Treasury to Auto-Enroll 60M Kids in Trump Accounts Starting Oct. 1
Treasury will auto-enroll more than 60 million children in Trump Accounts as early as Oct. 1, potentially pushing total enrollment to 70 million. Robinhood and BNY Mellon administer the program.
The Treasury Department is moving to automatically enroll tens of millions of children in Trump Accounts as soon as this week, scrapping the previous opt-in structure that required parents or guardians to sign up. Temporary regulations proposed Tuesday could add more than 60 million accounts in 2026 and begin as early as Oct. 1.
What changed
The Treasury Department will automatically enroll millions of children in Trump Accounts under new rules released Tuesday, eliminating the need for parents to sign up. The auto enrollment will create accounts for more than 60 million additional children under the age of 18.
Until now, families generally had to opt in by filing IRS Form 4547 with a tax return or through TrumpAccounts.gov. That process left most eligible children outside the program. Treasury said 7 million to 8 million children have been signed up so far.
The $1,000 catch
The payment will not be automatic. Parents or guardians will still have to request the $1,000 and claim their child’s account before they can make their own deposits or receive contributions from an employer.
Under last year’s tax law, which created Trump Accounts, taxpayers must specifically elect to get that $1,000, and Tuesday’s rules don’t change that.
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Who is running the money
The accounts are being managed through Robinhood and the Bank of New York Mellon. There is a dedicated phone app and website for the accounts.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev has said the accounts give children access to the S&P 500 through a low-cost State Street ETF, to introduce investing from birth. That routes flows toward broad index products by default.
Donor angle and stock contributions
The move is intended to provide more access to the child investment accounts and allow contributions, including Michael Dell’s $6.25 billion pledge, to reach more eligible households.
The rules separately allow donors to contribute appreciated stock to Trump Accounts through charities. While the accounts are generally limited to diversified, low-cost index funds, the department said donated shares are permitted because they are contributed directly rather than purchased with money in the accounts. The shares must be held for five years before they can be sold.
Options market and stocks to watch
Watch for flows tied to the firms plumbing this program and to the default index exposure it creates.
- HOOD: Robinhood is a designated custodian, so any account-growth headlines could move sentiment on user-metric expectations.
- BK: Bank of New York Mellon is the other named administrator; watch for reaction on custody and admin fee narratives.
- STT: State Street’s low-cost S&P 500 ETF is the default vehicle referenced by Robinhood, worth watching for passive-flow implications.
- SPY and VOO: Any structural bid tied to auto-enrolled index exposure would ultimately land in the S&P 500 complex.
For more market news, keep an eye on rulemaking details around how parents claim the auto-created accounts.
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