Def - Debit spreads in IRA's at IB

I ran into this a few years ago with another broker. The only way they could allow me to write options, either naked or in combinations, was to enable my account for margin trading. Then it was up to me to make sure I didn't do any disallowed trades (i.e. "debt leveraged"). If I had done a straight stock purchase in such an account, I would have executed a disallowed trade. That's pretty inconvenient, IMHO. Tax advantaged accounts suck, if you want to be a "real" trader.

I have also heard that just doing a lot of trading in a tax advantaged account can get you into trouble with the IRS. You may be skating on thin ice.

[Richard]
 
You should be able to do all trades you can do in a cash style account. You won't be able to sell debit spreads but if you go in long or use the combo feature, I would think you could enter those trades. If you can confirm that you were already long a deeper in the money call before trying to short another call, let me know and I'll pass your details along.
 
Quote from crackedback:

Def,

I just tried to sell the short legs of a spread and got this message:

"This account may not hold short stock or naked short call positions."

Maybe the programmers haven't caught up yet.

Regards,

Cracked
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Yep, this just happened to me in my 'new' IRA at IB. Unless IB can get a fix in place like, yesterday, I'm moving these funds. Spreading is just too valued, and basic, a strategy to sacrifice.
 
Quote from alanm:

Are IRAs still limited to being moved once (or was it twice) per year?
More...

You had me going there for a minute Alan. I had never heard of such a rule. But, according to the article below, Rollovers are limited to 1 per twelve month period, but one can make unlimited Transfers.

A rollover is when you take possession, for up to 60 days, of the check. A transfer moves the money directly from your first broker to your second. To state the obvious, if someone continuously rolls over their IRA, they could effectively have possession of their IRA cash throughout the year.

So ... looks like I can Transfer my IRAs out of IB at will. :(



http://www.ricedelman.com/planning/retirement/move.asp
 
I opened up an IRA at IB to do calendars...but it's not allowed unfortunately. Can't do other types of spreads either.

You might want to rethink using IB IRA for option spreads.
 
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