Transferring an existing domain name entails changing the domain registrar that provides the domain registration service, so after the transfer, you’ll have to manage things like renewal payments or DNS modifications through the new registrar company. The transfer process itself is standard with most gTLD and ccTLD extensions. Certain country-code extensions are more specific and involve 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 lock is a security option, which is being adopted by more and more domain name registry operators. It’s a standard feature supported by all generic Top-Level Domains. If a domain name is locked, it won’t be possible to start a transfer procedure, so no one can even attempt to steal your domain. The lock can be annulled only through the account where the domain name is registered in the first place and all new domains that support this option are locked by default when they are registered.