Updated August 13, 2026. Quick answer: the answer splits cleanly by security type and nothing else. All 5 kinds of marketable Treasury security — bills, notes, bonds, TIPS and FRNs — move from TreasuryDirect to a bank, broker or dealer on FS Form 5511. Savings bonds cannot: not Series EE, not Series I, not ever. There is no form for it, because the form itself says so and the regulations behind it say so twice more.
The whole answer, by security type
| What you hold | Can it go to a broker? | How |
|---|---|---|
| Treasury bills | Yes | FS Form 5511 |
| Treasury notes | Yes | FS Form 5511 |
| Treasury bonds | Yes | FS Form 5511 |
| TIPS | Yes | FS Form 5511 |
| Floating rate notes (FRNs) | Yes | FS Form 5511 |
| Series EE savings bonds | No | No route exists |
| Series I savings bonds | No | No route exists |
Why savings bonds cannot go to a broker
This is the question people actually arrive with, usually after a broker has cheerfully agreed to accept the transfer. Three separate primary sources close it. First, the form — the section heading does the work:
“4. TRANSFER TO A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION OR BROKERAGE FIRM (does NOT apply to savings bonds) I authorize the Treasury Department to remove the securities described in Item 2 from my control w…” — www.treasurydirect.gov
Second, the regulation governing the bonds themselves:
“Subpart D—Limitations on Transfer or Pledge § 360.15 Transfer. Savings bonds are not transferable and are payable only to the owners named on the bonds, except as specifically provided in these regulations and then only in the manner and to the extent so provi…” — www.ecfr.gov
Third, the TreasuryDirect regulations define the word “transfer” in a way that reaches only marketable securities when the destination is a bank or broker — a savings bond in book-entry form can move only to another TreasuryDirect account, only as a gift or a listed legal exception, and not for consideration.
The practical version: if you want your I bonds “at your broker”, the only route is to redeem them, which is a taxable event and may cost you three months of interest. Before doing that, read when to cash them — the month you pick changes what you keep.
What FS Form 5511 actually needs
The form is the TreasuryDirect Transfer Request, and its CUSIP field is restricted on its face to bills, notes, bonds, FRNs and TIPS. Before you start, you need three things from the receiving institution: its wire name, its ABA routing number, and the agent or broker’s name and phone number.
The certification trap. The signature on this form must be certified in person — and unlike the forms our page on a locked TreasuryDirect account covers, this one will not take a notary:
“Sign in ink in the presence of a certifying officer and provide the requested information. Notary certification is not acceptable. … Acceptable seals and stamps: The financial institution’s official seal or stamp, including: Signature Gua…” — www.treasurydirect.gov
That is a genuine difference between two Treasury forms, not a generalisation: read the instruction on the form in front of you rather than assuming what worked last time.
One more constraint that decides whether a partial transfer is even possible: marketable securities move in full or in increments of $100, while savings bonds cannot be split at all.
Going the other way
Moving a marketable security into TreasuryDirect from a broker is possible and is initiated at the broker’s end, not Treasury’s (Treasury’s instructions). The catch is granularity: transfers in can only be made in increments of $1,000, so an odd holding may not move cleanly.
Treasury frames the whole question as movement between three systems — the commercial book-entry system, TreasuryDirect, and Legacy TreasuryDirect — which is a more useful mental model than “transferring to a broker”.
What we could not establish, and are not going to invent
One thing we looked for and could not source:
- How long a transfer takes. Treasury publishes no processing time for FS Form 5511. What it does publish are unrelated holds that people mistake for one: a security bought in TreasuryDirect cannot be transferred for 45 days, and there is a four-day closed-book period before an interest payment. Anyone quoting you a firm turnaround is quoting their own experience.
Sources
The form, the TreasuryDirect regulations and the savings-bond regulations were read directly on August 13, 2026.
| What it establishes | Read at |
|---|---|
| FS Form 5511’s official title is “TreasuryDirect Transfer Request” and its stated purpose is to request the transfer of securities in a TreasuryDirect account. | www.treasurydirect.gov |
| On FS Form 5511 itself, the CUSIP number field for describing securities to transfer is explicitly restricted to Bills, Notes, Bonds, FRNs, TIPS — i.e., marketable securities only. | www.treasurydirect.gov |
| Treasury describes marketable Treasury securities as held in one of three systems: the commercial book-entry system (bank/broker/dealer), TreasuryDirect, or Legacy Treasury Direct — and this page (under the ‘Treasury Marketable Securities’ section) covers transferring between them. | www.treasurydirect.gov |
| Treasury’s instructions for transferring a security from TreasuryDirect to a bank/broker/dealer require the financial institution’s wire name, ABA routing number, agent/broker name and phone, and destination account — then filing FS Form 5511 via the ‘External Transfer’ option in Manage Direct. | www.treasurydirect.gov |
| FS Form 5511’s own section header states that transfer to a financial institution or brokerage firm does NOT apply to savings bonds — this is Treasury’s clearest, most explicit statement of the spine claim. | www.treasurydirect.gov |
| 31 CFR 360.15 (regulations governing definitive/paper Series I savings bonds) states savings bonds are not transferable, payable only to the named owner, except as the regulations specifically provide. | www.ecfr.gov |
| 31 CFR 363.55 (TreasuryDirect regulations) confirms book-entry savings bonds can only be transferred to another TreasuryDirect account, only as a gift or a specified legal exception (judgment/court order/divorce decree/property settlement), never for consideration — i.e., never sold/moved to a broker. | www.ecfr.gov |
| 31 CFR 363.26’s definition of ‘transfer’ explicitly limits movement to/from the commercial book-entry system (banks/brokers) to marketable Treasury securities — savings bonds are not included in that category of transfer. | www.ecfr.gov |
| FS Form 5511 requires the signer(s) to appear in person before a certifying officer and be certified with an acceptable seal/stamp — including a Signature Guaranteed stamp or a Medallion Signature Guarantee Program stamp; notary certification is explicitly not acceptable. | www.treasurydirect.gov |
| On FS Form 5511, Series EE and Series I savings bonds cannot be split for transfer purposes — each bond must be transferred in its entirety (unlike marketable securities, which can transfer in $100 increments). | www.treasurydirect.gov |
| Treasury does not appear to publish a specific processing-time SLA (e.g., ‘transfers complete within N business days’) for an FS Form 5511 external transfer. What Treasury does publish are separate HOLD periods that gate when a transfer request can even be submitted: a 45-calendar-day post-purchase hold for marketable securities before any transfer, a 4-business-day ‘closed book period’ immediately before an interest/redemption payment during which no transfers can be processed, and (for savings bonds specifically) a 5-business-day hold after buying in TreasuryDirect before they can be transferred to another account. | www.ecfr.gov |
| Treasury confirms the reverse direction is possible: a marketable security can move FROM a broker/bank/dealer INTO TreasuryDirect by contacting that institution and giving them TreasuryDirect’s receiving-bank wire instructions and your TreasuryDirect account number — no FS Form 5511 is needed for this direction (the paperwork is initiated on the brokerage side). | www.treasurydirect.gov |
| Transfers into TreasuryDirect from the commercial book-entry system can only be made in increments of $1,000. | www.ecfr.gov |
General information about Treasury’s own transfer procedures, not financial advice. Forms are revised: check the revision date printed on the PDF you download, and follow the instructions on that form rather than this page if the two ever disagree.