Transferring an existing domain involves switching the domain name registrar that handles the registration service, so after the transfer, you will have to manage things like renewal payments or DNS modifications through the new registrar. The transfer procedure is standard with most generic and country-code domain extensions. Certain country-code extensions are more specific and entail different steps, but in the general case transferring a domain entails a few necessary procedures and one of them is unlocking the domain name. The domain lock is a security feature, which is being adopted by more and more registry organizations. It is a default feature supported by all gTLDs. If a domain name is locked, it will be impossible to initiate a transfer procedure, so no one can even try to take your domain name. The domain lock can be removed only through the account where the domain is registered and all new domains that support this functionality are locked by default the moment they are registered.