RIA deal volume falls 17% in Q3 as mega sellers set a record

RIA deal activity fell 17% in the third quarter of 2026, ending a seven-quarter run of record-setting volume, according to DeVoe & Company's Q3 2026 RIA M&A Deal Book. The industry announced 77 transactions from July through September, down from 93 in the same quarter a year earlier. The year-to-date count of 244 deals still runs slightly ahead of last year's record pace. The quarterly figure edged up from 74 in the second quarter, a softer decline than the San Francisco-based bank's preliminary late-September data had suggested.

Mega sellers with more than $5 billion in assets completed 41 deals, already more than in any prior full year, and now represent a record 17% of the market. The pullback landed instead on smaller, founder-led firms: sellers with $100 million to $500 million in assets completed 87 deals through September, a 36% share on track for the segment's lowest full year on record. Firms above $500 million now account for 64% of transactions.

DeVoe ties the slowdown to decisions made many months earlier. A banker-led sale typically takes about six months from decision to announcement, the report says, while do-it-yourself deals run 12 to 18 months. That makes announced transactions a lagging read on owner sentiment. Three spikes in the Cboe Volatility Index sit inside that window: tariff announcements in April 2025, worries about AI valuations in November 2025, and the outbreak of the U.S.-Iran conflict in March this year.

"The volatility and distraction created by tariffs, the war with Iran, gasoline price surges and other economic shocks caused some advisors to pause before moving forward with a sale," said David DeVoe, founder and CEO of DeVoe & Company. "That hesitation is now emerging in our transaction data."

Consolidators announced 129 deals, or 53% of the market, up from 45% in 2024 and 49% in 2025. RIAs acting as buyers took 29%. Other buyers — private equity firms, broker-dealers and banks — fell to 18%, their smallest share since 2014.

Wealth Enhancement leads the acquirer table with 16 transactions, ahead of Hightower Signature Wealth at 15. Twelve of Hightower's deals involved firms already in its network, suggesting the table counts tuck-ins of existing affiliates alongside outside acquisitions.

Average seller assets, excluding mega deals, reached $1.02 billion; the median seller managed $625 million. DeVoe expects to close more than 15 client transactions over the next six months, and it reads the lag model as a setup for a rebound rather than a stall.