Friends, Here is the situation. Please suggest. * THU (01/22) at market close I had 140 FAS they were bought in 3 different lots last week, 40+60+40 * FRIDAY morning I bought 60 FAS @ 7.30 * FRIDAY afternoon, I sold 50 FAS @ 8.81 Is it a DAY TRADE or not? Called my broker 2 times and got 3 different answers from 3 different people. Has anyone dealt with similar situation? Thanks,
I can see why you got 3 different answers from your broker. Asking here will probably get you many different opinions, although we would all probably agree on trading round lots only. Even though the same stock was bought and sold on the same day, it really depends on the broker's internal system. It really depends on whether the broker's system uses FIFO or LIFO or maybe the customer can specify the specific lot to be sold. (You had 4 lots before the sale of the 50 shares.) You don't say if any of the lots from last week had actually settled before you sold the 50 share lot on Friday.
I figure it would help him feel more professional at the expense of his risk management ability, but otherwise I couldnt understand why it would matter.
1) Prestige 2) Proper capitalization 3) The ability to do covered-call writes 4) I have yet to meet anybody who's ever bragged about building up an odd-lot position in a ~$8 stock and scalping it for ~$1.
If you are going to trade odd lots, at least make them all 50 shares each. You've got buy 40, buy 60, buy 40, buy 60 and sell 50. If your broker goes FIFO or if you specified the specific lot to sell you might be in a better position to avoid PDT.
The first call was made to local branch and the person suggested to call back after trade is done so that they can fix the lot (also mentioned some process called "Reverse Purchase"). Second call was made after market close and and the other person (from their national center) initially said "guess it is a DT". Then he checked with other folks and said "it is a confirmed DT". But he was confused again when I presented additional arguments and first person's response :-( Anyway, he promised to call me back with "authentic answer" but never called back. I'll check again tomorrow. I agree! but I'm still learning. I tried buying in bigger lots and lost heavily so trying different strategy. I can always increase my lot when existing lot is showing profit. $7 commission one way hurts with smaller lot but what can be done about it? Friends, do you know any PROP firm who'll entertain small sized account like mine i.e. $5K, estimated 100+ trade a month, part-time remote trader (so low or no fixed monthly cost would be great)? I'm sure, EliteTrader is a great place to learn from others experience and expertise. Thanks everyone. Cheers, Sudhaker