Applying for a new futures account is easy. You may complete a brief electronic application through by using the following link here.

We offer a wide variety of account types that you may open:
1) Personal accounts (individual/joint/IRA) ($2,000 minimum funding)
2) Entity accounts (corporation/LLC/LP/Trust) ($10,000 minimum funding)

Yes, you may open an IRA futures trading account. The first step is to complete an IRA futures trading account type application. Once your individual application is completed email info@geckofs.com and and we will email you some custodians to choose from that facilitate futures IRA accounts for alternative investments. Next you will open an account with your chosen custodian. 

You may fund with a minimum initial deposit of $2000. Please keep in mind, in order to trade you must meet certain minimum margin requirements set by the exchanges and day trading margins set by the clearing firm. As an example, you may trade using day trading margin if you enter and exit your trades during the same trading session which allows you to fund with as little as $2,000 - depending on the market you would like to trade. Futures accounts should only be funded with the risk capital portion of your investment portfolio. Therefore we do not encourage you to violate risk capital rules when trying to meet a predefined minimum and excess margin is always recommended.

Current day trading margins can be found here. It is true that day trade margins can be significantly less than exchange required overnight margins. Please be mindful, that by definition, the lower your day trade margin the more leverage you are using. This magnifies the risk and the reward potential of your trades. Alternatively, lower margins allow you to use your capital in a more efficient manner.

Generally, trading hours are nearly around the clock starting Sunday evening and continuing through Friday evening.