STRATA gold IRA accounts: what the custodian does, what it charges, and what changes on 1 September.
A STRATA gold IRA is not something you buy from STRATA. It is a self-directed retirement account administered by a Texas-chartered trust company that holds title, pays the vault and files the tax forms, while a separate dealer of your choosing sells you the metal. That split is where nearly every misunderstanding about cost begins. What follows is the published schedule as we read it on 12 August 2026, the increase the company has dated to 1 September, the two vaults on its menu, and where it lands against Equity Trust on numbers both firms print.
Advertising disclosure: Gold IRA Consulting is reader-supported. We may earn a commission when you open an account through some links on this page (marked sponsored). This never influences our editorial scores, which are based on independent research.
A flat-fee, metals-friendly custodian with unusually plain disclosure, whose price rises in three weeks. A metals-only account bills a $125 annual IRA fee plus $100 commingled storage today, $225 all in, at any balance. The same page carries $150 and $115 marked effective 1 September 2026, taking the flat total to $265. Segregated storage stays at $175 either way.
- →Flat beats percentage above roughly $125,000. Nothing in the annual schedule scales with balance.
- →It will never advise you. The firm states in writing that it does not buy, sell or exchange metals, nor endorse dealers or pricing.
- →Two vaults, one gap. Delaware Depository and Texas Precious Metals Depository are the published choices, and segregated silver is offered at neither.
- →You meet it through a dealer. Two of the ten we track name it publicly: Goldco and Birch Gold Group. Verified Jun 2026.
Who STRATA Trust Company is, in verifiable terms
The firm describes itself as a Texas-chartered trust company regulated by the Texas Department of Banking, operating since 2008. Its own site records a founder, Horizon Bank, SSB, and a founding location of Waco, Texas, in the structured data it publishes on every page. The name is newer than the business: the company timeline shows Self Directed IRA Services, Inc. rebranding to its current identity in 2017, which is why older paperwork sometimes carries a name absent from the website today.
Scale is a published milestone rather than something we can audit: the same timeline records $1 billion in assets under custody in 2015 and $7 billion in 2025. The Better Business Bureau lists the firm at a Waco address with an A+ rating, eighteen years in business, and no BBB accreditation, which is a paid relationship rather than a quality measure.
One thing to hold before the fee tables: this is a directed custodian, a category the company names for itself. It processes what you instruct in writing and does not vet the dealer, the coin or the price. Our piece on how gold IRA custodians work covers the category; this page covers the firm.
The custodian holds the account, the dealer sells the metal, neither does the other job
The company's precious metals page prints a sentence most of this industry avoids: it does not buy, sell or exchange precious metals, and you must place your order directly with the dealer of your choice. A second line adds that it facilitates purchase and storage but does not select or endorse dealers, metals or pricing. Together they define where your protection ends.
What that means: when a salesperson quotes a premium over spot, nobody at the trust company reviews the number. Your quarterly statement shows spot value, the spot price multiplied by fine metal content, and the firm states plainly that this excludes dealer mark-ups, premiums and commissions. A buyer who paid heavily for a semi-numismatic coin will therefore see a statement value well below what left the IRA, and the custodian neither caused that gap nor will explain it.
That is not a criticism: the alternative, a custodian that also sells you product, is the structure regulators warn about. It does put due diligence on you, and the firm links the CFTC precious metals fraud advisory from its own marketing, which is rare and creditable.
What a STRATA gold IRA costs a year, before and after 1 September
Two lines carry the annual cost and both are flat. The published page marks certain figures against a note that fee changes take effect 1 September 2026, so we compared it with the archived capture of the same page from 10 July 2026 to establish which numbers are old and which are new. Both columns below are the company's own.
| ANNUAL LINE, PRECIOUS METALS TIER | THROUGH 31 AUG 2026 | FROM 1 SEP 2026 | CHANGE | WHAT IT BUYS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual IRA fee | $125 | $150 | +$25 | Administration, reporting and transaction processing. Charged at account opening then on the account anniversary, and not prorated. |
| Commingled storage | $100 | $115 | +$15 | Metal pooled with other holders but tracked to your IRA. On withdrawal you receive like metal of similar weight and type, not the exact bars you bought. |
| Segregated storage | $175 | $175 | No change | Your holdings kept apart under your IRA. Applies to gold, platinum and palladium, with depository exceptions noted by the company. |
| All in, commingled | $225 | $265 | +18% | The number that matters for most metals-only accounts. Identical at $30,000 and at $600,000. |
| All in, segregated | $300 | $325 | +8% | The segregation premium narrows from $75 a year to $60 once the annual fee rises, because only the commingled line moves. |
Source: STRATA Trust published fee page, read 12 August 2026, where the higher figures carry an asterisk against the note that fee changes take effect 1 September 2026. Prior figures confirmed against the Internet Archive capture of the same page dated 10 July 2026, which shows a $125 annual account fee and $100 commingled storage. Percentages are ours. Confirm which schedule applies to your account before funding.
The per-event charges, which is where the surprises live
Flat annual pricing is half the schedule. The other half fires when something happens to the account, and several of these lines also move on 1 September. Read the exit charges slowly: buyers meet them years later, and no dealer promotion covers them.
| EVENT | THROUGH 31 AUG 2026 | FROM 1 SEP 2026 | WHEN IT BITES |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account setup | $50, waived if opened electronically | Unchanged | Once, at opening. Apply online and it is nothing. |
| Metals purchase, sale or exchange | $40 | Unchanged | Every trade. A rebalancer paying this four times a year has doubled the annual fee. |
| Depository handling and processing | $35 | Unchanged | On metal movement into or out of the vault. |
| Metals shipping | $10 plus depository cost | Unchanged | The depository's own charge sits on top and is not published here. |
| Outgoing wire | $35 | Unchanged | Funding a purchase or paying out a distribution. |
| Cash transfer out | $100, waived on the Flex Tier | Unchanged | Moving cash to another custodian. |
| Account closure or reinstatement | $250 | Unchanged | The single largest line on the schedule. Price it before you open, not after. |
| Asset re-registration | $75 per asset, in-kind distribution or reinstatement | $100 per request, covering all assets in that request | On transfer out, distribution or reinstatement, plus third-party fees. Better for a multi-asset exit, worse for a single one. |
| Special request | $25 | $75 | Tripling. Anything off the standard form path. |
| Overnight shipping | $40 plus courier | $50 plus courier | Avoidable by supplying a pre-printed courier label. |
| Tax withholding processing | $30 federal, $10 state | No charge | The one line moving in your favour. |
| Paper statements | $50 a year, waived for electronic | Unchanged | Only if you insist on post. |
Source: same published fee page read 12 August 2026, compared line by line with the archived 10 July 2026 capture. Lines marked unchanged appear at the same amount in both. Storage and account fees are not prorated. Run your own totals in our gold IRA fee calculator, and see how custodian fees fit the wider cost stack.
The two vaults on the menu, and the silver exception
You select a depository as part of your investment direction, and the storage charge is billed by the custodian alongside the annual IRA fee rather than invoiced separately by the vault. One bill, one date, one number. The choice itself is narrow, and one restriction inside it is easy to miss.
| DEPOSITORY | LOCATIONS | COMMINGLED | SEGREGATED | PRACTICAL READ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delaware Depository | Wilmington, Delaware and Boulder City, Nevada | Yes | Yes, except silver | The default for most accounts and the only route to the cheaper commingled rate. |
| Texas Precious Metals Depository | Shiner, Texas | No | Yes | Segregated only, so choosing it commits you to the higher storage line whatever your balance. |
Source: STRATA Trust precious metals investment page, read 12 August 2026, including its own depository comparison. Vault availability and terms change; confirm before you direct a purchase. Background on vault types in our guide to gold IRA storage and depositories.
Two consequences follow. A silver-heavy investor who wants their exact bars set aside cannot get it through either option, so raise that requirement before the direction stage. And choosing the Texas vault on geographic preference surrenders the commingled rate automatically, costing $75 a year today and $60 from September: a decision worth making deliberately rather than by accident.
Which dealers route accounts here, and why the name on the form outlives the promotion
Most people do not go looking for a custodian. They pick a dealer, and the custodian arrives in the paperwork. Of the ten dealers we track, only three name their custodian partners publicly, and this firm appears in two: Goldco cites it alongside Equity Trust, and Birch Gold Group alongside Equity Trust and GoldStar Trust. The other seven name none, which is common but means signing up to a schedule you have not read. Verified Jun 2026.
The asymmetry to notice is duration. A dealer promotion, free silver or a covered first year, is a one-off. The custodian schedule bills every year the account exists, so twenty years of a commingled account runs north of $5,000 at today's rates, before a single transaction charge.
So before signing, ask which custodian will administer the account, then request that custodian's own schedule rather than the dealer's summary. Vagueness is itself an answer. Our rankings of gold IRA companies record which dealers name one, and the rollover walkthrough covers when to ask.
The two dealers that name this custodian in published material. Ask either one for the custodian schedule in writing before you fund anything.
Opening, funding and the one form that gates every purchase
The published sequence has three steps and the third trips people. You open and fund the self-directed IRA online, by transfer, rollover or contribution. You negotiate the purchase yourself with a dealer of your choosing. Only then do you submit the Investment Direction and Disclosures form for precious metals, with an itemised dealer invoice and the client or dealer agreement. No form, no purchase, however far the sales conversation has gone.
Selling reverses the same paperwork, more strictly than buyers expect. You agree the buyback, the dealer invoices your IRA, and you submit the liquidation form with agreement and invoice attached and the amounts matching. The company states that receiving metals typically takes 5 to 13 business days, and that once proceeds arrive a cash distribution is processed within 24 to 48 hours if the form is in good order. That last clause carries the weight: a mismatched invoice restarts the clock.
Two smaller facts. Uninvested cash sits at depository banks the firm selects, FDIC-insured to $250,000 per depositor while it awaits instruction, though the metals carry no such protection. And you may request photographs or a vault viewing by letter of instruction, priced at $70 by the Delaware facility.
Against Equity Trust, and against the flat-fee field
Equity Trust is the custodian most often named opposite this one in dealer material, so it is the fair comparison. Both publish a flat metals-only schedule, and the gap is smaller than buyers assume. Compare the metals-only schedules, not the general retail ones, which at either firm cost several times as much.
| CUSTODIAN, METALS-ONLY SCHEDULE | ANNUAL ACCOUNT FEE | POOLED STORAGE | SEGREGATED STORAGE | FLAT TOTAL, POOLED | SEGREGATION PREMIUM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This custodian, through 31 Aug 2026 | $125 | $100 | $175 | $225 | $75 |
| This custodian, from 1 Sep 2026 | $150 | $115 | $175 | $265 | $60 |
| Equity Trust, precious metals only | $125 | $110 | $160 | $235 | $50 |
| GoldStar Trust | $90 | $125 | Value-scaled, $225 minimum | $215 | Rises with balance |
Sources: this custodian's figures from its published fee page read 12 August 2026 and the archived 10 July 2026 capture. Equity Trust and GoldStar figures are from those firms' published precious-metals schedules, verified Jun 2026 and recorded in our large-balance fee analysis and fee changelog. Totals exclude per-event charges, which differ by firm.
The winner changes with the question. On pooled storage today this custodian is $10 a year cheaper than Equity Trust; from September it is $30 dearer. On segregated storage Equity Trust is cheaper on both dates. GoldStar has the lowest flat pooled total but prices segregation as a percentage of value with no cap, making it the dearest for a large segregated holding. No gap here justifies switching dealer, and all are worth knowing before you accept whichever schedule arrives pre-populated.
What separates a flat schedule from a value-based one is size: every figure above holds whether the account is $40,000 or $400,000. Our analysis of six-figure balances puts the crossover near $125,000.
Who this custodian suits, and who should look elsewhere
It fits you if
- You are holding, not trading. The annual side is flat and modest; the per-trade side is $40 plus $35 handling. Buy once and sit, and this is cheap administration.
- Your balance is substantial. Flat pricing is a rounding error at $500,000 and a burden only at the small end, where $225 on $20,000 exceeds a percentage point.
- You want the vault choice made simply. Two named depositories, one combined bill, published storage rates.
- You value plain disclosure. The refusal to endorse dealers or pricing is stated in writing, not buried.
Look elsewhere if
- You want segregated silver. Neither published depository offers it. A hard stop, not a negotiation.
- You expect guidance. A directed custodian processes what you instruct, nothing more. For an opinion on a coin, find an adviser who is not the seller.
- Your account is small. Below roughly $20,000 flat pricing works against you, though few dealers accept that size. See the minimums that gate you.
- You expect to trade often. Four round trips a year cost $300 before storage, more than doubling the running cost.
A closing note on timing. If you are opening in the next three weeks, the schedule quoted may be the current one or the September one depending on when the account is established, and the annual fee is charged at opening rather than prorated. Ask which applies, in the same email as the dealer's quote. Federal rules on what an IRA trustee must be sit in IRS Publication 590-A.
What buyers ask us about this trust company
How much does a STRATA gold IRA cost per year?
Two flat lines, billed together. Reading the published schedule on 12 August 2026, the Precious Metals Tier annual IRA fee is $125 and commingled storage is $100, so a metals-only account runs $225 a year at any balance. Segregated storage swaps the $100 line for $175, taking the total to $300. The same page carries figures marked effective 1 September 2026, $150 and $115, lifting those totals to $265 and $325. Neither line moves with account value. Per-event charges apply on top: $40 a metals trade, $35 depository handling, $35 an outgoing wire.
Is STRATA Trust a gold dealer?
No, and the company is unusually direct about it. Its own precious metals page states that it does not buy, sell or exchange precious metals and that you must place your order directly with the dealer of your choice. A second line says it facilitates purchase and storage but does not select or endorse dealers, metals or pricing. That is a directed custodian: it holds title, moves cash on written instruction, pays the vault and files the tax forms. Pricing and product selection come from the dealer, and it vets neither.
Which depositories can hold metal in this account?
Two, per the company's published investment options page. Delaware Depository, in Wilmington, Delaware and Boulder City, Nevada, offers commingled and segregated storage, with the page noting segregated is available except for silver. Texas Precious Metals Depository in Shiner, Texas offers segregated only. You pick the vault as part of your investment direction, and the storage charge is billed by the custodian alongside the annual IRA fee rather than invoiced separately by the vault. If you want silver held apart from everyone else's, neither published option delivers it.
How does this custodian compare with Equity Trust for a metals-only account?
Close enough that storage type and account activity decide it rather than the headline. Equity Trust's precious-metals-only schedule, verified Jun 2026, bills $125 maintenance plus $110 non-segregated storage, a total of $235. The comparable figures we read on 12 August 2026 give $225 today and $265 from 1 September. On segregated storage the order reverses: $160 against $175. Both are flat at any balance, which matters more than the $10 to $30 between them. Ask for the metals-only schedule by name.
Can I pick my own custodian, or does the dealer decide?
You can raise it, and you should, because the default is whoever your dealer routes to. Of the ten dealers we track, three name custodian partners in published material and this trust company appears in two: Goldco cites it alongside Equity Trust, and Birch Gold Group alongside Equity Trust and GoldStar Trust. The other seven describe third-party IRS-approved custodians without naming one. The reason to care is duration: a dealer promotion typically covers one year, while the custodian schedule bills every year the account exists.
What happens if I want to close the account or take metal home?
Price the exit before you fund the entrance, because these are the charges buyers meet on the way out. The published schedule lists account closure or reinstatement at $250 and asset re-registration at $100 per request from 1 September, plus third-party fees. Taking physical possession is an in-kind distribution, which the company flags as generally taxable with penalties possible. Selling means working through your dealer and submitting the liquidation form with a matching agreement and invoice; the company states 5 to 13 business days is typical, with cash paid out within 24 to 48 hours of proceeds arriving.
Related reading: how custodians differ from dealers and administrators, the full gold IRA fee stack, our Goldco review, and the rollover sequence.
Every figure attributed to this custodian was read from its own published pages on 12 August 2026, with the prior schedule confirmed against a dated third-party archive capture. Figures attributed to other custodians and to dealers come from those firms' published material and were verified Jun 2026. We publish no fee we could not read from a primary page, and no legal or reputational claim we could not link to a primary record.
- STRATA Trust Company published fee page: Precious Metals Tier annual fee, commingled and segregated storage rates, processing and service charges, and the note that certain fee changes take effect 1 September 2026. Read 12 August 2026.
- Internet Archive capture of the same page, 10 July 2026: establishes the pre-change figures of $125 annual account fee, $100 commingled storage and $175 segregated storage.
- Precious metals investment options page: the two named depositories, their locations, the commingled and segregated availability comparison, storage billed with the annual fee, the statement that the firm does not select or endorse dealers, metals or pricing, and the three-step investment sequence.
- Precious metals client support page: the statement that the firm does not buy, sell or exchange metals, the Investment Direction and Disclosures form requirement, invoice and agreement documentation, spot valuation excluding dealer mark-ups, liquidation steps, and the 5 to 13 business day and 24 to 48 hour processing statements.
- Company background page: Texas-chartered trust company regulated by the Texas Department of Banking, operating since 2008, the rebrand from Self Directed IRA Services, Inc., assets under custody milestones, and the founder and founding location recorded in the site's own structured data.
- Better Business Bureau profile: A+ rating, not BBB accredited, eighteen years in business, Waco, Texas address. Accreditation is a paid relationship and is not a quality rating.
- IRS Publication 590-A and the IRS list of approved nonbank trustees and custodians, for what an IRA trustee or custodian must be. CFTC precious metals fraud advisory, linked by the custodian itself, for dealer-side risks.
- Dealer custodian partnerships and comparative custodian schedules are taken from our own verified records, dated Jun 2026, in the Goldco review, the 2026 comparison chart and the fee changelog.
We are not affiliated with this custodian and receive nothing from it. Schedules change without notice, and the schedule that binds you is the one attached to your account agreement, not the one on any comparison page including ours.
Get the custodian schedule before you sign anything
Our free kit carries the custodian and storage comparison behind this page, plus the questions that get a dealer to name its trust company in writing. Then check the dealer itself against our rankings.