New York, Feb 11, 2026, 05:04 EST — Premarket
The Charles Schwab Corporation saw its shares edge up roughly 0.3% to $99.53 before the bell on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the stock had slipped 7.42%, ending the session at $99.25.
After Altruist rolled out AI-powered tax-planning tools, shares of U.S. brokerages tumbled. The 2018-founded wealth-tech startup, which operates a self-clearing platform for investment advisers, says its new feature digests client documents to automate tailored tax strategies—fueling fears that automation will erode advisory fees. LPL Financial and Raymond James each slid over 8% Tuesday; Ameriprise dropped 6.2%. “Traders sell first and ask questions later,” summed up Dennis Dick, chief market strategist at Stock Trader Network. Reuters
“Uncertainty is really high and it’s very hard to kind of disprove a negative,” UBS analyst Michael Brown said. Over at Bloomberg Intelligence, Neil Sipes flagged investor worries around “fee compression”—basically, tighter advisory pricing—and the possibility of market-share shifts. Wilma Burdis of Raymond James, though, called the recent selloff “completely overblown,” arguing clients still prefer having a human in charge of their money. Wealth Management
Tax work has long been lucrative for wealth managers—proximity to trust, judgment, and accountability keeps it that way. But when investors suspect software can handle more of the job at a lower cost, they often squeeze margins from these stocks first.
Schwab shares kicked off Tuesday at $107.00 and briefly touched $107.50 before tumbling to a session low of $97.01. The stock settled at $99.25, historical pricing data show. More than 40 million shares changed hands.
Schwab shares had just finished up at $107.21, notching a fresh 52-week high after rallying for two straight sessions, according to MarketWatch data. Now, with that sharp reversal, traders are zeroed in on the whiplash move at the open.
Schwab’s co-chairman Walter Bettinger exercised options and offloaded 67,514 shares on Feb. 6 at an average of roughly $104.25 apiece, according to a filing posted Tuesday. The transaction totaled around $7.0 million.
Still, markets haven’t settled on a clear view of AI yet, and sentiment can shift quickly. Should investors start to believe tax planning and advice-focused services face ongoing price squeezes, brokerages might continue to slide—regardless of whether immediate impact shows up.
The regular session will tell the story: can Schwab stay within its range after the drop, or does the AI theme spark fresh selling across the sector?
Schwab announced back in late January it’s set to pay out a $0.32 per share quarterly dividend on Feb. 27, with the cutoff for shareholders of record falling on Feb. 13. Dividend-focused investors are circling that date through the week.
