Updated: August 6, 2026
OPRS does not receive affiliate compensation from Money Metals Exchange. This review cites primary sources (archived Money Metals corporate disclosures, federal court dockets on CourtListener, IRS publications, CFTC advisories) and is intended as independent editorial coverage. Facts, product scope, and legal record were verified live at the sources listed at the bottom of the page on the Updated date above.
Money Metals Exchange is one of the larger online bullion dealers in the United States, and one of the operators that routes a portion of its retail bullion business into self-directed IRAs. This review covers what the firm actually is, how the IRA program is structured, and its differentiating features (loans against metals, VaultSecure storage, cryptocurrency payment). It also covers the legal record you should know before opening an account, plus where OPRS readers should look next.
Our verdict on Money Metals Exchange as an IRA-eligible dealer
Company: Money Metals Exchange LLC (Idaho limited liability company)
Role: Online bullion dealer. Also facilitates a self-directed precious metals IRA program by pairing the buyer with an outside custodian and depository. Not a bank, not a broker-dealer, not a custodian in its own right.
Founded / headquarters: 2010, by Stefan Gleason. Corporate presence in Idaho (per Idaho Secretary of State business record). Depository operations described by the company as North America’s largest private vault.
Regulator context: As a bullion dealer, not a broker-dealer, Money Metals is not registered with FINRA or the SEC and does not have a CRD record. Retail bullion sales fall under state consumer-protection statutes and, where applicable, CFTC anti-fraud jurisdiction over precious-metals schemes.
Best for: Buyers who want a large bullion menu (six metals, including rhodium) at competitive per-ounce premiums, a documented loan-against-metals option, and a single-vendor storage program. The IRA route works for readers who accept that the dealer is the sales counterparty, not the account custodian.
Watch out for: Three federal court dockets involving the company between 2021 and 2024 (see the legal record section below). The standard bait-and-switch risk pattern also applies to any high-touch bullion sales operation. Opening an IRA through any dealer means signing paperwork with a separate custodian whose fee schedule you must read on its own.
OPRS editorial stance: Money Metals is a functional bullion dealer with a broad product menu and an operational IRA program. It is not on our short list of dealers we clear for a first-time gold IRA buyer, because the vetting bar we apply for that use case is narrower. Compare at least two operators before opening, and read our dealer vetting framework and our dealer accountability list before signing anything.
What Money Metals Exchange actually is
Money Metals Exchange is a bullion dealer. It buys precious metals from wholesalers and mints and sells them to retail customers at a per-ounce price above spot. It also buys metals back from customers who want to sell. Everything else the firm does (IRAs, storage, loans, newsletter, podcast) sits on top of that dealer function.
The company describes itself as an online bullion exchange working with retail customers in the United States, per the About page captured in the archived snapshot cited at the bottom. The company also states it serves over 750,000 customers and publishes news and analysis for over one million readers.
What Money Metals is not, in a due-diligence sense: it is not the IRA custodian of record, it is not a bank, and it is not a FINRA-member broker-dealer. Any IRA opened through the firm sits at a separate self-directed IRA custodian on the account paperwork. Any metals held for an IRA sit at a separate depository under that custodian’s control, not in the dealer’s inventory.
Company facts and leadership
Stefan Gleason founded Money Metals in 2010 and remains its Chief Executive Officer and President per the company’s own About page. Directors listed on the same page include Clint Siegner (editorial, operations, AML/BSA compliance) and Mike Gleason (day-to-day operations and logistics).
Stefan Gleason previously served as Vice President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation in Springfield, Virginia, and graduated from the University of Florida with a BA in Political Science. He also leads the Sound Money Defense League, a company-affiliated legislative advocacy project focused on state-level sound-money legislation.
The firm’s corporate entity is Money Metals Exchange LLC, an Idaho limited liability company. Readers who want to verify the legal name, registered agent, and current standing should search the Idaho Secretary of State business database directly using the link in the Sources section.
How the Money Metals IRA program works
The Money Metals IRA program is a three-party structure common to the gold IRA industry. The client is the account owner. A separate self-directed IRA custodian holds the account of record and files IRS Form 5498 each year. An IRS-approved depository holds the physical metals in a segregated or commingled account under the custodian’s control. Money Metals sits in the sales-counterparty position and receives buy instructions from the custodian on the client’s behalf.
Historically, Money Metals has named New Direction Trust Company as its preferred custodian partner. The company has also worked with Mountain West IRA, Preferred Trust Company, Advanta IRA, and American IRA on the paperwork side. As with every gold IRA dealer, the specific custodian assignment is a choice the client should read carefully on the intake forms before signing; each custodian publishes its own fee schedule.
For 2026 contribution limits, eligibility, and RMD rules applicable to any IRA account (traditional, Roth, or self-directed), always cross-check IRS Publication 590-A and 590-B directly. Do not rely on numbers quoted in older reviews, since the Cost of Living Adjustments change annually.
Product range and pricing model
Money Metals sells across six metals per the archived category structure: gold, silver, platinum, palladium, copper, and rhodium. The catalog covers coins (American Eagles, Buffalos, Canadian Maple Leafs, Australian Kangaroos, Britannias, Krugerrands, Philharmonics, and world coins) plus rounds and specialty items such as Goldback fractional gold notes. Bars are stocked in multiple sizes and refiners (Valcambi, Argor-Heraeus, Geiger, in-house Money Metals bars).
Not every product on the retail catalog is IRA-eligible. IRS-approved gold, silver, platinum, and palladium products must meet the fineness thresholds in IRC section 408(m)(3) (0.995 for gold and platinum, 0.999 for silver, 0.9995 for palladium) and be produced by a mint recognized by the custodian. Numismatic and collectible coins that trade at a premium above melt are typically not IRA-eligible even if they are made of a qualifying metal.
Money Metals states that the primary reason Stefan Gleason founded the company was to sell precious metals close to melt value rather than at the elevated premiums common with numismatic sellers. That positioning is verifiable at the About page and at their online price sheet, which is public without an account.
Confirm the current per-ounce premium the firm quotes against at least one competing dealer before placing an order. Also confirm which specific products on the intake form are IRA-eligible with the custodian directly.
Loans against gold and silver
Money Metals runs a loan-against-metals program that lets clients pledge gold and silver holdings as collateral for a cash loan without liquidating the position. This is a differentiating feature; most gold IRA-adjacent dealers do not offer this product line.
The loans are personal loans backed by pledged bullion held at the company’s storage program, not retirement-account transactions. A pledge of IRA-held metals as loan collateral would be a prohibited transaction under IRC section 4975 and would disqualify the entire IRA in the year of the pledge. Any client considering the loan product must keep the pledged metals outside the IRA account, in personal ownership.
Terms, loan-to-value ratios, interest rates, and eligibility are subject to change and are published on the company’s Loans Against Gold and Silver page (linked in Sources). Read the current terms directly before pledging.
VaultSecure storage and depository model
The VaultSecure Storage Program is Money Metals’ in-house depository offering for personal (non-IRA) bullion storage. The company describes it as North America’s largest private vault, with segregated storage tiers for silver, gold, platinum, palladium, and rhodium.
For IRA storage, the depository has to be an IRS-approved facility that the account custodian recognizes. Historically, that means a facility such as the Delaware Depository, Brink’s Global Services, or International Depository Services. Money Metals’ intake process assigns an IRS-approved depository per the custodian’s own approved-facility list.
The distinction between personal-account storage at VaultSecure and IRA storage at an IRS-approved depository under a custodian’s control is a critical one. Storing IRA metals at a facility not recognized by the custodian, or attempting to take physical possession before a qualified distribution, both trigger the deemed-distribution and prohibited-transaction rules in IRC section 408 and IRC section 4975.
Risks and legal record you should know
Three federal court dockets naming Money Metals Exchange LLC as a party are visible on the public docket search at CourtListener. None involve a federal regulator as plaintiff; all three should be read firsthand rather than paraphrased.
The first is Sanchez v. Money Metals Exchange LLC, filed March 2, 2021 in the Southern District of New York (case number 1:21-cv-01813). The docket shows the case was terminated on April 12, 2021 via joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice, with each party bearing its own fees and costs. Cristian Sanchez was a plaintiff whose 2021 filings targeted many online retailers under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The second is Money Metals Exchange LLC v. LawChart.org, filed May 24, 2024 in the District of Idaho (case number 1:24-cv-00257). Money Metals is the plaintiff here. Readers considering the company should read the complaint and current docket status directly to understand what the firm is asking the court to do and why.
The third is Stuppler & Company Inc. v. Money Metals Exchange LLC, filed November 25, 2024 in the Central District of California (case number 2:24-cv-10206). The stated cause is trademark infringement under 15 U.S.C. section 1114. The docket remains active as of the filing date visible in the Sources link.
Beyond the three specific dockets, general dealer risks apply. Bullion dealers operate in a sales-driven vertical. Bait-and-switch tactics (an ad price for coins pulled at checkout in favor of higher-premium numismatic pieces) are a documented industry pattern. No reader should assume that pattern is absent from any operator, including this one. Our bait-and-switch tactics walk-through explains what to watch for.
Retail bullion sales are also under CFTC anti-fraud jurisdiction under the Commodity Exchange Act. The CFTC’s Learn and Protect advisory hub covers the recurring precious-metals fraud patterns worth reading before opening any account.
Customer support and account access
Money Metals runs a client account portal for order placement, buyback initiation, and access to the VaultSecure storage records. Phone-based sales and support are the main high-touch channel. The company publishes a main customer support line and a separate IRA specialist line on its Contact page.
Response-time and quote-quality reports on public review sites are mixed across the years covered by the archived snapshots. As with any bullion dealer, keep dated written records of every quote and every instruction, and take a screenshot of the checkout total before submitting. That documentation is the only workable evidence base if a pricing dispute arises after fulfillment.
Bottom line and where to look next
Money Metals Exchange is a functional bullion dealer with a broad six-metal catalog, an operational IRA program that routes clients to an outside custodian, a differentiating loan-against-metals product, and an in-house VaultSecure depository for personal storage. The legal record is thin on federal regulator action and contains three federal court matters worth reading firsthand.
Only 3 of the 27+ gold IRA dealers OPRS has reviewed make the current trusted list for a first-time gold IRA buyer. Money Metals is not one of the three, which is an editorial judgment about vetting bar, not a claim about the company’s operational fitness as a bullion dealer.
If a gold IRA is on your table, work in this order: pick the dealer using published criteria, then confirm which custodians that dealer works with, then read the custodian’s current fee schedule and account agreement before signing. Our custodian selection framework, our dealer vetting framework, and the dealer accountability list are the three starting points we point readers to.
If you believe you were pressured or defrauded by any bullion dealer, read our what to do if you were scammed walk-through before contacting the company. The sequencing of complaint filings (state AG, CFPB, CFTC, BBB, state consumer protection) affects the outcome.
Is Money Metals Exchange still in business?
Yes. The company was operational at the time of the archived snapshot cited in the Sources section (December 30, 2025) and remains a registered Idaho limited liability company per the Idaho Secretary of State business database. Readers who want a same-day confirmation should run the SoS name search themselves using the link in Sources.
Is Money Metals a scam?
No federal regulator has named Money Metals Exchange in a fraud case as a defendant on the public dockets visible at the filing date of this review. Three federal court matters exist, and readers should review them directly. Absence of a federal fraud case is not the same as an endorsement; general bullion-industry risks (bait-and-switch, high-premium numismatic upselling) apply to every operator and are the account holder’s responsibility to police.
What is the minimum investment for a Money Metals IRA?
Minimum investment thresholds for the IRA program are set by the company’s current intake documents and can change without notice. Request the current minimum in writing from Money Metals before starting the paperwork. Also confirm what the assigned custodian requires as its own account minimum, since the two thresholds are separate.
Which custodian does Money Metals use for IRAs?
New Direction Trust Company has been the historically named preferred custodian per the company’s own past disclosures. Other named custodian relationships have included Mountain West IRA, Preferred Trust Company, Advanta IRA, and American IRA. Confirm the specific custodian on your intake form and read that custodian’s fee schedule and account agreement before signing. Our custodian selection framework explains what to weigh.
Can I store Money Metals IRA gold at home?
No. IRS-approved IRA gold must be held at an IRS-approved depository under the account custodian’s control. Taking physical possession of IRA-held metals before a qualified distribution triggers the deemed-distribution rule under IRC section 408(m) and, depending on age, an early-withdrawal penalty. This applies to metals purchased through any dealer, not only through Money Metals.
Does Money Metals accept cryptocurrency for IRA purchases?
Money Metals accepts cryptocurrency as a payment method for retail bullion orders per the archived catalog structure. Payment mechanics for IRA-side purchases are constrained by the custodian’s own accepted funding methods, since the custodian is the counterparty of record on any IRA transaction. Confirm the accepted funding mechanics with the assigned custodian directly before assuming crypto payment applies to the IRA side.
What is the VaultSecure storage program?
VaultSecure is the company’s in-house storage program for personal (non-IRA) bullion holdings. The company describes it as North America’s largest private vault, with segregated storage tiers for the six metals it sells. IRA-held metals are stored separately at an IRS-approved depository under the account custodian’s control, not at VaultSecure.
Sources cited
- Money Metals Exchange, About Us page (archived snapshot, December 30, 2025): https://web.archive.org/web/20251230072653/https://www.moneymetals.com/about (company legal name, founding year, CEO, directors, service categories, VaultSecure description).
- Idaho Secretary of State, Business Search: https://sosbiz.idaho.gov/search/business (search Money Metals Exchange LLC to verify current registration status, registered agent, and entity standing).
- Sanchez v. Money Metals Exchange LLC, S.D.N.Y. case 1:21-cv-01813 (filed March 2, 2021, terminated April 12, 2021): https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/59698078/sanchez-v-money-metals-exchange-llc/ (docket and dismissal order).
- Money Metals Exchange LLC v. LawChart.org, D. Idaho case 1:24-cv-00257 (filed May 24, 2024): https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68960095/money-metals-exchange-llc-v-lawchartorg/ (docket and current status).
- Stuppler & Company Inc. v. Money Metals Exchange LLC, C.D. Cal. case 2:24-cv-10206 (filed November 25, 2024, cause 15 U.S.C. section 1114 trademark infringement): https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69413486/stuppler-company-inc-v-money-metals-exchange-llc/ (docket and complaint).
- Internal Revenue Service, Publication 590-A, Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590a (current contribution limits and eligibility).
- Internal Revenue Service, Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590b (RMD rules and distribution tax treatment).
- Internal Revenue Service, Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/rollovers-of-retirement-plan-and-ira-distributions (60-day and direct trustee-to-trustee rules).
- Legal Information Institute, 26 U.S.C. section 408, Individual Retirement Accounts: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/408 (IRA statute including the section 408(m) precious-metals eligibility and possession rules).
- Legal Information Institute, 26 CFR section 1.408-2, Individual Retirement Accounts (non-bank custodian eligibility): https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/26/1.408-2 (Treasury regulation on non-bank IRA custodian standards).
- CFTC Learn and Protect, Advisories and Articles: https://www.cftc.gov/LearnAndProtect/AdvisoriesAndArticles/index.htm (CFTC consumer advisories on precious-metals fraud patterns).