Can I open a brokerage account and manage my publicly traded securities alongside my alternative investments?

What is the easiest way to trade stocks and bonds at Rocket Dollar?

Trading public securities daily or week to week at Rocket Dollar is currently quite difficult for our IRA clients and only available for specific product types. It is advised that if you wish to trade stocks and bonds, or public securities, you have another IRA at a brokerage (Fidelity, Vanguard, Charles Schwab, etc) and you do a transfer to your Rocket Dollar IRA when you wish to invest in alternatives. 

What if my stock position is in private markets, and then goes to IPO (initial public offering on public securities markets)

This is a different process. Please review our article here and contact our support team.

Our team has a specific process to assist these customers and make sure their needs are taken care of.

Is this process as simple as trading stocks and bonds as other IRAs?

No. It will involve a specialized account type, often called a “non-prototype account,” where the brokerage only provides a trading portal and securities custody but does not provide a retirement account to you (as Rocket Dollar’s services already cover the retirement account)

Do not expect this application process to be as easy or straightforward as opening an IRA at Fidelity, Vanguard, or Charles Schwab.

Is this available for all account types?

No, only for checkbook IRAs with trusts and Solo 401(k)s. Direct custody IRA transfers back to a stock and bond custodian are faster, and a “non-ACAT” transfer should be used to send cash back to another IRA where public securities trading is readily available.

Checkbook IRAs with an LLC might have extreme difficulty finding a stock and bonds account, as Rocket Dollar can only recommend one brokerage as less providers . Compliance approvals have become much more difficult and one major broker, TD Ameritrade, no longer offers this product and was merged with Charles Schwab. You can open a brokerage account at any stock brokerage that has a business application. You would need to specifically go to their business/entity account that an investment Trust or  LLC would apply to. As a disregarded entity, your Trust or LLC  should not have automatic tax reporting and should submit a W-9.

Some companies might be hesitant to accept an application for an LLC that is affiliated with an IRA.

Can I get a list of providers for this account?

Paid clients can email our support team, and prospective customers can call our sales team at

855-762-5383.

In a Self-Directed Solo 401(k) with a trust or a Self-Directed IRA with an LLC, you can open a brokerage account in the name of the retirement trust and trade public securities. However, you cannot have a margin account. You'll need to use the EIN of the Self-Directed Solo 401(k) trust or your Trust or LLC in an IRA instead of your SSN when you set up a brokerage account.

There are other institutions specializing in these stocks and bonds asset classes; however, most will not allow you to hold both standard and alternative assets or have extremely limited alternative asset menus. Using a Rocket Dollar account will help you maximize your diversification across your entire retirement portfolio.

For a Checkbook IRA with a Trust or Solo 401(k), you should open a trust trading account. For a checkbook IRA with an LLC, you will have to use an entity account application that accepts LLCs.

Is there anything I can't do compared to a normal brokerage or IRA trading account?

You cannot short stocks. You can trade options, puts, and calls as long as they do not require a margin account. You can't trade naked puts and calls, as this strategy would require a margin account.

Extensions of credit are prohibited IRA transactions. This is an IRS restriction at all IRA custodians, and not set by Rocket Dollar. Here are some examples of prohibited transactions.