot alongside a broader discussion of strategy, including growth in wealth management, client engagement, technology and balance-sheet earnings. For wealth-industry competitors, the activity update highlights the scale challenge of competing against a platform with trillions in client assets, millions of accounts and significant ETF, brokerage and custody distribution.

Market appreciation played a large role in April’s asset growth. Schwab’s monthly table showed net market gains of $830.7 billion during April, compared with net market losses of $532.2 billion in March. The shift helped lift total client assets from $11.77 trillion at the end of March to $12.61 trillion at the end of April. That dynamic means the headline asset increase should not be read only as organic asset gathering; it also reflects the impact of rising market values on existing client portfolios.

Still, organic flows remain a key metric for wealth platforms because they signal client acquisition, wallet-share gains and adviser channel momentum. Core net new assets of $7.2 billion were down 91% from March but up 167% from April 2025, when the firm reported $2.7 billion. The comparison underscores the seasonal volatility of April flows and the importance of looking at multi-month trends rather than one monthly figure.

Product-level activity also pointed to continued preference for ETFs. The monthly table showed ETF net buy activity of $27.4 billion in April, while mutual funds recorded net sell activity of $5.7 billion. That pattern is consistent with the broader wealth-management shift toward low-cost, tax-efficient and transparent ETF structures, particularly in taxable portfolios and model-based advisory programs.

For affluent investors and advisers, ETF adoption has become central to portfolio construction. ETFs can support tactical allocation, tax-loss harvesting, direct indexing complements and model delivery. Schwab’s activity data suggest that ETFs remain a favored vehicle on its platform, while mutual funds continue to face pressure from both cost competition and product substitution.

The April update also provides a window into competitive dynamics in U.S. wealth management. Large platforms are using scale, technology and product breadth to keep clients within broader financial ecosystems. Schwab’s combination of brokerage, banking, custody, advice and workplace assets gives it multiple points of contact with households, advisers and employers. That scale can lower acquisition costs and deepen lifetime client value, but it also raises expectations for service quality, digital tools and yield transparency.

For investors in Schwab, the main question is whether the firm can translate asset growth and client activity into durable revenue growth without increasing risk or losing cash balances to higher-yield alternatives. Higher trading activity, margin balances and interest-earning assets can support revenue, while advisory assets can add recurring fee streams. But wealth clients remain rate-sensitive, and competitive pressure in cash management, asset management fees and advice pricing continues to shape platform economics.

The April data show a firm benefiting from market recovery, client engagement and a large adviser ecosystem. The lower cash percentage suggests clients are leaning more into invested portfolios, while record trades and margin balances point to a more active investor base. For wealth managers, the report offers both an opportunity and a warning: clients are engaged, assets are rising and advisory demand remains strong, but leverage, tax-season liquidity needs and rapid shifts in cash allocation require close monitoring.

Schwab ended April with $12.61 trillion in client assets, 39.3 million active brokerage accounts, 5.9 million workplace plan participant accounts and 2.3 million banking accounts. Those figures reinforce the company’s position as one of the dominant U.S. wealth platforms and a bellwether for how households, advisers and affluent investors are behaving as markets move through 2026.