Gyroscopic Investing

I have a Rollover IRA from the retirement plan at an old college job back around 2006-2007 with just a little more than $1000 in it.  I trade it maybe less than once a year (if ever.)  The broker it's with (Fidelity) charges higher commissions than my main broker (Tradeking) but has much better tools, so I use their tools while executing my trades with TK.

I'm wondering if I'm setting myself up for some surprise fees/penalties in the future for using the Rollover IRA in a manner not consistent with its main intended use (to roll over funds to a Traditional/Roth IRA.)

Naw, you're fine.  In fact you can further rollover from a Rollover IRA to a regular IRA and no one will know the difference (so long as its pre-tax contributions, it gets complicated when there are after-tax contributions).

A "rollover" IRA is not really a unique type of IRA, "rollover" just describes the source of the funds in that IRA.  To be a full description it has to be further qualified with "rollover from a qualified plan" (meaning an ERISA plan such as a 401(k) or pension) or "rollover from an IRA" etc.

You can have a rollover traditional IRA (tax deferred, where the money came from pre-tax earnings).  Or you might have a rollover Roth IRA (tax free, where the money came from post-tax earnings).

A rollover IRA from a qualified plan will not often be tax deferred with post-tax contributions (but I understand it is possible).  (Any time you have a mix of taxed and tax-deferred money in your IRA it starts getting complicated...  I'd suggest avoiding the situation.)

Once you have a rollover IRA, you can do anything with it that you can do with an IRA funded by direct contributions.  You can roll it into another IRA to combine accounts.  You can do 72-T or first home or whatever distributions, or just take out the money and then pay any due taxes and penalties.  You can even just start making contributions to your rollover IRA, thus turning it into an IRA funded by direct contributions.  (You do need to respect the Roth/traditional character of the rollover IRA, just like you do with an IRA created initially from contributions.)

Or one unique thing possible with a rollover IRA from a qualified plan, you can usually roll it back into a similar plan offered by your current employer.  (Reasons are few why you would want to, but those reasons do exist.)

One caution:  If you add contributions to an IRA created as a rollover from a qualified plan, do not count on being able to roll it back into a qualified plan.  Some employer plans might allow it.  But don't count on it.