Hello, Suppose you are in the 30% income tax bracket, vs. a 15% capital gains tax bracket. Then: For long-term capital gains tax, you need to earn 117.7 dollars to end up with 100 dollars after tax: 117.7(.85) = 100 For short-term trades with a 30% income tax rate, you need to earn 142.9 dollars to end up with 100 dollars after tax: 142.9(.7) = 100 This means you need to earn 142.9 vs. 117.7. 142.9/117.7= 1.21 So your percentage gain has to be 21% higher via short-term trading to match what you would get in a long term trade. So if you could get 20% in a long term trade, you would have to get 20(1.21) = 24.2% gain in a short term trade to get the same amount after tax. Is this concept correct? The amount is higher, but not insurmountably so. This means if you see a good short term opportunity, the higher tax should not shy you away from taking it.
Remember your probabilities -- one solid half of Expected Value..... To wit: Taxes are 100% going to come. One dollar on debt reduction is 100% a dollar of Net Position improvement. Earning money? Revenues? "Ewwwww."