Just reading up on Roth IRA rules and found out that you must have $3,000 in "compensation" income to contribute. There are three categories of compensation income: Amounts earned as an employee, Self-employment income, and Alimony income Self-employment income is defined as income that self-employment tax is paid on. Traders do not pay self employment taxes! Read the middle of this page for exact details on following link, sounds like we can't contribute to a Roth IRA??? http://www.fairmark.com/rothira/iracomp.htm
Correct. You cannot contribute to a qualified retirement plan if all your income flows through Schedule D. To get around this you would need to elect mark-to-market or set up a business entity (LLC or corporation) and pay yourself a salary.
mark to market alone wont do it. you have to get earned income from someplace to do an ira. you could hire your wife as bookkeeper and pay her wages. then she could set up an ira.