New SEC Investment Adviser Registrations (U.S., per year)

## What this measures

The number of advisers that first appeared registered with the SEC (Form ADV, new registrations) in each calendar year. A firm counts in the month its SEC registration took effect (the SEC status effective date on the first list that shows it as registered; the month of that list when the date is far from it). An exempt reporting adviser that registers counts as a new registration. Series from 2008; a calendar year is published once the list after it is out.

## Why it matters

New registrations are the pipeline of the advisory industry: new wealth managers, hedge and private equity firms, and firms moving up from state registration as they pass $100 million under management.

## How to read it

Higher means more new firms. Read it with the total count: the total moves by new firms minus those that leave. Registrations slowed sharply in October and early November 2025, when a federal shutdown stopped SEC processing. 2012 stands out, April 2012 above all: the Dodd-Frank Act ended the private adviser exemption, and advisers to hedge funds, private equity funds and other private funds that had not registered had to do so by March 30, 2012. Many were established firms registering for the first time, not new businesses. In the same period mid-sized advisers moved from the SEC to state registration, which shows in the total count, not here.

## What it does not say

Answers come from each adviser's latest Form ADV, and most advisers update the form once a year, within 90 days of their fiscal year end. A month's figure therefore mixes answers from different dates, and the annual filing season (March and April for calendar-year advisers) moves it most. State-registered advisers (generally those with less than $100 million under management, registered with a state securities regulator) are not on the lists. A few months are missing from the SEC archive: most of the second half of 2006 and early 2007, a few months in 2007 and 2008, January 2019, and October and November 2025 (the last two during federal government shutdowns). A firm that registers and withdraws between two lists is never seen. Firms that leave and later return count only the first time.

## Source

Palanor calculation from the SEC's monthly lists "Information About Registered Investment Advisers and Exempt Reporting Advisers" (sec.gov/data-research/sec-markets-data/information-about-registered-investment-advisers-exempt-reporting-advisers), U.S. government work in the public domain; the SEC asks for citation as the source. Loaded and refreshed monthly by Palanor.