Confused about Gold IRA rollovers and taxes - specifically physical gold?

• •Specifically, I'm looking at physical gold rounds, not ETFs or anything like that.
• •I've been looking at some reputable custodians, but the tax stuff is where I start to feel a bit out of my depth.
• •Is there any kind of "phantom" tax event I need to watch out for when the cash is actually used to purchase the gold rounds within the IRA?

Okay, so I've been doing a ton of research lately, probably sinking more hours into this than some of my actual academic papers, but the tax implications of rolling over a traditional IRA into a Gold IRA are still giving me some headaches. Specifically, I'm looking at physical gold rounds, not ETFs or anything like that.

I'm a professor here in Richmond, and I've got a decent chunk in my traditional IRA, probably around $380k right now, mostly in mutual funds and some tech stocks. I'm getting increasingly uneasy about market volatility and the general economic outlook, so the idea of diversifying into physical gold rounds through a self-directed Gold IRA is really appealing. I've been looking at some reputable custodians, but the tax stuff is where I start to feel a bit out of my depth. I know you can do a direct rollover without incurring taxes, as long as it's from a pre-tax account to an equivalent pre-tax Gold IRA, but what about the actual conversion to physical gold? Is there any kind of "phantom" tax event I need to watch out for when the cash is actually used to purchase the gold rounds within the IRA?

My main concern is making sure I don't accidentally trigger a taxable distribution. I'm thinking about moving about 10-15% of my portfolio into gold rounds, so we're talking about $38k to $57k. That’s a significant amount, and I absolutely do not want to deal with unexpected tax penalties on that kind of money, especially if it's done incorrectly. I've read about the "in-kind" transfers being ideal, but since I'm going from mutual funds to physical gold, it won't be in-kind in the traditional sense, right? It'll be a cash transfer within the IRA, then a purchase.

Has anyone here done a similar rollover with significant funds into physical gold rounds? What were your experiences with the tax side of things? Any pitfalls I should be extra careful about, beyond just picking a reputable custodian and depository? I'm trying to be as research-driven as possible here, but some of this verbiage is dense even for me.