JACK do you mind me asking how the blazes you only traded stocks for 6 months and are profitable so soon ? was it only buys ? did you ever go short a stock , even intraday ? did you ever use options ? do you use any software or backtest any strategies before you started to trade stocks ? by the way ... are you under 35 ?
Yup my Short Term Gain has been $49,295.81 and my Short Term Loss $37,746.86. With the result being a net gain of $11,548.95 from July to December. I just ran my account through tradelog to get my Schedule D to do my taxes last week. As for how I did it I will honestly say I have no good answer. I studied and read and kinda just jumped in. I have shorted but I would say those trades are a small fraction of my overall trades. I never traded options although I investigated it and considered how to use them. No software use other than my trading platform and no strategy backtesting ever. As for the last part, I'm 20 and I'm a junior at a UC getting a degree in economics. I work at a few different places a day or two a week as well as working about 35 hours a week as a network admin for a real estate licensing company. And thats my life. -Jamaal
you use tradelog ? does this mean you are an active trader who traded everyday ? don't tell me you are considering filing for "trader status" while still a university student? in my opinion ... you might want to check out some internship with a trading firm or bank if you have a special skill set beyond having made a few thousand in the market have you ever heard of IBD ? canslim ? did you ever trade a CRAMER pick ? can you please tell us what percentage of stocks you traded were penny stocks if any ? what percent were ETF's what percent were over $50 a share in price? can you give a few examples of winners and losers stating why you bought or sold for profit or loss? ( if this gives away your secret to making money then its ok if you decline to do this )
=========== Jack; That sounds somewhat wise , limit losses to 1k AND 1 contract; almost certain you will lose with 2 contracts[about 100k +worth] ================================= Even though papertrade monopely money is nothing like real time; derivatives, papertrade anyway, study the trades; NOT likely if you fail in papertrading ,you can do realtime. Sounds like you are a quick learner,; however options & futures are not suitable for all investors. ======================================== Stocks trend longer usually , wisdom is profitable to direct; emini-derivatives reverse much quicker, sharper. Usually several high probability setups per day ,sometimes none in ES,YM; may want to read Everything on elitetrader.com on ES,YM. Stay out of sideways slop trends. The youngster asked the old timer ,''Sir can this bird I have in my hand live?????'' That really depends on you son , the old timer said.