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The therapeutic alliance is a robust predictor of treatment outcomes in psychotherapy, yet little is known about the factors that shape alliance development in youth psychotherapy. This study examined whether baseline client characteristics predict the strength of the early therapeutic alliance in psychotherapy for adolescent depression. Data were drawn from the IMPACT trial, a randomized controlled trial comparing cognitive-behavioral therapy, short-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and a brief psychosocial intervention. Alliance was rated at 6 weeks post-randomization by 223 adolescents and 139 therapists. Baseline characteristics assessed prior to randomization included age, gender, symptom severity, depressive experience style (dependency and self-criticism), and antisocial behavior. Correlational analyses and simple regression models were conducted to examine individual predictors, followed by structural equation modeling (SEM) to estimate the combined effects of all predictors. Across analytic approaches, there was little evidence that baseline characteristics significantly predicted alliance ratings. These findings suggest that early alliance may depend less on stable client characteristics and more on the evolving interpersonal interaction between client and therapist. Limitations are discussed, and future research is encouraged to examine therapist–client matching and other relational and contextual factors.