Rocket Dollar vs Alto IRA 2026
Two ways to put retirement money into private funds, startups, real estate and other assets a brokerage IRA will not hold. Rocket Dollar sells flat-fee accounts, including checkbook IRAs and a Solo 401(k), with custody at an affiliated trust company. Alto runs its own trust charter and broker-dealer, charges by invested capital, and lets you bring your own deal or pick from an accredited-only marketplace. This guide compares them from their published fee schedules, custodian agreements and SEC filings.
Guide Thesis
Pay for the account type you will use, not the one you might.
Alto: $0 to open, $150 or $400 a year once invested, $75 to bring a deal, no checkbook. Rocket Dollar: $360 to $900 to open, $360 to $600 a year flat, checkbook control and a Solo 401(k), custody at an affiliate. Figures from each provider's pricing page as captured November 8, 2026.
What each costs over three years
Provider fees only, from the pricing pages captured November 8, 2026, with wires shown separately on both sides ($25 per outgoing wire at Alto; $35 on Rocket Dollar's direct-custody plan; $35 in and $10 out on its checkbook plans). Closure fees are also separate: $50 at Alto; at Rocket Dollar a $50 termination fee on its own schedule and a $300 full-closure fee on Digital Trust's, and AltStreet could not verify whether both apply to one closure. Alto's account fee counts invested capital, not cash; the scenarios assume the full balance is invested.
| Scenario | Alto IRA | Rocket Dollar Silver (direct custody) | Rocket Dollar Gold (checkbook) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25,000, one private deal you bring | $75 once + $150 a year = about $525 | $360 once + $360 a year = about $1,440 | $600 once + $480 a year = about $2,040 |
| $100,000, one private deal you bring | $75 once + $400 a year = about $1,275 | About $1,440 | About $2,040 |
| $250,000, one private deal you bring | $75 once + $400 a year = about $1,275 | About $1,440 | About $2,040 |
| Wires, one deal | $25 outgoing wire, if the investment is wired | $35 outgoing wire | $35 in to the checkbook account, then $10 out |
| Marketplace example: $100,000 in one Alto Marketplace fund | $0 investment fee + $400 a year = about $1,200; the issuer pays Alto Securities a placement fee | No marketplace; a partner deal runs as a Silver investment, about $1,440 plus a $35 wire | No marketplace; about $2,040 plus wires |
| $250,000, six private deals over three years | $450 in deal fees + $1,200 account fees = about $1,650, plus up to six $25 wires ($150) | About $1,440, plus six $35 wires ($210) | About $2,040, plus six $10 wires ($60) after the $35 transfer in |
| A rental property with monthly bills | Not Alto's published workflow; confirm the title and closing structure with Alto before funding | Not built for it; every payment is a custodian wire | The use case Rocket Dollar describes: the trust's checking account pays and collects; about $2,040 over three years plus bank wires |
| To close the account | $50; $100 per private security transferred out in kind | $50 Rocket Dollar termination fee, and a $300 full-closure fee on Digital Trust's schedule; whether both apply to one closure is not stated | Same two schedules apply |
For one fund subscription held three years, Alto costs about $525 on $25,000 and about $1,275 on $100,000 or more. Rocket Dollar's direct-custody plan costs about $1,440 at any balance, and its checkbook plan about $2,040.
The price gap closes only when you need what Rocket Dollar sells and Alto does not: a bank account your IRA controls.
The Core Decision
Do you need to sign the wire yourself?
If your IRA will make one or two fund or SPV investments, a direct-custody account does everything you need and Alto's is cheaper. If your IRA will own a rental, lend on notes or pay recurring bills, you need a checkbook structure, and only Rocket Dollar sells one. Everything else on this page, from the custodian's ownership to the crypto migration, is what you accept along with that choice.
Cheaper for one passive investment
Alto
$150 a year below $30,000 invested, $400 a year above, plus $75 once to bring your own deal. Rocket Dollar Silver is $360 to open and $360 a year at any balance.
Checkbook control
Rocket Dollar
Gold ($600 plus $40 a month) gives the IRA a trust with its own checking account; Platinum adds a Solo 401(k). Alto has no checkbook product.
Owns its custodian
Both, differently
Alto Trust Co. is Alto's own New Mexico trust charter. Rocket Dollar's custodian Digital Trust is an affiliate under common ownership since March 2024, disclosed in filings rather than on the pricing page.
TL;DR
The comparison in two paragraphs
Alto is the cheaper custodian for the investor who already knows which private fund or SPV the IRA will hold: nothing to open, $150 a year below $30,000 invested and $400 above it, $75 to bring a deal Alto has not listed, uninvested cash at program banks with FDIC pass-through insurance on eligible deposits, a trust charter Alto owns and a FINRA broker-dealer with no disclosures. Its marketplace is accredited-only and paid for by issuers, its agreements disclaim any duty to review what you buy, and its April 2026 crypto migration liquidated tokens for customers who missed a deadline.
Rocket Dollar is the provider for the investor who needs the IRA to act like a business: a checkbook trust (Gold, $600 plus $40 a month) or a Solo 401(k) (Platinum, $900 plus $50, with a conflicting $600 and $40 table on the same page), flat-priced at any balance, with you signing the wires and carrying the compliance. Its custodian, Digital Trust, has been an affiliate under common ownership since March 2024, which its filings disclose and its pricing page does not, and its customers have been moved between banks and custodians several times since 2023.
If you read nothing else: scroll to the head-to-head comparison sections →
Alto suits you if
- → You will hold one to a few fund or SPV positions
- → You want a custodian with its own trust charter and FDIC pass-through insurance on uninvested cash
- → You want a menu, and accept that issuers pay for it
- → You do not need a Solo 401(k) or checkbook control
Rocket Dollar suits you if
- → Your IRA will own property, lend on notes or pay recurring bills
- → You are self-employed and want a self-trusteed Solo 401(k)
- → You will value your own assets each year and police the prohibited-transaction rules
- → You accept custody at an affiliate of the administrator
$30,000
Where Alto's fee steps up
$37.50 a quarter below it, $100 a quarter at or above it, on invested capital measured five days before quarter end. Cash does not count, so a $29,000 position costs $150 a year and a $30,000 one $400.
March 2024
Rocket Dollar and its custodian came under one owner
WAO Fintech, LLC acquired Rocket Dollar on March 18, 2024; Rocket Dollar's privacy notice lists Digital Trust, LLC, its IRA custodian, among its affiliates. The pricing page does not mention the relationship.
$915 and $165
Alto's three-year saving against Rocket Dollar Silver
$915 at $25,000 and $165 at $100,000 or $250,000, for one private deal before wires and closure fees. Above Alto's $30,000 tier its $400 a year exceeds Silver's $360, so the gap depends on holding period and transaction count, not balance.
Bottom Line Up Front
Price the account you will actually use. Most self-directed IRA investors make one or two fund subscriptions and hold them for years. For that investor Alto is cheaper at every balance from $25,000 to $250,000 before wires and closure fees: by about $915 over three years at $25,000 and about $165 at $100,000 or $250,000 against Rocket Dollar's Silver plan, and by about $600 more than that against Gold. It comes with a custodian the company owns, FDIC pass-through insurance on eligible cash deposits, and a broker-dealer that has no disclosures. What Alto will not do is let you run the account's bank account yourself.
Rocket Dollar's case is the checkbook and the Solo 401(k). If the IRA will take title to a property, make a dozen loans, or pay contractors, a trust with its own checking account is the only structure that works without a custodian wire per payment, and Rocket Dollar's flat $40 a month covers it at any balance. The costs of that convenience are not on the pricing page: you value the assets, you police the disqualified-person rules, and the custodian you are told is independent of the deal is an affiliate of the administrator.
Neither provider will tell you whether the investment is any good, and both say so in their agreements. The operational risk that has actually reached customers is migration: Rocket Dollar has changed banks and custodians under several account types since 2023, and Alto sold its crypto line and liquidated unsupported holdings for customers who missed the deadline. Keep a copy of every notice either sends.
Head to Head
Rocket Dollar vs Alto IRA, section by section
An administrator with an affiliated custodian, or a custodian with a broker-dealer
Rocket Dollar vs Alto IRA: Who does what
Rocket Dollar sells the account and the software; Digital Trust, LLC, a Nevada trust company under the same ownership since March 18, 2024, holds the IRA, and partner banks hold checkbook cash. Alto is four entities: Alto Solutions administers, Alto Trust Co. (New Mexico) is the custodian, Alto Securities is a FINRA broker-dealer that runs an accredited-only marketplace and is paid by issuers, and Alto Capital is an exempt adviser running Alto's own small SPVs. The roles differ: the custodian agreement limits what Alto Trust and Alto Solutions review, appraise or verify, while Alto Securities separately describes 'a structured due-diligence process' for Marketplace deals and earned $528,723 of placement revenue from issuers in 2025. Rocket Dollar's agreements say the customer picks, executes and values every investment. Neither company is an adviser or fiduciary to you.
| Legal roles | Rocket Dollar, Inc.: administrator of self-directed IRAs and Solo 401(k)s; owned by WAO Fintech, LLC (dba Retired.com) since March 2024. Alto Solutions, Inc. (d/b/a AltoIRA): administrator; Alto Trust Co.: custodian; Alto Securities, LLC: broker-dealer (CRD 318536); Alto Capital, LLC: Tennessee exempt reporting adviser. |
|---|---|
| Custodian | Rocket Dollar: Digital Trust, LLC (Nevada), an affiliate under common ownership. Alto: Alto Trust Co. (New Mexico), owned by Alto. |
| Where cash sits | Rocket Dollar: Digital Trust for direct-custody IRAs; Grasshopper Bank for checkbook trust and plan accounts (BankUnited and Solera earlier); Titan Bank for crypto investors. Alto: program banks named in the custodian agreement, Needham Bank among them (the 'Important Disclosure' page still names BankProv); FDIC pass-through insurance on eligible deposits up to $250,000 per holder, subject to conditions, and not on the investments. |
| Scale | Rocket Dollar: no current public figures; its last public financial statements (2021) showed $1.38 million of revenue and a $2.18 million net loss, before the 2024 sale. Alto: self-reported $2 billion under custody and 32,000 investors; agreement of October 6, 2026 to acquire Forge Trust ($18.4 billion under custody at September 30, 2025), pending regulatory approval. |
| Record | AltStreet located no enforcement action or lawsuit naming either provider. Alto Securities has no BrokerCheck disclosures. Rocket Dollar: BBB B-, complaints about bank changes and a delayed rollover. Alto: BBB A+, Trustpilot 3.0 on 1,306 reviews, and a customer dispute over the April 2026 crypto liquidation. |
Verdict
Alto is the more complete regulated stack, and its two roles should be read separately: the custodian that holds the asset disclaims review, the broker-dealer that lists the deal describes screening and is paid by the issuer. Rocket Dollar is the thinner structure with the more powerful account type. Read both custodian agreements before the pricing pages.
Flat subscription against a fee that steps up at $30,000
Rocket Dollar vs Alto IRA: Fees
Rocket Dollar prices by account type and charges the same whether the IRA holds $10,000 or $1 million: Silver (direct custody) $360 to open and $30 a month; Gold (checkbook IRA with a trust) $600 and $40; Platinum (IRA LLC and Solo 401(k)) $900 and $50, with a separate 'Checkbook IRA/Solo 401(k)' table on the same page at $600 and $40, so the Solo 401(k) price is unresolved. Digital Trust charges its own fees 'in certain situations': $35 per outgoing wire, $300 to close an account fully, $75 per asset to re-register. Alto charges nothing to open and nothing while the account holds only cash, then $37.50 a quarter when invested capital is between $0.01 and $29,999.99 and $100 a quarter at $30,000 and above, billed in advance and non-refundable. Service fees: $0 for a marketplace investment, $10 through an integrated partner, $75 for a private investment Alto did not list, $25 outgoing wire, $50 account closure, $100 to transfer a private security out in kind.
| To open | Rocket Dollar: $360 (Silver), $600 (Gold), $900 (Platinum); $100 and $200 off for second and third accounts. Alto: $0. |
|---|---|
| Ongoing | Rocket Dollar: $30, $40 or $50 a month, flat. Alto: $0 with nothing invested; $150 a year below $30,000 invested; $400 a year at $30,000 and above (cash excluded). |
| Per investment | Rocket Dollar: none from Rocket Dollar; direct-custody wires $35; checkbook wires $35 in, $10 out. Alto: $0 marketplace, $10 integrated partner, $75 private deal you bring; $25 outgoing wire. |
| To leave | Rocket Dollar: a $50 termination fee on its own schedule and, separately, a $300 fee to close an IRA fully on Digital Trust's schedule; AltStreet could not verify whether both apply to the same closure. Alto: $50 account closure; $100 per private security transferred out in kind. |
| Fine print | Rocket Dollar's pricing page conflicts with itself in three places: the Solo 401(k) is priced under Platinum at $900 plus $50 a month and in a separate table at $600 plus $40; the Platinum plan advertises 'Unlimited fee-free wire transfers' while the wire-fee FAQ lists a $10 outgoing wire for the Solo 401(k); and some pages say 'No asset or transaction fees' while the FAQ points to Digital Trust's schedule. Older pages show $15 to $30 a month. Alto: fees changeable on 30 days' notice; unpaid fees allow Alto to resign and distribute the assets; a payment method must stay on file. |
Verdict
For one passive position Alto is cheaper at every balance tested, by about $915 over three years at $25,000 and by about $165 at $100,000 or $250,000 against Silver, before wires and closure fees. Above $30,000 Alto's $400 a year exceeds Silver's $360, so for long holds and frequent transactions the flat Rocket Dollar price catches up: each Alto private investment is $75 plus a $25 wire, each Rocket Dollar checkbook wire is $10.
Who signs the wire
Checkbook control vs direct custody
The structural difference between the two providers is whether anyone stands between you and the money. In a direct-custody IRA (Rocket Dollar Silver, every Alto IRA) the custodian executes each investment on your instruction, which slows a closing by days and gives a second set of eyes to the paperwork, though not to the investment's merits. In a checkbook IRA (Rocket Dollar Gold and Platinum) the IRA owns a trust or LLC with its own bank account and you sign; Rocket Dollar's help center says new checkbook accounts have been trusts since 2024. The power comes with the liability: you self-report each asset's value every year, and a transaction with a disqualified person or personal use of an IRA asset can disqualify the entire account, with no one positioned to stop it.
| Direct custody | Rocket Dollar Silver: Digital Trust reviews and holds each investment; $35 outgoing wire. Alto: Alto Trust holds every asset titled 'AltoIRA, Custodian' for your benefit; Alto executes investments for $0 to $75 depending on the path. |
|---|---|
| Checkbook | Rocket Dollar Gold: IRA trust with a Grasshopper Bank checking account, 'No Custodian sign-off on transactions'. Platinum: adds an IRA LLC account and a self-trusteed Solo 401(k). Alto: not offered; the custodian agreement values a checkbook LLC transferred in at the cash moved into it. |
| Rental property | Rocket Dollar: explicitly supported; the checkbook trust or LLC takes title and runs the property's cash. Alto: real estate is listed among bring-a-deal asset types and checkbook LLCs are valued for fees, but whether a new account can close on deeded property directly is not verifiable from Alto's public terms; confirm the title and closing structure with Alto. |
| Who values the assets | Both: you or the issuer. Rocket Dollar: annual self-reported values, with the warning that the IRA 'may be closed and distributed for noncompliance'. Alto: year-end fair market value due by January 15, else cost or last reported value; a statement value is deemed accepted if not disputed within 60 days. |
| Prohibited transactions | Both leave the rules to you. Checkbook accounts remove the custodian review step entirely; direct custody adds a paperwork check, not a legal opinion. |
Verdict
Choose checkbook control for deeded property, hard-money lending, tax liens or anything with frequent payments. Choose direct custody for fund and SPV subscriptions, which is what most self-directed IRA investors actually do.
What you can put in the account
Bring your own deal vs the marketplace
Rocket Dollar has no marketplace of its own; it lists partners (crypto, real estate, startups) and otherwise expects you to arrive with an investment. Alto runs two tracks. Alto Marketplace, operated by Alto Securities for accredited investors, listed funds such as Energea Portfolio 2 ($25,000 minimum), the FarmTogether Sustainable Farmland Fund ($50,000) and Ginkgo REIT ($25,000) in October 2026; issuers pay Alto Securities placement fees, $528,723 in 2025 from ten issuers. The 'bring a deal' track accepts any issuer that completes Alto's onboarding, including offerings open to non-accredited investors, for a $75 fee. Two Alto entities speak here: Alto Securities describes 'a structured due-diligence process' for Marketplace deals and is paid by the issuers it places, while the custodian agreement under which Alto Trust holds the asset says Alto does not recommend, review or verify investments.
| Your own deal | Rocket Dollar: the core use; no per-deal fee from Rocket Dollar, custodian wire fees apply. Alto: $75 per private investment after issuer onboarding; non-accredited offerings accepted. |
|---|---|
| Curated list | Rocket Dollar: partner directory only. Alto: Alto Marketplace (accredited only, $10,000 to $50,000 minimums) and integrated partners ($10 per investment). |
| Who pays for the list | Alto Securities earns placement fees from issuers, 'generally as a percentage of equity raised'; two issuers made 67% of its 2025 revenue. The per-offering rate is not published. Rocket Dollar: partner arrangements not disclosed on the pricing page. |
| Alto's own vehicles | Alto Capital's ten SPVs have reported $4.4 million of Form D sales since October 2023, the largest a Hamilton Lane feeder at $1.26 million; Alto owns 0% of each per its ADV. |
| Vetting | Rocket Dollar: none; the customer 'picks, executes, values and keeps compliant every investment'. Alto: depends which entity. Alto Securities describes 'a structured due-diligence process' for the Marketplace it is paid to run; the custodian agreement for the account that holds the asset says 'no duty to review'. Bring-a-deal investments get the custodian's processing, not the broker-dealer's screening. |
Verdict
If you already have the deal, both work and Alto costs less. If you want a menu, only Alto has one, and the menu is paid for by the issuers on it.
Getting money in, and what has moved under customers
Rollovers, transfers and migrations
Both accept IRA transfers and employer-plan rollovers at no charge and say timing depends on the sending custodian; Alto adds a 60-day hold on distributions from new accounts and a $50 Roth conversion fee. The operational record is where they differ. Rocket Dollar has migrated customers' custody and banking several times since 2023: direct-custody IRAs from American Estate & Trust and IRA Resources to Digital Trust, IRA LLC bank accounts from Solera to Digital Trust's bank partner, trust and plan accounts from BankUnited to Grasshopper, crypto investors to Titan Bank. Alto sold its CryptoIRA business to Public in November 2025 and, during the April 2026 migration to Zero Hash, liquidated tokens the new venue did not support for holders who had not sold by the April 22 deadline.
| Transfers in | Both: IRA transfers and 401(k) rollovers, no fee to receive. Rocket Dollar: no in-kind transfer of public securities. Alto: in-kind securities valued at $1.00 each for fee purposes. |
|---|---|
| Account types | Rocket Dollar: Traditional, Roth and SEP IRAs, Solo 401(k). Alto: Traditional, Roth and SEP IRAs; no Solo 401(k). |
| Crypto | Rocket Dollar: through partners, with crypto investors' cash at Titan Bank. Alto: CryptoIRA sold to Public (November 13, 2025); accounts trade at Public under Public's terms with Alto Trust still custodian; unsupported tokens liquidated April 23, 2026 for holders who had not acted. |
| Migrations | Rocket Dollar: at least four custody or bank migrations since 2023, each affecting a different account type. Alto: the crypto migration of April 2026; the 'Important Disclosure' page still names BankProv while the site names Needham Bank for cash. |
| Corporate change | Rocket Dollar: sold to WAO Fintech March 18, 2024, which also owns Digital Trust. Alto: agreement to acquire Forge Trust from Schwab, announced October 6, 2026, pending South Dakota approval. |
Verdict
Expect the plumbing to change at either provider. Rocket Dollar's changes have moved banks under checkbook accounts; Alto's moved a whole product line to another company and sold assets for customers who missed a date.
Do I need checkbook control if I only want to make one private investment?
Short answer
No. A direct-custody account, Rocket Dollar's Silver plan or any Alto IRA, executes a single fund or SPV subscription on your instruction and holds it; Rocket Dollar itself calls Silver 'ideal for one-time investments'. Checkbook control is for accounts that transact often or own property, and it costs more to set up and removes the custodian's paperwork check before each wire.
A checkbook IRA puts a legal entity between the IRA and its investments: the IRA owns a trust (Rocket Dollar's structure for new accounts since 2024) or an LLC, the entity has a bank account, and you are its signer. The appeal is speed and autonomy; a rental's plumbing bill or a private loan's monthly funding does not wait for a custodian to process a wire. The cost is that the only person checking whether a payment is a prohibited transaction is you. Rocket Dollar's own material says the customer picks, executes, values and keeps compliant every investment, and that the IRA may be closed and distributed for noncompliance with its annual valuation requirement.
For a single subscription none of that is needed. You sign the fund's documents in the IRA's name, the custodian wires the money and books the position, and the issuer sends a value once a year. Alto does that for $0 to $75 per investment on top of its account fee; Rocket Dollar's Silver plan does it for a $35 wire. The one wrinkle at Alto is timing: a new account's distributions can be declined for 60 days, and Alto's processing adds days to a closing that a checkbook signer would do the same afternoon.
Alto does not sell checkbook control at all, which simplifies its product and limits its audience. Its agreement values a checkbook LLC transferred in at the cash moved into it, so an existing LLC can live inside an Alto IRA, but Alto will not set one up or bank it. If you know you will need the structure, the comparison ends there.
Which costs less for a $25,000, $100,000 or $250,000 self-directed IRA?
Short answer
Alto, unless you transact often. At $25,000 Alto is about $525 over three years against about $1,440 for Rocket Dollar Silver, a $915 difference; at $100,000 and $250,000 Alto is about $1,275 against the same $1,440, a $165 difference, all before wires and closure fees. Above $30,000 Alto's recurring $400 exceeds Silver's $360, so a long hold with several deals narrows the gap further, and a checkbook account that pays bills monthly has no Alto equivalent to compare.
Alto's schedule has one step and it falls at $30,000 of invested capital: $37.50 a quarter below it, $100 at or above, measured on the fifth day before quarter end and billed in advance, non-refundable. Cash is excluded, so an account that holds $200,000 of cash and $20,000 of a fund pays the lower tier. Service fees are per event: $0 for a marketplace investment, $10 through an integrated partner, $75 for a private deal you bring, $25 for an outgoing wire, $50 to convert to a Roth or to close, $100 to move a private security to another custodian. The fees can change on 30 days' notice, and Alto may resign from an account whose fees go unpaid and distribute the assets.
Rocket Dollar's schedule has three tiers and no balance test. Silver is $360 to open and $30 a month; Gold $600 and $40; Platinum $900 and $50, with discounts of $100 to $200 on setup and $5 to $10 a month for second and third accounts. The same pricing page also shows a 'Checkbook IRA/Solo 401(k)' table at $600 and $40, so whether a Solo 401(k) costs $600 or $900 to open is unresolved on Rocket Dollar's own page, and the Platinum plan's 'Unlimited fee-free wire transfers' sits beside a wire-fee FAQ that lists a $10 outgoing wire for the Solo 401(k). Underneath sit Digital Trust's fees, charged 'in certain situations': $35 per outgoing wire on direct-custody IRAs, $300 to close an IRA fully, $75 per asset to re-register. Rocket Dollar's own schedule adds a $50 termination fee; whether both closure charges apply to one account is not stated, and some of its pages still say 'No asset or transaction fees'.
Put together, the flat subscription is what makes Rocket Dollar expensive for small, passive accounts and competitive for large, active ones. At $25,000 the Silver plan's first year costs 2.9% of the balance before any wire; Alto's costs 0.9% including the $75 deal fee. Above $30,000 Alto's $400 a year is $40 more than Silver's $360, so the $360 setup fee is recovered in nine years on fees alone and much sooner once wires are counted: a $250,000 account making six private investments over three years pays about $1,650 in provider fees at either, plus $150 of wires at Alto and $210 at Silver if every investment is wired. For the checkbook user there is no Alto price to compare, which is the point of the product.
The AltStreet Take
Both companies sell the same promise, that your retirement money can go where brokerage IRAs will not take it, and both are careful in their agreements to promise nothing else. Alto's custodian agreement says it has no duty to review, does not appraise or verify values, and has 'no responsibility or fiduciary role whatsoever'; a different Alto entity, the broker-dealer paid by the issuers it lists, describes 'a structured due-diligence process' for the Marketplace. Those are two roles, and an investor should know which one is speaking. Rocket Dollar's pages say 'No asset or transaction fees' while its FAQ points to a custodian schedule with a $300 closure charge, its Platinum plan advertises fee-free wires beside a FAQ that prices a Solo 401(k) wire at $10, and the custodian is an affiliate the pricing page does not identify as one.
The decision is nonetheless easy once the use is known. A passive investor making a few fund commitments gets a cheaper, more completely regulated custody arrangement at Alto. An investor whose IRA needs to behave like a small business gets the only checkbook product of the two at Rocket Dollar, and takes on the valuation and compliance work that comes with it.
What AltStreet would watch at both is the plumbing. Rocket Dollar has moved customers' custody and bank relationships at least four times since 2023, each time for a different account type. Alto sold its crypto business, changed the trading venue, and liquidated holdings for customers who missed a 28-day window; it has now agreed to buy a custodian nine times its size. Neither event cost a careful customer money, and both show that the account you open is not the account you may end up holding.
Can I use Alto to invest in a deal I found myself?
Short answer
Yes, at both. Alto's 'bring a deal' path takes any issuer that completes its onboarding, including non-accredited offerings, for $75 per investment; Rocket Dollar exists for exactly this and charges nothing per deal beyond the custodian's wire fee. Neither reviews the investment. Alto's accredited-only marketplace is the alternative menu, paid for by the issuers on it.
Alto's two tracks have different economics for Alto. On Alto Marketplace, operated by Alto Securities for accredited investors, you pay nothing per investment and the issuer pays Alto Securities a placement fee at each close, 'generally as a percentage of equity raised': $528,723 in 2025 from ten issuers, two of them accounting for 67%, up from $145,141 in 2024. The per-offering rate is not published. On the bring-a-deal track the issuer completes Alto's onboarding and you pay $75; minimums and accreditation are the issuer's, so offerings open to non-accredited investors qualify. Alto's own Alto Capital SPVs, ten of them with $4.4 million of reported Form D sales since 2023, sit on the marketplace alongside third parties.
Rocket Dollar's model is the bring-a-deal track without the marketplace. Its site lists partners for crypto, real estate and startups and otherwise assumes you have found the investment. On the Silver plan Digital Trust executes it for a $35 wire; on Gold and Platinum you wire it yourself from the checkbook account for $10. There is no issuer onboarding step and no per-deal processing fee from Rocket Dollar.
In both cases the due diligence is yours. Alto's Form CRS for the broker-dealer says it does not provide recommendations and is paid by issuers; the custodian agreement says Alto has no duty to review. Rocket Dollar's help material says the customer bears prohibited-transaction risk and values the asset each year. A deal that stops reporting sits at cost or last reported value at either provider until you prove otherwise.
Frequently asked questions
Which costs less for a $25,000, $100,000 or $250,000 self-directed IRA?+
For one passive investment held three years, Alto at every size. Alto charges a quarterly account fee on invested capital: $37.50 a quarter ($150 a year) when you have invested anything up to $29,999.99, and $100 a quarter ($400 a year) at $30,000 and above, plus $75 once if the deal is one Alto did not list. Over three years that is about $525 on $25,000 and about $1,275 on $100,000 or $250,000. Rocket Dollar's Silver direct-custody IRA costs $360 to open and $30 a month, about $1,440 over three years at any balance, and its Gold checkbook IRA $600 plus $40 a month, about $2,040. Before wires and closure fees, Alto therefore saves about $915 over three years at $25,000 and about $165 in total at $100,000 or $250,000 against Silver. Above Alto's $30,000 tier its recurring fee is $400 a year against Silver's $360, so once the setup fee is absorbed, holding period and transaction count matter more than account size. Wires are extra on both sides: $25 per outgoing wire at Alto, $35 at Rocket Dollar's direct-custody plan.
Do I need checkbook control if I only want to make one private investment?+
No. Checkbook control, where the IRA owns a trust or LLC with a bank account you sign on, exists so you can write checks and wire funds without the custodian reviewing each transaction. For a single fund subscription or SPV check, a direct-custody account does the same job with the custodian executing the investment: Rocket Dollar's Silver plan or any Alto IRA. Rocket Dollar's own pricing page describes Silver as 'ideal for one-time investments (No Checkbook Control)'. Checkbook structures cost more to set up ($600 to $900 at Rocket Dollar) and shift the compliance burden to you, because no one else checks a transaction for the prohibited-transaction rules before it happens.
Can I use Alto to invest in a deal I found myself?+
Yes. Alto's 'bring a deal' path accepts any issuer that completes Alto's issuer onboarding, including offerings open to non-accredited investors, and Alto executes the investment for a $75 private investment service fee. Marketplace investments through Alto Securities cost $0 to process and integrated-partner investments $10. Rocket Dollar's whole model is bring your own deal: the direct-custody account routes it through Digital Trust, and the checkbook account lets you wire it yourself. Neither provider vets the investment; both say so in their agreements.
Can I buy a rental property directly through either provider?+
Rocket Dollar explicitly supports that workflow: its checkbook IRA and Solo 401(k) are built so the IRA's trust or LLC takes title, pays expenses and collects rent from its own bank account, with you handling the closing. Alto does not offer checkbook accounts. Its bring-a-deal path lists real estate among the asset types it accepts and its fee schedule values checkbook LLCs transferred in, but AltStreet could not verify from Alto's public terms whether a new Alto account can close on deeded property directly rather than through an entity, so confirm the proposed title and closing structure with Alto before moving money. In either case the IRS rules on disqualified persons and personal use apply to the account holder, and a prohibited transaction can disqualify the whole IRA.
What is the difference between Rocket Dollar's direct custody, LLC and trust options?+
Silver is direct custody: Digital Trust, LLC holds the IRA and executes each investment on your instruction, with a $35 outgoing wire fee and Digital Trust's own fees in certain situations ($300 to close an account fully, per its schedule). Gold is a checkbook IRA built on an IRA trust with its own checking account; you sign transactions without custodian review. Platinum adds an 'IRA LLC account' and the self-trusteed Solo 401(k) for the self-employed. Rocket Dollar's help center says new checkbook accounts have been trusts since 2024; the pricing page still shows an LLC option under Platinum. Checkbook wires cost $35 from the IRA to the checkbook bank account and $10 out to investments.
Can I transfer an existing Roth IRA or roll over an old 401(k)?+
Both providers accept IRA-to-IRA transfers and rollovers from employer plans, and neither charges to bring money in. Rocket Dollar says it coordinates the paperwork and that timing depends on the sending custodian. Alto accepts transfers, rollovers and cash contributions into Traditional, Roth and SEP IRAs, charges $50 for a Roth conversion, and may decline distributions from a new account for 60 days. Public securities cannot be transferred in kind to Rocket Dollar; Alto values securities transferred in kind at $1.00 each for fee purposes.
What happened to Alto CryptoIRA, and where do existing customers access it?+
Alto sold the CryptoIRA business to Public on November 13, 2025 at an undisclosed price. The migration announced March 25, 2026 moved execution from the former Coinbase arrangement to Zero Hash, which supports fewer coins. Holders of unsupported tokens were told to sell by April 22, 2026; tokens still held were liquidated on April 23 under the migration procedure, trading halted on April 24, and accounts opened at Public on April 27. Alto Trust Co. remains the custodian under Public's agreement, so existing customers trade through Public while the IRA itself is still an Alto Trust account. Alto's own crypto page no longer exists.
Who actually holds my money at each provider?+
Alto Trust Co., a New Mexico chartered non-depository trust company regulated by the state's Financial Institutions Division, holds every Alto IRA; uninvested cash sits at program banks named in the custodian agreement, Needham Bank among them, with FDIC pass-through insurance on eligible deposits up to $250,000 per holder, subject to conditions. Rocket Dollar is an administrator, not a custodian: Digital Trust, LLC, a Nevada trust company, holds its IRAs, and partner banks (Grasshopper Bank for checkbook cash, Titan Bank for crypto investors) hold the checkbook accounts. Since March 2024 Rocket Dollar and Digital Trust have been under common ownership through WAO Fintech, LLC, a fact disclosed in Rocket Dollar's privacy notice and its broker-dealer's audited filings but not on the pricing page.
Who holds the assets, who signs the transactions, and what is insured?+
Alto: Alto Trust Co., a New Mexico chartered trust company, holds every asset titled to the custodian for your benefit; Alto executes each transaction on your instruction; uninvested cash sits at program banks named in the custodian agreement, Needham Bank among them, where FDIC pass-through insurance applies to eligible deposits up to $250,000 per holder, subject to the FDIC's conditions, and does not cover the investments themselves. Rocket Dollar: Digital Trust, LLC, a Nevada trust company under common ownership with Rocket Dollar since March 2024, holds direct-custody IRAs and executes those transactions; in a checkbook account the IRA's trust or LLC holds a bank account at a partner bank (Grasshopper Bank for new trust and plan accounts) and you sign the wires yourself, so no custodian reviews a payment before it leaves. AltStreet located no enforcement action against either provider; Alto Securities has no BrokerCheck disclosures. What has reached customers at both is operational change: Alto's April 2026 crypto liquidation for holders who missed a deadline, and Rocket Dollar's bank and custodian migrations since 2023.
Is Alto buying Forge Trust, and does it change anything for an IRA holder?+
Alto announced on October 6, 2026 an agreement to acquire Forge Trust Co. and Forge Services Inc. from Forge Global, a Charles Schwab company, for an undisclosed price, subject to approval by the South Dakota Division of Banking. Forge Trust reported about $18.4 billion under custody and 2.7 million custodial accounts at September 30, 2025, roughly nine times Alto's self-reported $2 billion. If it closes, Alto becomes a far larger custodian; nothing in the announcement changes the fee schedule or terms of an existing Alto IRA.
Full Platform Analysis: Rocket Dollar and Alto
Both reviews are built from the providers' own agreements, fee schedules and SEC filings: the broker-dealer audits, the Form Ds of Alto's own vehicles, the custodian schedules and the migration notices. No marketing language, no affiliate framing.
Rocket Dollar Full Review
Flat-fee self-directed IRAs and Solo 401(k)s, custody at affiliate Digital Trust since the 2024 sale to WAO Fintech, four migrations since 2023, and the fee pages that conflict.
Alto IRA Full Review
Four entities, $2 billion under custody, a broker-dealer paid $528,723 by issuers in 2025, the CryptoIRA sale and April 2026 liquidation, and the pending Forge Trust acquisition.