Hi all, I've been lurking around this site for a while and found it very informative for a stock newbie like me. Stickily speaking, I'm not quite a know-nothing-newbie for I've had two brokerage accounts for more than 5 years. Anyway, I'm planning to trade from home full time after spending almost a year thinking on it. Here are couple questions among many I have on mind for now: 1. What is the new tax situation will I face? 2. What services(news, data, etc.) do most of you subscribed to? Please feel free to elaborate your answer. I'm just so thirsty for all related knowledge. Thanks. Ed
Taxes for the active stock retail trader is really ridiculous. Most brokers will give you a 1099 at the end of the year. They will then send all the sells to the IRS, but no matching buys. This means you have to have some software that will match the trades up for you so that you know what is going on. One year the IRS asked me for the trades. My accountant said it would be a nightmare, and the IRS is flexible on this if you explain what is going on. One thing that most active traders choose is Mark-To-Market. For the pro trader it can be quite a bit easier as they just give you a K1. Do a search on this on ET. As far as taxation itself, you need to give waaaaay more information than what you gave because there are rules that tax gains at different rates. If you are trading SIFs, it is quite a bit easier because what you get is a PnL report at year end. Futs are taxed at 60/40. Again, do a search on ET on these subjects as they have been asked a million times before. A site that will keep coming up in your searches is: http://www.greencompany.com/ It is worth looking through their free stuff as it is somewhat informative. As to subscriptions, most traders subscribe to all NYSE/NAZ/ECNs stocks, and as a stock trader you should also subscribe to the ES/NQ/YM/QM/YG/ZN and at least one indicator that tells you what the Dollar Index is doing. I subscribe to the minimal Briefing news service and read it carefully each morning. I sometimes pick up a Wall Street Journal or a Barrons, but those rarely affect my intraday trading. That's it. nitro
Not trying to be a crying baby...but thanks. I'll do some search on this site before ask more questions. Ed
Ed; Amoung the best= sfomag.com, & William O Neil website; investors.com. And dont be suprised if it takes, like these answers; more time than you thought for full time, especially if you havent been running a business before