Breakpoint Sale

See breakpoints. When brokers sell mutual funds, they charge different commissions based on how much you buy. For example, on a $25,000 sale and your commission might be 4%, but the commission rate on a sale of $100,000 might be 2%.

A "breakpoint sale" means brokers sell mutual funds at a dollar amount just under the breakpoint to earn a larger commission. So they might sell at $99,800 to help avoid that $100,000 breakpoint that would mean the lower 2% commission.

P.S. It's illegal.