Alto has agreed to acquire Forge Trust and its parent company, Forge Services, from Forge Global, a Charles Schwab company, creating a self-directed retirement investment platform with more than $20 billion in assets under custody and administration.
Forge Trust is a South Dakota-chartered self-directed IRA custodian with more than 40 years of operating history. Schwab acquired Forge Global in March 2026.
Following completion, the combined Alto-Forge Trust platform is expected to have more than 60,000 self-directed IRA accounts holding private-market assets and more than three million Custody-as-a-Service accounts.
The combination will bring Forge Trust’s custodial capabilities, alternative asset classes, account types and partner relationships together with Alto’s technology, compliance and investment infrastructure.
Alto’s platform includes custody, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and FINRA member, a private-market investment marketplace and API-enabled enterprise services.
The company uses AI to automate documentation and execution workflows that can otherwise take significantly longer to complete.
Alto sees substantial growth potential in connecting retirement capital with private markets.
More than $19.9 trillion is held in individual retirement accounts, while global alternative assets under management are projected to approach $32 trillion by 2030.
The combined company plans to serve financial advisers, investment issuers, individual investors and enterprise partners.
Its offerings include the Alto Marketplace and Alto Private Deal Room for RIAs, along with Custody-as-a-Service and Marketplace-as-a-Service products that can be embedded into third-party platforms through APIs.
Forge Trust will continue servicing customer accounts normally while regulatory approval is pending.
The acquisition is subject to approval by the South Dakota Division of Banking.
Support: J.P. Morgan Securities is financial adviser to Schwab, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is legal adviser. O’Melveny & Myers is lead legal adviser to Alto.
KEY QUOTES:
“The joining of Alto and Forge Trust brings together the best elements of the past, present, and future of private market retirement investing. We see an enormous opportunity to bring alternative assets into the financial mainstream by making retirement capital easier to put to work. Forge Trust’s alternative asset offerings are complementary to Alto’s modern, user friendly, and API-enabled infrastructure, and together reduce the friction that has kept retirement capital out of private markets. This is the platform that delivers what private market retirement investing has needed.”
Eric Satz, Founder and CEO of Alto
“Our priority throughout this process has been to ensure continuity for our clients and our people while positioning the business to serve them even better over time. By joining Alto, we will combine Forge Trust’s deep custodial expertise and commitment to high-quality service with Alto’s AI-powered technology and broader investment capabilities to best support all of our clients.”
Liz Alexander, Chief Operating Officer at Forge Trust
