I have my trading account / IRAs at scottrade. I tried to do some short selling in my Roth IRA last week and I got an error message saying that I need to sign a margin agreement. I mailed in a margin agreement and just got a call from a local rep who informed me that you couldn’t set up an IRA with margin capabilities (so you can’t short sell in a roth or traditional IRA). I assume this is correct, but it seems like a major disadvantage to retirement accounts. Does anyone know why this is the case?
because if you get a margin call, you can’t contribute the funds to cover it under IRS regs.
budfox427 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > because if you get a margin call, you can’t > contribute the funds to cover it under IRS regs. I don’t know why contributing funds to a Roth IRA would be any different than contributing to a trading account, both are contributed with after tax dollars.
- You can trade futures in an IRA, including single stock futures 2) You can buy puts 3) You can invest in any mutual fund including inverse mutual funds 4) You could buy any equity-linked note, including one that was essentially short the stock 5) You could recognize that the US gov’t invented IRA’s for retirement savings, i.e., as a place to accumulate wealth for your twilight years. A short position in a stock doesn’t really spring to mind as a long-term investment for your twilight years. I hope Homeland Security sends you to Gitmo.
Bankin’ Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > budfox427 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > because if you get a margin call, you can’t > > contribute the funds to cover it under IRS > regs. > > > I don’t know why contributing funds to a Roth IRA > would be any different than contributing to a > trading account, both are contributed with after > tax dollars. Cuz the law says it’s very different…
JoeyDVivre Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > 1) You can trade futures in an IRA, including > single stock futures > 2) You can buy puts > 3) You can invest in any mutual fund including > inverse mutual funds > 4) You could buy any equity-linked note, including > one that was essentially short the stock > 5) You could recognize that the US gov’t invented > IRA’s for retirement savings, i.e., as a place to > accumulate wealth for your twilight years. A > short position in a stock doesn’t really spring to > mind as a long-term investment for your twilight > years. I hope Homeland Security sends you to > Gitmo. Send me to Guantanamo? Ouch!
“I don’t know why contributing funds to a Roth IRA would be any different than contributing to a trading account, both are contributed with after tax dollars.” Because you can only contribute up to $5000/year in your Roth. If you’ve already contributed, say $4000, and you get a margin call for $1500, then what?
moto376 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > “I don’t know why contributing funds to a Roth IRA > would be any different than contributing to a > trading account, both are contributed with after > tax dollars.” > > Because you can only contribute up to $5000/year > in your Roth. If you’ve already contributed, say > $4000, and you get a margin call for $1500, then > what? That’s a great point!
Under the right circumstances you could capitalize a hedge fund with the IRA and the hedge fund could leverage and short.
this post is ridiculous
emarkhans Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Under the right circumstances you could capitalize > a hedge fund with the IRA and the hedge fund could > leverage and short. Like you had $5M in your IRA… Edit: You would be out of your mind to accept a Roth IRA as a hedge fund client.