Can you roll over an IRA in to IB and use it for day trading?

[dmiles 19]

Hello,

I'm new to this, and still learning. I noticed with IB you can rollover a traditional IRA into an IRA with them. From what I have been able to gather from all the legal speak, as far as trading goes, it is treated like a cash account, so I assume that it would have to settle overnight, just like a regular cash account?

My own situation is such that I actually have 3 separate retirement accounts, and the one I would like to at least partially rollover to IB is one that I just throw as much as I can into when I file my taxes every year. It would be great to rollover say $30K from this account into an IB IRA account, and use that to avoid opening a CMEG account. I know that margin is technically a loan, so I suspect that I won't be able to do this. I know I could always take a disbursement and use that to open my account, but I'd rather avoid the taxes while I'm still working, even though I'm old enough to avoid the extra 10% penalty.

I realize that I could call IB and likely get an immediate answer, but I just thought I'd take a shot here first. I'm in no hurry, I still have several months to go in the simulator. I also believe that there is a high likelihood that there are others here with this same question. Any and all thoughts or advise would be much appreciated.

 

[dmiles 19]

7 hours ago, NinjaTrader said:

I spoke to IB a while back about day trading in an IRA with them and they have a way to provide settlement and make funds available immediately similar to regular margin day trading accounts...confirm this for yourself by contacting them and if you do go ahead and begin trading I would be curious to hear more about that. I had some thoughts along similar lines as you can see in my post:

 

there's a link in my post to a video which discusses more details about day trading in an IRA..

Thanks Ninja, for the quick and informative reply, much appreciated. I'm confident that the conclusions you have drawn are accurate. The upside that I see is the "margin settlement" which I did not know about. However, not being able to short, especially as I am just starting out and trying to find my own system which works for me, is just not something that I see as wise or even practical.

Thanks again, I will definitely update this topic as I proceed with this. As of right now, for me it boils down to taking a disbursement and paying the tax (since I would not be subject to the additional 10%) or going the route of CMEG with a smaller account.

[dmiles 19]

Definitely a ton of great information, and a lot of options to think about. Luckily I still have several months left in the simulator, so I have some time to weigh my options. My biggest dilemma now is the fact that my CEMEG application was approved, so I need to decide whether or not to actually fund that within the next 30 days, or they will close the account. Parking a few thousand in there and watching it get eaten up by fees while I'm still in training is not an option, especially when I'm strongly biased towards ultimately going with IB.

I believe I took the best possible action available to me today, I signed up to be a lifetime member! The 25% off using the MONTANA discount code was an offer I just could not refuse. After spending about a month looking at what is available out there, this was pretty much a no brainer. The training material alone is well worth it, and making use of the chat room is something that I could see happening even years down the road. Add to that the fact that for me, the key to real happiness is in helping others, and a lifetime membership in the chat room is a great opportunity to do just that. What more could you ask for!

Now it's really time to get to work!