Orion, a technology and asset-management platform serving 17 of the top 20 registered investment advisory firms on the Barron's ranking, has rolled out a series of upgrades to its platform. The changes give advisors new portfolio customization tools, expanded trading capabilities, and streamlined account-opening workflows. Orion directly services more than $200 billion in assets on its platform.
Customizable model portfolios arrive
The most recent addition brings customizable model portfolios from BlackRock, Fidelity, and Vanguard into Orion's tax-advantaged direct-index offering. The feature lets advisors tailor pre-built strategies to client tax situations without building portfolios from scratch. Direct indexing, which owns individual securities instead of fund shares, creates more opportunities for tax-loss harvesting.
Trading and custody expansions
Last month, Orion launched fractional share trading for advisors who custody assets with Schwab. The capability allows clients to put smaller dollar amounts to work across a wider range of securities. In late July, the company enabled end-to-end digital account opening for advisors who custody with Goldman Sachs, cutting paperwork and manual steps from the onboarding process.
Why this matters for finance professionals
Wealth management firms compete on both investment performance and operational speed. Orion's updates target two friction points that cost advisors time: manual account setup and limited portfolio flexibility. For advisors running tax-sensitive strategies, the addition of customizable direct-index models from three major asset managers expands the toolkit without requiring separate vendor relationships. Fractional share trading also removes a barrier for smaller accounts that might otherwise sit in cash.
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