Outsourced Trading & Portfolio Administration Services for RIAs
You design the strategy. Our traders and portfolio administrators implement it across your client accounts and households, as an extension of your team. You get your time back for clients and growth.
- 30,000+Accounts
- $8 BillionAUM
- 10+ YearsAverage Trading Experience Per Trader
Your outsourced trading desk, without the headcount
As a firm grows, trading and portfolio monitoring take more and more of an advisor's day. That's time pulled away from clients, business development, and life outside the office.
Outsourced trading for RIAs takes that work off your plate. You, your investment committee, or your OCIO build the models, set the parameters, and make the investment decisions. Our team implements them every trading day, inside your existing custodial accounts. We act as a sub-advisor to your RIA and work only with your firm, never directly with your clients.
We work behind the scenes as part of your firm. Our team learns how you trade, how you want portfolios managed, and the nuances of your clients, from restricted tickers to low-basis legacy positions. Many of our clients describe us the same way:
"Advisor Logistics is a true partner. We view them as an extension of our firm as we continue to focus on growth."
What you keep vs. what we handle
- Your investment philosophy and models
- Investment decisions and parameters
- Your client relationships
- Your custodian and account paperwork
- Your CRM, reporting, and billing systems
- Daily monitoring, rebalancing, and drift correction
- Trade identification, proposal, and placement
- Cash raises, cash holds, and tax-loss harvesting
- Trade and order reconciliation
- Trading technology and rebalancing software
Portfolio Overlay Management
We implement your investment philosophy with precision, handling daily portfolio monitoring, rebalancing, and optimization across every client account and household.
Keeping hundreds or thousands of accounts aligned to your models is a daily job. Our team monitors your portfolios against your targets, flags drift, and builds the trades to bring accounts back in line. We apply the same rules across every client, so each household is treated fairly and consistently.
Fiduciary fairness across all clients, and no more daily monitoring on your calendar.
- Rebalancing and drift correction. We manage variance to your models and correct it based on the thresholds you set.
- Target deviation monitoring and rebalancing. When accounts drift outside your targets, our traders place the trades to bring them back in line, and we keep you informed along the way.
- Tax-loss harvesting. We identify and act on harvesting opportunities within your parameters.
- Cash management. High, low, and custom cash targets, cash holds, and cash raises when a client needs a withdrawal.
- Model and allocation changes. When you update an allocation or swap a security or fund, we implement it across affected accounts.
- Client onboarding and offboarding. We invest new accounts into the right model and handle liquidations when accounts leave.
- Significant transaction analysis and monitoring. Large or unusual trades get a closer look before they go out.
Execution Services
Experienced traders backed by institutional-grade technology, with consistent pricing and timing through block trading.
You don't need to buy, learn, or maintain trading software. We connect your custodial data feeds to our own proprietary and commercial systems, build trades from that data, and place them at your custodian. To your custodian, our traders look like part of your team. A geographically distributed desk and a second set of eyes on significant transactions help reduce the risk of manual errors.
No complex trading software to purchase, and less risk of trade errors.
"By delegating the task of trading to Advisor Logistics, I can focus on my clients and provide better work."
- Institutional-level trade desk. Experienced traders, not just software.
- Block and FIX trading. Orders are aggregated for consistent pricing and timing across clients.
- Multi-custodian order routing. We trade across your custodial relationships from one desk.
- Real-time trade monitoring. We watch orders until they are filled.
- Trade and order reconciliation. We reconcile daily so problems are caught early.
- Geographic redundancy. Our traders are not in one location, so a local outage, sick day, or vacation doesn't leave your trading uncovered.
- Coverage every trading day. We're available during market hours, every day the market is open.
Custom Trading Solutions
Tailored trading and portfolio administration that fits your investment philosophy and your clients' needs, without forcing you into a rigid framework.
No two RIAs run portfolios the same way, and no two clients are identical. We learn your rules and your clients' constraints, then build them into how we trade. Restricted tickers, low-basis legacy positions, capital gains limits, and household-level goals are all part of the job.
Flexible models that you control, and tax optimization and cash management taken off your plate.
- Flexible implementation. We adapt to your process instead of asking you to adopt ours.
- Household-level trading. We manage allocations across a household's accounts, not just one account at a time.
- Custom allocation models. Your models, built to your specifications, with the flexibility to change them as you see fit.
- Custom portfolio overlay management. Client-specific rules and exceptions applied on top of your models.
- Direct indexing.
- Fixed income trading.
- UMA and UMH trading. Unified managed account and unified managed household implementation.
- Alternative investment coordination.
- Security exceptions and legacy positions. We work around restricted securities, concentrated positions, and tax-sensitive holdings.
Built for growing, planning-centric RIAs
Most firms call us at the same point: an advisor or an admin has been doing the trading, the firm has grown, and neither of them is the right person for the job anymore.
- You value trading expertise and would rather put your effort into advising clients and growing your firm than into back-office work.
- You run a growth-oriented, planning-centric practice and want your advisors with clients, not order tickets.
- You or someone on your team handles the trading today, and it is getting harder to keep up as accounts are added.
- You want to keep control of your investment approach, whether you build the models yourself or work with an OCIO or model provider.
- You want to add accounts and advisors without adding a trading hire.
How our partnership works
You stay in charge of the investment decisions. We become the team that puts them into action.
How onboarding works, step by step
- Before you sign
Conversation
We learn your business: your portfolios, operational setup, and how you want to work together.
- Weeks 1–3
Data and setup
We connect your custodial data feeds. While the custodian prepares data (typically about three weeks), we build your models, cash holds, and security exceptions in our systems. Nothing changes for your clients.
- By month 1
Daily trading begins
We start with everyday requests, like raising cash for a client withdrawal. Early on we check in often and confirm trades with you before they are placed, so you stay in the loop.
- By month 2
Full rebalancing
We take on broad rebalances and model-wide trades, along with daily monitoring, model changes, tax-loss harvesting, and cash management across every account and household.
- Ongoing
Steady state
Over time we learn your rules and your clients well. Your portfolios run the way you want them run, and your time goes to the decisions only you should make.
We handle the setup work, so your part stays small. Most firms are fully onboarded in one to two months, with no client repapering and no trading software to learn, and we can adjust the pace to suit you. If you are weighing providers, our guide on what growth-oriented RIAs should look for in an outsourced trading partner covers the questions to ask.
What stays the same
- Your custodian or broker. We work with your existing custodian or broker and trade inside the accounts you already have.
- Your client paperwork. No repapering and no new client signatures.
- Your client relationships. We work as a sub-advisor to your firm and never contact your clients.
- Your tech stack. We trade on our own systems, so we work alongside whatever you use for CRM, reporting, and billing.
Included with every partnership
- The ALX dashboard. Our proprietary, easy-to-use dashboard gives your team one place to send requests to our traders and see where each one stands.
- We stand behind our trading. If a trade error occurs on our side, we take responsibility for correcting it and cover the cost, so less of that risk sits with your firm.
- Consultation. Portfolio management best practices, tech stack review, and guidance on outsourced partnership options, including our industry partners for OCIO and model support.
- SEC compliance reporting.
Outsourced trading vs. doing it yourself, hiring in-house, or using a TPMM
When trading outgrows the time you have, there are four common paths. Each one fits some firms well.
| Doing it yourself | Hiring an in-house trader | Using a third-party money manager (TPMM) | Outsourced trading with Advisor Logistics | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who makes the investment decisions | You | You | The TPMM, usually from its own lineup of strategies | You, or the OCIO or model provider you choose. We implement the models. |
| Who your clients see | Your firm | Your firm | Often an outside manager alongside your firm | Your firm. We work as a sub-advisor behind the scenes. |
| Cost structure | Your time, plus rebalancing software | Salary, benefits, and trading software | Asset-based manager fee | Basis points that scale down as AUM grows, with no software to buy |
| Coverage when someone is out | Trading waits for you | Depends on one person | Handled by the manager | A geographically distributed team of traders |
| Often fits best for | Early firms with few accounts | Larger firms that want a dedicated in-house role | Advisors who want to hand off investment management as well | Growing firms that want to hand off the daily trading, wherever their models come from |
For the full breakdown, read in-house trading and rebalancing vs. outsourced trading, or see how firms scale without losing control of their investment approach.
Recognition, experience, and what clients say
Kitces Advisor Services Map
Advisor Logistics was included in the first Kitces Advisor Services Map in January 2026. Read about the listing.
Transition to RIA podcast
Founder and CEO Brett Wheeler joined Brad Wales on the Transition to RIA podcast in June 2026 to talk about outsourced trading. Listen to the episode.
Built by advisors and traders
Brett Wheeler, CFP®, grew his own RIA from a solo practice to a team managing $150M+. Head Trader James Wilde has been trading since 1997. Managing Partner Damon Deru led the 2021 acquisition of AdvisorPeak by Addepar.
"Partnering with Advisor Logistics has reduced operational friction and allowed our advisors to spend more time with clients."
These statements are from a current or then-current Advisor Logistics client who was not compensated for them, and no conflict of interest exists between them and Advisor Logistics.
Frequently asked questions
What is outsourced trading for RIAs?
Outsourced trading means an outside team of traders and portfolio administrators implements and trades the portfolios your firm, or its OCIO, designs. You keep control of the investment strategy and your client relationships. Advisor Logistics handles the daily monitoring, rebalancing, trading, and reconciliation inside your existing custodial accounts.
Do I keep control of my investment decisions?
Yes. You set the models, parameters, and preferences, whether you build the models yourself or work with an OCIO or model provider. We provide the trading team and infrastructure to carry them out.
Will my clients know you're involved?
That's up to you. We act as a sub-advisor to your RIA, work only with your firm, and never contact your clients. Some firms list us on their website as part of their trading team; others don't.
How is outsourced trading different from a TPMM?
A third-party money manager (TPMM) typically takes over investment management for the accounts, and your clients may see an outside manager on their paperwork. With outsourced trading, your firm, or the OCIO or model provider you choose, keeps the investment decisions, and we handle the daily trading behind the scenes under your firm's name. A TPMM can be the better fit if you want to hand off investment management entirely.
Is outsourced trading an alternative to a TAMP?
It can be, depending on what you want to hand off. A turnkey asset management platform (TAMP) typically bundles investment management, technology, and trading in one platform, and that suits many advisors. Outsourced trading covers the trading and portfolio administration only. Your firm, or the OCIO or model provider you choose, keeps the investment decisions, and we implement them in your existing custodial accounts. It is often a fit for advisors who want to keep their own investment approach without running the trading themselves.
Do you work with my custodian?
Yes. We work with your existing custodian or broker and trade inside the accounts you already have, including at Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Pershing, and Raymond James. There is nothing for your clients to move or sign.
Do I need to change my software or buy trading tools?
No. We trade on our own proprietary and commercial systems, so you avoid rebalancing and trading software costs. We work alongside whatever you already use for CRM, portfolio reporting, and billing.
How long does onboarding take?
Most firms are fully onboarded in one to two months, and we handle most of the setup work. Custodial data feeds take about three weeks, daily trading and cash requests begin around the one-month mark, and broad rebalances follow by the end of month two.
Is there a minimum or maximum firm size?
There is no maximum. We work with firms of all sizes, including firms managing billions of dollars in assets. On the smaller end, our fee structure typically makes the most sense for firms with about $50 million or more in AUM. We're the best fit for planning-focused firms with clear growth goals.
How is outsourced trading priced?
Pricing is in basis points and scales down as AUM grows, with no trading or rebalancing software to buy. Contact us for a quote based on your accounts and custodians.
Get your time back. Keep your strategy.
Let our team handle the trading and portfolio administration, so you can focus on clients and growing your firm. Every partnership starts with a conversation about how your business runs today.