We're thrilled to announce that the Birdwingo team is joining forces with our long-time partner, Alpaca, and becoming part of the company!

To Our Retail Customers:

Thank you for being with us on this journey.

As part of this strategic shift, Birdwingo will no longer offer investment services to our customers as of March 1, 2025, as we have informed you in previous communications and presented you with the available options. Below are a couple of common scenarios.

I sold my securities and requested a withdrawal before February 28, 2025.

If you sold your securities and requested a withdrawal before February 28, your withdrawal has already been processed and money was paid to the bank account that you used to add funds to Birdwingo. If you sent money to Birdwingo from multiple accounts and did not select a specific account when withdrawing, the money was sent to the first account from which funds were originally sent to Birdwingo.

I sold my securities and/or requested a withdrawal after February 28, 2025 OR I took no action before February 28, 2025.

If you sold securities before February 28 but did not request a withdrawal before this date or you did not sell securities at all or you took no action at all, our partner Alpaca gave you a 31 day notice and sold any outstanding securities at the end of the notice period in early April. Alpaca will process the remaining bank transfers higher than 10 USD to your bank account in April/May. If the amount in your account is less than 10 USD, the funds will be moved to the Delaware Office of Unclaimed Property in line with the Delaware escheatment laws where you will be able to claim it.

I requested my Birdwingo account to be migrated to Alpaca.

If you requested this before the extended deadline of March 15, 2025 and completed all the required steps and provided any additional information, if specifically requested by Alpaca, your account has been successfully migrated and you can see all your positions and any uninvested cash. Go to alpaca.markets, click on Log In → Trading API.

I requested a full or partial transfer to another broker.

If you requested this using the standard ACAT or DTC method and your new broker completed the process before the extended deadline of April 1, you should see your migrated securities through the interface of your new broker. Contact your new broker for any additional information. If your broker did not complete the process by April 1, any remaining securities were liquidated and the outstanding cash was transferred to your account in April/May.

If you added money while your account was being transferred to another broker at your request or during the migration of your Birdwingo account to Alpaca and it was not possible to deposit the funds, the deposit was refunded to your bank account.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Are Birdwingo Accounts Being Closed?

With new management and a partnership with Alpaca, Birdwingo's strategy is changing. The team will focus more on providing global investment access, not just in the Europe. Additionally, Birdwingo will no longer provide investment services due to the termination of its contract with Wealth Effect Management, o.c.p., a.s.

I Have a Standing Order / Direct Debit payment set for Birdwingo. What Should I Do?

We recommend canceling your standing orders or other recurring payments in your bank. Birdwingo will not be able to accept new deposits from March 1, 2025.

I Like Birdwingo. When and How Can I Continue Using It?

Birdwingo, as a standalone investment app, is ending and will no longer be available to the public. Thank you for your support 💜.

I Deposited Money from Multiple Bank Accounts. To Which Account and in What Currency Will My Money Be Sent?

Unless you specified otherwise, Birdwingo or its partners sent your money to the first bank account from which you deposited funds. For withdrawals submitted before March 1, transfers are made in EUR or CZK, depending on the IBAN country. If you have multiple registered accounts in Birdwingo and wish to withdraw funds to a specific account, you can manually sell your securities and select the bank account for the withdrawal. Please ensure your bank account is still active and that its details have not changed.

I believe I did not receive my money back, is it possible?

Funds are transferred back to its owner. Birdwingo does not retain any user funds. We highly recommend that you check the following:

• Check if you requested a withdrawal before February 28, 2025. If not, your funds will arrive / have arrived later (see above).
• Check all the bank accounts you used to transfer funds to Birdwingo. Users often report not receiving funds just to discover that they used a different bank account to deposit funds to Birdwingo :-)
• Check with your bank. Banks may stop payments due to anti-money laundering or other checks and may require you to provide additional information before releasing your funds. We highly recommend that you cooperate with them fully in order to receive the funds quickly. Alternatively, check with your bank if your funds did not end up in a house account of a bank from which you need to claim the funds (common among some users using non-traditional banks and financial institutions or users that used to do specific cross-border transfers).

Does Birdwingo Charge a Fee for Portfolio Transfers or Opening a New Account with Alpaca?

Birdwingo does not charge any fees for this service and does not receive any compensation for transferring clients to third parties. However, third parties, including Alpaca or other brokers, may charge additional fees for their services. It's important to carefully review all investment-related fees.

What is the fee for transferring a portfolio from Birdwingo (Alpaca) to another broker?

Birdwingo does not charge any fees for full or partial transfers of securities. Alpaca, however, charges $100 for each full or partial transfer. Please consult Alpaca's up-to-date pricing page for additional details.

Are Any Fees Changing?

No. Birdwingo continues to charge standard fees. This change does not introduce any new fees.

What if I had a Premium Account or Child Premium Account?

If you had a Birdwingo Premium account or a Premium Child/Teen account that expires after March 15, please send us your bank details by March 15 so that we can refund you for the unused period. You can continue using the services until their termination on March 15, 2025.

My New Broker Does Not Support All Products Offered by Birdwingo. What Should I Do?

This depends on your new broker. If they accept the transfer of securities they do not offer themselves, they may allow you to hold or sell them, but you won't be able to purchase additional securities of that type. If your broker does not accept these securities, they may remain in your current Birdwingo account. You will have the option to transfer them to another broker, a new Alpaca account, or sell them. If you took no action, your remaining securities were liquidated by our partner Alpaca after the end of the notice period.

My New Broker Does Not Support Child Accounts. What Should I Do?

Birdwingo child accounts are registered under the parent who created the account. The parent can transfer investments from their Birdwingo account to their account with a new broker.

How Do I Transfer My Securities to a New Broker?

The deadline for completing this process was April 1, 2025. Your new broker must initiate the transfer of securities. Your Birdwingo account is registered as an account with Alpaca Securities. Alpaca supports multiple methods for transferring securities, so the available options depend on what your new broker offers.

How Can I Add Funds to My Alpaca Account?

Alpaca provides multiple ways to add funds. After logging into Alpaca's online platform, you can choose the method that best suits you.

Who or What Is Alpaca?

Alpaca is our long-term partner, an investment infrastructure provider, and also serves as the custodian of our users' investment accounts. You can find more information here: https://alpaca.markets/about-us.

What are Alpaca's fees?

The fee schedule can be found on the following link: https://files.alpaca.markets/disclosures/library/BrokFeeSched.pdf

Will Selling My Shares Create a Tax Obligation?

Birdwingo is not authorized to provide tax advice. We recommend consulting a certified tax advisor, as tax obligations can vary depending on individual circumstances.

In general, selling securities may create a tax obligation for the holder. If this applies to you, transferring your securities to another broker or a new Alpaca account may help you avoid immediate taxation from selling.

Displaying Fund Transfers in the Application

Data displayed in the app after February 28, 2025 is no longer up-to-date and correct. The exchange rate and the expected amount in EUR or CZK displayed in the application when withdrawing money are for informational and reference purposes only and may change based on the actual exchange rate at the time of conversion.

How will the Smart Savings functionality continue to work?

The Smart Savings functionality will be deactivated on February 19, 2025, due to technical and legal reasons, primarily to prevent potential errors for users migrating their accounts to other brokers or to the broker Alpaca. The pro-rata payout from Smart Savings as of February 19 was paid out to your Birdwingo account by February 28, 2025.

Standing orders and recurring payments.

Please cancel any recurring payments to Birdwingo. Payments received after February 28 will be automatically refunded to the account from which they were sent. If you made a payment from a bank that used a collection or correspondent account for the transfer, the payment will be returned there, as we do not have information about the original account from which the payment was sent. In such a case, we recommend contacting your bank.

What happens with my data when my account is closed?

Some of your data must be retained for regulatory purposes. The data will be deleted by us and/or our regulatory partners after the mandatory data retention period.

Until When Will the App Be Accessible?

The last trade will take place on February 28, 2025. After this date, trading and deposits will no longer be possible. However, the app will remain accessible for customer support inquiries, the Academy part, and the documents section until March 15, 2025. Any data found in the app after February 28, 2025 may not be displayed correctly and the public version of the app is no longer maintained.

How Can I Contact Birdwingo for Additional Questions?

You can use the contact form in the app until the 15th of March 2025 or email us at hello@birdwingo.com until the end of March 2025. After this date, our email address will no longer be monitored. If you do not find an answer on this page, you can contact our partner Wealth Effect Management o.c.p. a.s. with whom you had opened your brokerage account. They can be reached at centrala@wem.sk.

The application remains accessible with limited functionality until March 15: contact via in-app form, educational section, and documents. Other functionalities will not be available, and displayed data in the application may be incorrect due to ongoing account-related processes. After March 15, the application will no longer be accessible. You can still contact us via email at hello@birdwingo.com until March 31, 2025.

If you had any remaining securities, they were sold 31 days from the date of the start of the notice period. If you had wished to sell them earlier, you had the opportunity to contact our partner Alpaca at support@alpaca.markets.

Thank you for your understanding, and we wish you all the best.
Birdwingo

Legal documents