curtisj76

Sorry but I'm out of here. So far I have had 2 phonecalls to my house which I don't tolerate from a freaking internet forum. Never in my life has this happened. Never signed up for a forum that asked for your tele #. Good luck everyone

Been busy, quick update: Sold the loser I held. (900) loss ........dang! Then I had a nice 700 gain the next day and got most of it back. Then yesterday I made a little under 800. This morning, I made a nice 500 gain, shorted my trading stock. Just got into Ford but it's dropped a bit. Looking for an afternoon comeback.

............anyways, no trades on Friday. No gain/loss. Made a mistake that hopefully doesn't bit me in the rear. Had the position that I held overnight expecting a jump. Well it did but I held on too long. I've left many trades too early and left a lot of profit out there. So this time I told myself to hold on a little longer. Well it got to a $600 gain and then it dropped. The stock pretty much finished flat, up just a bit.

It feels great. In November last year I had a 14k day. Should have been 22k but I held on too long. PS I made 40k that month. Signed, HotShot - thanks for the comment btw, next time keep it to yourself cuz this time you lost

Great day for me. Realized I was not smart yesterday putting a trade in on a different stock. No reason to get away from something that has been good to me. I made three round trips, all winners that gave me a little over $800 of gains. The only downside of the day is that I ended up buying around 3,000 shares that went down and I held on to them. Made a run up at the end of the day and after hours the stock was up nice. I'm hoping for a decent gain from this as it really got sold off today. Great day though. I almost took a vacation day as I woke up with that bad feeling and I really didn't want to get into the market. Good thing I didn't.

Up and down day, 3 trades. Rough numbers: 200 gain 300 loss 300 gain Should have never gotten into the trade that resulted in the loss. Jumped into a stock I've been thinking about day trading. Was up quite a bit so I shorted it and the dang thing kept going. Just not familiar with it like my other stock I trade. Bummed about the loss but still up $200 at the end of the day which was my daily goal when I started. Could complain but just need to be happy with it and go into tomorrow fresh. Holding no trading positions right now.

A few trades for the day, right around a $600 gain. Sold my position I held overnight from last week for a $406 gain. Wanted more but it just wasn't happening today for the stock. Then I shorted it for a $126 gain. Shorted it again for a $72 gain. Bought a couple thousand shares of F when it was down and am holding it. Not looking to hold it long, just a couple hundred bucks or so and then I'm out. I'll be honest, it's very strange that a $600 day doesn't even get me very excited anymore. I guess that's why they say trading is so mental. Just need to stay focused and keep doing what I'm doing.

1,000 shares each. The prices were roughly $11 and $34 a share. One was Ford which I normally don't day trade with but I saw an opportunity and took it. The other was the stock that I'm keeping quiet about and almost all my day trading gains from this year come from. This stock I normally get in with 1,000 shares, sometimes more. I made another purchase later on Friday, 2,000 shares this time on my "trading stock". The price was just too good. Got in low so while the share was down over 1.5% I'm actually up. Still have it and plan on keeping it for a few days if needed. I can see it going up a buck or so a share as I feel it's priced very well right now. Thanks for the question and good trading.

Done for the day unless something pops up. Market dropped big time and bought a couple stocks. Both rallied for a nice gain that took about an hour tops. 367 gain 204 gain 570 total gain So far so good this year. Still staying grounded as I know my lucky streak will end soon. Good trading everyone

Good day - I'm getting out of the markets early as I'm up and my kids are getting out early due to snow. Sold my overnight position for a $381 gain. Shorted a stock and it wasn't moving much so I sold it for a small loss as I didn't really want to spend the next few hours in front of the computer as my kids are getting home soon. Loss was probably around $50 including commissions. So a net day of around $331. The better news is that F did exactly what I wanted it to do. Went down nice today and I got back in under the price I sold it for. Picked up a little over 100 shares due to the price difference. Didn't get it at the low but pretty close. As of now it's had a nice rebound so I've got a nice unrealized gain and 100 or so more shares. Best of luck

I agree. I pretty much sold out of emotion. I've told myself this whole time to just keep it but when it hit over 2% for the day my brain just said SELL. Oh well, a mistake but at least it's a mistake in the black and not red. Still holding my trade from yesterday. I bought around the low but it just kinda stayed there. I have confidence in the stock to hold it overnight. Looking for some buyers to pick it up after the drop. Good luck everyone in their trades today!

Still in a trade that I made today, down just a bit. The stock the past few days has rallied at the close so I've got a couple more hours. Not doing much so I thought I would hop on here. Just sold Ford which I'm still kicking myself for. Recognized gain of $8,252 which is great but it kept climbing. I thought it would come down after a nice climb up today. Will hope for a down day to get back in as I'm still looking to get a lot more gain from it.

2 trades that netted a $151 gain for the day. 137 loss 288 gain Pretty tough to get that, by far the hardest day of the year. Was down over $1,000 at one point but managed to get back to an ok day. I feel like I should be happy with today but I have many mixed emotions right now. Doubled up on the stock that resulted in the gain, pretty foolish at the time but I guess it worked out. Looking forward to tomorrow. PS My Ford position was flat.

Thanks for the advice. I'll have to play it by ear and see as I'm not sure how often I'll update. I don't mind saying I'm long on Ford but I won't be showing/telling about the stock that I normally trade. It's not a high volume stock and I'd like to keep it that way if you know what I mean. If people have problems with that or don't believe me I guess it's no skin off my back as I'll just head somewhere else or stop the forum thing. thx again

Nice day, kept my winning streak going. 3 winning trades for a $796 gain. Also holding a good chunk of Ford that went up but no gain recognized. My goal is to get 20-30% out of it before I sell her.

Thank you. Yes, TOTALLY agree that I can't get over confident. I'm just pleased that I recognized it myself on Friday. I write a journal for each trade (which I highly recommend) and the very last trade I mentioned possibly getting over confident. I think it's important for you to realize this yourself and not have to rely on someone from the outside which keeps you level headed. Otherwise you certainly run into the risk of over trading and losing some money. Thx again and good luck to yourself!

Thanks Dude. My goal was $200 to start out with which I'm gonna stick with. So far I've realized that you definitely don't need 100 grand to do this. I've realized you can make 4x that amount with half the capital. The additional capital will help I believe control some risk and allow a little more options for me. Trust me, the best thing going for me is money management/budgeting. If my family NEEDED money every month I would NOT be doing this. Will we need to watch our spending? You bet, but we can get by as we did it when I went back to school. We have an emergency fund and my gains from this year just increased it. I'm gonna put all my gains away and build it as much as possible. After it gets to the amount desired I will then try to grow the trading account or use some profits for family needs/wants. Of course this is if I make money. Slow and consistent, not trying to get rich quick like many that enter the game. Anyways, thanks for the support.

I'm switching to Tradestation this month. Not looking to make 6 figures as I am somewhat realistic. However I probably came close to making 75k last year. This first week I've made around 6k. How did you do big guy? Not for a living as of right now as my wife can support us. Just trying to grow account and LEARN. The 75k isn't borrowed, it's 100% mine. I have more if needed. Lastly, phuck yourself. Thanks

Thanks for the reply. The stock I did the best in was ok for the week, nothing great. I was making good trades when the stock had not only a positive day but also a down day. There's nothing better than making 1% on a trade when the stock fell 3%. Back in my buy/hold days I would have ending up down the 3%. I'm looking for small, consistent gains. I've been investing in the stock market for over 13 years and 7 of those I had 2 jobs that revolved around investing/stock market. I know trading daily is a different animal but I believe I have a solid foundation to start learning. I'm a quick learner and am willing to put the sweat into the game. Yes, 75k is a lot to start out with. I've been doing very well with 45k right now. However, getting some additional money out of my Roth IRA's helps me with Reg T. I have a paper gain of about 5k right now in my IRA that if I sold yesterday I'd get a dang phone call from Scottrade warning me cuz I've only had the stock 2 days . Getting a little more money allows me to be more flexible and get in/out easier which in the end will give me less risk. I am aware that it will be MUCH harder than this. My wife is getting all excited buy I keep telling her that I will lose some trades soon. One of the best things I have going for me is that I'm good with money and I know how to run a business. I've already taken all of my profits and put them in a separate account. I'll be attacking this with a very conservative approach. Yikes, sorry for the ramble. Not even sure what I just typed. Anyways, thanks again. I hope I can come back with some more good results.

I'm all in when a stock bottoms out and if it doesn't make any sense and it's still a good company. Nothing better than when a stock takes a big hit due to external factors that really don't impact it much. Made a lot of money the past couple years when a stock is really low. Last week I bought a large position in Ford that I'm gonna just sit on. I'm planning on at least 30% this year. Their sales are rising yet the stock has gone down 30+% in the past 52 wks. It's gonna be a good one this year. You won't see me buy a stock at a 52 wk high. Just me.

So you are talking about not having a FT job yet you have 2-3k? Do yourself a favor and quit while you are ahead. How old are you?

Quick update: So far the new year has been GREAT. Almost too easy and haven't had a losing trade yet. Just using 2 stocks, mostly 1. I'm paying the loan back but to keep my trading account funded I'm liquidating some Roth contributions. I've been trading with 45k but I'm gonna bump it up to 75k. This will allow me to day trade some and maybe swing trade with some other. Not really using any indicators or "fancy" stuff like that, just looking at the chart. Just looking for support/resistance and trends. I shorted a couple stocks for the first time ever. Pretty cool to make money when she's coming down. Sorry to sound like a newbie. Today I was getting maybe a little too confident. Thought I was maybe over trading today and "trading just to trade" but the trades made sense to me and they all worked out. Maybe I was just confident with what I was doing and listened to my brain/gut. Anyways, so far so good. The losses will come obviously, hopefully later than sooner. Best of luck this year!

First off, THANK YOU for your time and thoughts. I guess we are just looking at this totally opposite. I say write off everything you can. Heck, you can even depreciate a % of your house. At least for me, this would have no impact on any potential capital gain. Why not tax a deduction for utilities, etc.? For example, if someone did have 2 internet connections, you could probably conservatively deduct 1.5 of the cost? That all adds up. As far as the wash sale, I won't be having any LT gains so it will all be OI. Your "fourth" point has me very intrigued. I'll have to dive into the deferral and look for a good example. That was probably the biggest factor I was considering. If the wash sale rule isn't as big of a deal as I was originally thinking I can just trade the first year and then a year later or whatever I can make the election. This would save me the initial set up cost with the LLC and also my tax bill each year. I'm debating paying the loan back, still not sure. I'll be the first to admit that I'm no expert in any of this. The main reason like I said earlier is I was hoping to take less risk on. I'd still have to take out some Roth money but at least there wouldn't be the loan in the back of my mind. thx again

Can't have margin in IRA's. Can't trade very often or I'll keep getting my hand slapped. That's why I've been swing trading. That's why I wanted to set up a non-qualified margin account. I was up around 1.4k on a trade last week but I didn't sell it cuz I would have gotten another dang phone call. If it would have been in my trading account I would have sold in a second. Now the 1.4k is gone. DANG IT

Thanks for the reply. Let's start with the LLC if you don't mind. It is my understanding that it is better to be a “trader in securities” in the eyes of the IRS. However, it is also my understanding that it can be difficult to be considered this. I think I also read that you can't even qualify for this until you have a years worth of trading under your belt. The benefit is (not my words): "Meeting "trader in securities" status allows you to treat your trading as a business and deduct all necessary and ordinary business expenses. What's more, you are able to elect the Mark to Market method of accounting. This method of accounting allows you to overcome the $3000 a year loss limitation and eliminates wash sales. In other words, you are able to dramatically slash your tax bill." Setting up the LLC I can elect the mark-to-market right away eliminating the wash rule. I can then also deduct additional expenses on a schedule C. Then of course the LLC would go on to a 1065. Why do you believe the wash rule is a non-issue?? Are you a stock trader? Just wondering as I think this doesn't apply to Forex. I've been trading well, made around 40k in the month of November. I'd call it swing trading. The only problem with the IRA's is that I'm getting the occasional phone call from Scottrade due to me free riding. I've had very good success with stocks, but by a more traditional buy and hold approach. I like the idea of day trading and not holding any positions at night. I believe it will lesson some of my gains but at the same time reduce risk. By having a trading plan and STICKING to it my goal is to eliminate the large losses. Why 100k? I figure the more I have the more conservative I can be. $200/day is a lot "easier" to get with 100k rather than 50k or less. 2/10ths of a percent is what I'm after. I'm not looking for huge gains, rather CONSISTENT smaller gains/losses. Must eliminate the large losses. Trust me, the IRA penalty goes against every ounce in me, but with my recent Nov success, taking out 8k doesn't seem so bad. I'll take a 32k month. I'll never have another month like that most likely, at least not anytime soon. Lastly, back to the $150-200 "goal". It's just that, a goal. I just want to be in the game 2 years from now. I actually thought I was being level minded, maybe not. I just know I've seen some crazy numbers thrown around. People that want to make way more than me with a 1/10 of the capital. Anyways, I think that's everything. If necessary, slap me into the real world. I really appreciate any thoughts/suggestions.