|
PureBytes Links
Trading Reference Links
|
Edgar,
First, I have to say loud and clear, anything to do with the IRS needs
advice much more qualified than mine. I am a trader, not a tax person.
However, I do trade futures in my IRA, so maybe I can shed a token of light.
There is one "Trustee" company that will allow you to establish a
commodities account to trade a portion of your IRA funds. They will allow
you to have other accounts as well. The limit is your creativity and how
much in fees you wan to pay. Specifically, the company is Intrust Corp. at
1-800-258-7878. If you put all your IRA money there and plan to trade your
own commodity account, they will require you leave 30% of your initial and
subsequent deposits in a cash, or cash like, account. The other 70% can be
used to open an account at a broker of your choosing (assuming they work
with Intrust, but most do). Then trade like normal. You do not have to keep
the 70/30 ratio. That is only for the deposits into the account. You can do
less than 70/30 and adjust later if you choose. It's also a different ratio
if you use a CTA, up to 90/10.
The 30% in cash or cash like account can stay at Intrust in a money market
type account or you can open a stock trading/investing account. Do your
homework here and make sure the stock firm will allow Intrust to be the
Trustee for your IRA. Some will allow it, but many want their own Trustee.
That will limit your choices. You can also have a specific mutual fund
company as your cash like account. You can actually split the 30% between a
stock trading account and a mutual fund account. You can't short stocks in
the stock trading account. I'm not sure about opening an Options account
with the 30%, but I think that may be a possibility.
I choose Rydex for my cash like account to trade sector funds without
switching fees and I can go short the SP500 or OTC through some inverse
funds at Rydex. That fit my game plan, but there are many other options. I
use a discount commodities broker for my trading and everything is working
out great.
I have been very happy with Intrust. The very first person I talked to there
was worse than a bad hangover, but from then on, service has been good and
they sure seem to be very knowledgeable in their niche. (but...it wouldn't
take much to impress me there, since I'm 'IRS challenged') Intrust was the
only company I have ever heard of that allows commodity trading. Outside of
that, the field is pretty wide open. Usual disclaimers, blah, blah...happy
customer only.
Best of luck. Do your homework thoroughly.
Mark
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-realtraders@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:owner-realtraders@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bbbazusa@xxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 1999 7:03 PM
To: RealTraders Discussion Group
Subject: GEN: Using 401K/IRA to trade
Traders:
1. I have left the company I was working for and have been told I can roll
out
my 401K into an IRA.
2. Any tips as to how I might find what options I might have in using this
as
a trading account ie. do I call someone up like Scwabb or Fidelity, and say
"I
would like to have an IRA with you" in order to trade.
3. Is it possible to use an IRA to trade Futures. Do any companies allow
you
to do that.
Edgar
|