Articles
Claim and Defend Your Trader Status.
Claim and Defend Your Trader Status. - Just because you call yourself a securities trader doesn’t make you one in the eyes of the Internal Revenue Service. In fact, Uncle Sam is predisposed to consider you merely an investor, and thus deny you more favorable tax status, unless you meet a number of tests that are frustratingly open to interpretation.
Read more ……Claim and Defend Your Trader Status.
Don’t Be Hung Out to Dry By Wash Sales.
Don’t Be Hung Out to Dry By Wash Sales - The Internal Revenue Service loves to tax capital gains, but they are just as diligent to disallow capital losses that might offset those lucrative cash cows. Case in point: the wash rule.The wash rule prohibits traders and investors from claiming a capital loss if they buy replacement stock 30 days before or after the sale of a security. If you do so, you can’t deduct the loss; it is added instead to the basis of your replacement stock for tax purposes. Read on…… Don’t Be Hung Out to Dry By Wash Sales
Mark-to-Market Accounting: Is It Right for You?
Mark-to-Market Accounting: Is It Right for You? - One of the most important decisions you will make as a trader is whether to elect the mark-to-market (MTM) accounting method. Although MTM is only available to traders, not investors, and does offer some significant tax advantages, it is not right for everyone. What makes this decision so important is that once you select MTM, you’re stuck with it; there is no going back simply because it would be to your advantage tax-wise to do so.
Here is what you need to know about mark-to-market: how it works, advantages and disadvantages, the process to elect it, and how to separate and exempt long-term investments.
Read more …. Mark-to-Market Accounting: Is It Right for You?
What is The Law of Charts™?
What is The Law of Charts™? - The Law of Charts was discovered by Master Trader Joe Ross. As he likes to say, “It was there all along. It just happened to fall on my head much as the law of gravity was discovered when an apple fell on Isaac Newton’s head.”
The Law of Charts defines four basic formations known as 1-2-3 lows and highs, Ross hooks, trading ranges, and ledges. These occur in all time frames because the depict human action and reaction vis-à-vis price movement.
Read more.. What is The Law of Charts™?
