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What brokerages do you use for trading options in retirement accounts?

Posted on 9/3/21 at 9:15 am
Posted by Tigerfan56
Member since May 2010
10520 posts
Posted on 9/3/21 at 9:15 am
I am getting incredibly frustrated with Fidelity. I have my wife and I's IRAs and rollover IRAs here.

I have been approved for Level 1 options trading - which gives me the ability to sell covered calls. It requires Level 2 approval to sell cash-secured puts, which I do not get approved for when I apply.

My investing strategy is to sell calls against my holdings, to hedge for risk and generate returns - because I own a lot of volatile stocks. I sell OTM calls with 3-4 weeks to expiry. If the stock rises, I usually roll out and up. However, on rare occasions the stock goes too far past the strike and rolling isn't as feasible. In these situations, I would like to just be assigned and then sell puts until I own the shares again, should they ever fall. Obviously, I cannot do that.

If I have $5k cash, I am allowed to buy 100 shares of XYZ trading at $50. It makes no sense that I can't sell a $50 put for XYZ - this is actually a safer play for a stock than just buying and holding the shares.

So what brokerages do others here use if you are utilizing options? I want to switch.
Posted by RolltidePA
North Carolina
Member since Dec 2010
3481 posts
Posted on 9/3/21 at 9:57 am to
Given your specific use case scenario I'd reach out to Tradestation or Interactive Brokers and see if they can accommodate your needs for options trading. Interactive Brokers is more targeted to professional options traders and Tradestation has lower fees per contract. Have a look and do some research, only you can really assess what you need and like.

Have you reached out directly to anyone at Fidelity or has it been all written correspondence? Sometimes having a direct touchpoint will open doors at Fidelity.


Edit: Interactive Brokers requires $100k+ sum to open an account and is for folks with experience. That does not seem like a particular issue for you though.
This post was edited on 9/3/21 at 10:00 am
Posted by Big Saint
Houston
Member since May 2009
1453 posts
Posted on 9/3/21 at 11:08 am to
I use Etrade and have never had problems getting approved for higher level options trading. I've never tried on Fidelity so I don't have experience there.
Posted by bovine1
Walnut Ridge,AR via Tallulah,LA
Member since Dec 2004
1280 posts
Posted on 9/3/21 at 4:52 pm to
I sell covered calls on Vanguard in our IRAs.
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