its sometimes a good thing to walk away from the computer...I started doing my taxes right after I put the bid out then came back and was pleasently suprised! If only I had waited a bit on my AMD
Hey Andy: I don't know about you, but I'm pretty much only trading in my ToS account. Thanks for the great advice on using OX Gainskeeper. It was great for generating the D schedule and the 6781. The ToS worksheet doesn't even compare. But I'm wondering what I'm going to do for the 2006 taxes for my ToS account which will probably have 300 to 500 individual legs traded. Have you given this any thought?
rdemyan, Glad it worked out for you. By the way, I didn't have any 1256 trades in my OX account so I didn't see GK in action, separating equity versus 1256 trades. Was that an easy step? Easy to get 6781? On your 1256 trades, was 12/31/05 just marked-to-market (assuming you had open positions)? For 2006, I'm going to buy GK or Trade Accountant -- I don't see another way around it. I have my taxes done by an accountant and this software is mostly to improve my own understanding of my trading and make the acc.'s life easier. GK's pricing is dependent on the number of trades. You mentioned you have 300 to 500 individual legs traded in 2006. Just to clarify, one 100x SPX IC is considered four trades by GK. I can't imagine you have 500? That's over two trades a day (200 trading days a year)!
The 6781 was automatically generated by GainsKeeper. To be honest, I don't understand it exactly and don't have the time to understand Section 1256 for the 2005 taxes. But the 6781 reduced my cap gains by over $3000. Actually, I guess it will be closer to around 150 this year. Do you know if you can integrate GainsKeeper directly with ToS or do you have to do a download from ToS and an import/upload into Gainskeeper.
Donna, congrats on SPX trades. You made so many good moves. I wish I can have good timing and instinct like you. -Nick
It's been a week after i posted regarding the SPX technical picture, so here is where we are today. I personally did not like the fact that we breached the support line today, even though it was short lived. We closed right at support but i am inclined to believe that we will not hold it unless some positive news come out this week. Those who have followed my posts know my bias is bearish over the next month or two. I am currently considering entering into a put position around 1270. I am hesitant to do so but if we dip that low i will likely get into my 20 OTM bull put spreads with a short strike of right below the 200 MA. I will only enter this trade if we dip quickly(by week end) as that will put us in almost oversold territory. Any churning lower will not help the odds of a bounce and assist a more serious correction, if one is in the works. I think we are due for a bounce, even though it might be very short lived. Just thought i'd post this lil update. Also, congrats on another positive month as it is now pretty safe to say all our positions will expire worthless.
Andy How did you got this for free of charge?. Ox website tells me that they will charge $24.95 Bharat Now Available! optionsXpress is proud to announce the GainsKeeper service is available at a cost of $24.95 per year1! Access this valuable tax information directly from your account, without any additional login required. Start Using GainsKeeper
Market has opened up today, could be a good time to add some call spreads with 30 days to expiration. I'm looking at no lower than 1350, preferably higher if the market trends up some more today. I know Andy and Donna have gone lower than this but I'm more comfortable at the 1350+ level. ryan
good idea ryan...i'd been looking at puts but decided after your post look at calls...have an order in for 25 calls 1345/1355 for .70 but since its at mid prob won't get filled.