ever since $XIV is gone, $SVXY is the alternative. But Interactive Broker doesnt all $SVXY to be traded in IRA. anybody got any suggestion for a VIX strategy for IRA ?
There is another thread on here where VMIN was the consensus replacement for IRA’s at IB.
@TroyFreeman is right, for now at least VMIN seems the one for IB IRA accounts (while the short vol landscape adjusts to the tsunami that swamped it). I use IB IRA to run one of my vol strats here. VMIN prospectus says they’re likely to change to a more mid-term futures strategy (like 2-6 months, akin to the 4-7 months of ZIV) but probably not until April 25, and even then there are so many caveats in their wording that it seems likely to be an actively managed short vol fund, rather than something following a published index like SVXY. I hope it remains a pure short vol fund at least, and not the strange morphing beast that XIVH has shown itself to be (now that volatility has returned to the market). I think it unlikely we’ll see the return of a -1x short-term vol fund any time soon, despite investor demand for it.
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VIXTrader IRA can be traded in an IRA. So can Smart Volatility IRA.
So far VIXTrader IRA is only trading SPX levered index funds, according to the released trades, SSO and UPRO, so no help there. And @_J has only traded VXX and VXX options since XIV died, so we don’t have any advice there yet either on inverse vol funds to use for a long ETP with short vol exposure. I think that was @OSUTIA 's question, rather than opinions on which C2 vol strategy to invest with.
VIXTrader IRA doesnt really trade vix tho
Hi, Smart Volatility IRA will continue to be IRA friendly and will continue to be transmitted from my own IRA account. ZIV will be the primary instrument used to get short volatility exposure (which it currently has an open position in). XIVH and VMIN may be used as secondary instruments depending on how each of them develops in composition and liquidity over the next few months. I hope that helps!
Thanks, David.
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VIXTrader IRA trade the fear/optimism of the market… UPRO and SPXU are just the vehicles… This is the closest option to VIXTrader… A very good option 
I agree. There are very interesting and profitable strategies with this type of ETFs. As always, these strategies must have an adequate risk management. However, it can be a good component in any portfolio.
Check out our strategy “VIX Daily”. We trade the VIX futures to achieve 1x VX30 short volatility, and go long vol too (when the time is right). Any no overnight risk on any trades! I don’t know about IB, but Thinkorswim allows one to get approval to trade futures in an IRA. Worst case you can subscribe and follow the signals manually at a compatible broker. We’re having sluggish year so far, but we made money in the month of Feb being long vol as well, a month where many lost it all stuck in XIV. We’ve been chopped around a lot since, but preserving relatively well before the next eventual big run. Hard to expect a year like last year again… the wind is at our back longer term.
You can get creative with all the different instruments, but there is no replacement for XIV, especially in IRA’s with even more restrictions, nothing met it’s performance level, VMIN is not even close.
There are ways to replicate XIV 99% using futures, but than you run into even more issues, one needing a massive account size to trade at least 20 futures, 2 through IB the insane and non symmetrical margin for shorting VX futures, as opposed to buying VX futures.
Plus the performance was almost the same as ETFs, only added benefit being overnight risk, but not worth the hassle of maintaining such a system unless you have large sums of money to do it, again if your primary goal is hopefully cutting down risk.
Even then you have liquidity risk, just because futures trade 24/5 doesn’t mean liquidity can’t dry up and orders fall through the floor.
Trading 1 instrument is a flawed system, may I suggest my system
ETF UNITS which may at times trade VMIN but also trades all ETFs to diversify and still create a robust return as demonstrated. IRA friendly.
Does anyone know if SVXY is still not available in an IRA at interactive brokers. Can it be traded in an IRA at C2Broker?
Yes, I was assured a few weeks ago by C2Broker that SVXY can be traded in an IRA account… find their list of all tradeable symbols, and their IRA accounts can trade all of those.
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I agree. I just put in a test trade for SVXY in my IB IRA account and it didn’t reject the order.
JIm
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Really! Wow, I hadn’t even thought to try doing so since they rejected its use for me a year or so ago, after XIV died. Their reasoning (or so they said) was that they didn’t allow any limited partnership funds to be used in IRAs because of some difficulty it caused in accounting/records/tax/something, not because it was one of those dangerous vol funds. So after VMIN bit the dust last November or so, I thought there was nothing in the inverse vol category I could trade at IB in my IRA. Thanks Jim, I’ll give it a try too!
Just a footnote that SVXY will generate a K1 for tax filings as it’s an ETF commodities pool. ETN’s (Like the defunct XIV) did not. This may matter to some.
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I now appear to be able to buy SVXY and SVXY options in my IRA’s at IB. I’m interested if anyone else has this capability now? Not saying it is a good idea, just saying it appears to be allowed again???
As of 2022 I have not been able to buy SVXY in retirement accounts at Interactive Brokers. Is anyone else having this problem? I can’t seem to get out of them if this is an intentional reversal back to their method of avoiding any potential for UBIT difficulties or an error.
