Stock trading - LLC ?

Yes. Why would you want to?

Probably.

Pay the state registration fee each year.

No. If you are the only owner of the LLC then the default is to ignore it for federal tax purposes.

Hire a lawyer. There are plenty who will be happy to help you form an LLC whether you need it or not.

No pros I can think of. What do you hope to achieve by having an LLC?

If you are to be the only owner and if you are to have no employees I cannot thing of any reason for you to have an LLC to trade for your own account.

Are you trying to avoid being classified by the IRS as an investor? A single-member LLC is a disregarded entity as far as the IRS is concerned, so even though you might put the expenses of "Joe's Trading Company, LLC" on a Schedule C and use Form 4797, it doesn't mean the IRS would go along with it.

Yes. I've heard about an investment club LLC. Maybe it's a good formal structure for many people to pool their money together -- then when there are profits and losses, the LLC percentage ownerships will say who gets what.

But an LLC has fees. There is an annual fee, which is $25 in CA, and over $100 in some other states. And CA only has a minimum tax of $800 on the LLC itself (even if the LLC has a net loss), before profits/ losses are passed to the owners. If the owners are in many states, the fees get worse.

Many companies, not only Schwab, support investment clubs.

You'll need to file a form to obtain an EIN number. You'll have to file a form with the state to obtain an EIN number. Many websites online will do this for you for under $500, though I think if you do it yourself it will be less.

stock trading thru an LLC?

Chiming in to agree with Bill: Forming an LLC for this purpose will add to your administrative burdens and costs without providing any tax or other benefits that I can think of.

Katie in San Diego