[Fwd: Re: Scope of Trading in an IRA Acct: Short Selling?]

[The Funkhousers <funkhouser@xxxxxxxx>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Scope of Trading in an IRA Acct: Short Selling?
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 22:07:05 -0500
From: The Funkhousers <funkhouser@xxxxxxxx>
To: TaoOfDow <TaoOfDow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
References: <3C73095E.906DA875@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

I have been unable to find a broker who will allow short sales, probably
due
to the fact that a margin account is required in order to be a short
seller.

Part of the problem relates to what is described as "unrelated business
income," a carryover from the tax laws originally established for tax
sheltered retirement income and pension plans.

There was an Illinois based trust operation who permitted these
activities
in accounts where they were the nominal trustees, but they collapsed
when it
was discovered that the principals of the trust company had lent most of
the
trust assets to corporations controlled by them.

You can, however buy mutual funds who have investment objectives
designed to
negatively mirror various stock indexes, some of which are leveraged.

Richard Funkhouser



TaoOfDow wrote:

> Dear Group,
>
> My understanding is that for an IRA Acct, one can trade through the
> following types of accounts:
>
> 1.  Stock account: Buy stocks for cash (but not margin);
> 2.  Futures account: Buy or sell futures (through a trusteed account, eg
> old InTrust); and
> 3.  Stock option account: Buy (or sell?) stock options (at least I've
> seen ads to do this - no personal experience).
>
> Query: Is there any way to short-sell stocks in an IRA, for example even
> the QQQ stock tracking stock?
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Richard