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This is intended as a friendly inquiry. What makes you think you wouldn't have enough losses or and/or expenses to offset gains? I admire your goal but I'd rethink the strategy if I were you. Nothing wrong with options but I'd suggest keeping it simple. Butterflies, condors etc. are rarely...

For some reason lost in the dim past I began trading options about 12 years ago. Which means absolutely nothing except that I've be lucky along the way. I usually trade long calls, long puts , or spreads. Nothing complicated for me! If I were just starting out I would consider the...

Mindgame; was there any indication as to whether this is hemisphere specific :)

MJT; I use pcquote RT3. Dell 500mhz, 128meg ram, and a 33600 DIALUP connection. Didn't notice any slowdown and for sure no freezup. I'm running NT4sp5. What's your operating system?

A good place to start is by checking out the day's most active option contracts on Bloomberg.com Watch the way those trade as well as the underlying stock.

It is indeed possible to daytrade options. I have been doing so for several years with some success. I don't like trading the Q's however because of the short on downtick reg. It can move against you very quickly. My advice would be to learn how a few stocks trade throughout the day and...

Ray; interest earned goes on schedule B along with interest earned anywhere else. It is "ordinary" income not "capital". You can report you trades in "aggregate" on schedule D and then reverse them off schedule D and onto schedule C. This makes them "ordinary" rather than "capital". There...

I can't answer the hypothetical accounting question but I'll pose this one in response. If it was a disadvantage, would all the big guys on the floor and MM's etc have lobbied so hard to get MTM or would they stick with schedule D and the capital gains tax?? I don't KNOW the answer but...

Sometimes I feel that having to account each year for holding long term positions ( years) SEEMS to be a disadvantage but it all evens out. One thing to consider is: If you have large UNREALIZED gains in the year you elect MTM it could be costly because you must report those gains even though...

I can believe that!! My biggest connectivity problem is connecting my modem to that oatmeal box with the string.

Yes I've seen them They are worth the price when you consider the alternative. There are several scenarios among the combinations of trader with/without MTM and with gains or losses.

I believe it is too late for your brother to take advantage of MTM of tax year 2000. However, the way I understand it if he elects MTM with his return this year it will become effective with tax year 2001 filed in spring 2002. There is more to MTM than just schedule C. A trader may file...

Well I can't say how much lower we go but I think the Japanese bank fiasco has yet to completely weigh on the market. Consequently, when we do finally bottom I think we go sideways a while..maybe quite a while. That said, it looks as though a few issues may be reaching a point at which I...

Unfortunately he is stuck reporting gains/losses as they happened and limited to deducting only 3k in losses each year. The remainder carried fwd to the next year. If he is going to continue and anticipates another year of losses he should consider electing MTM now for tax year 2001.

Ray; see http://www.greencompany.com for MTM guides. As for your brother; This is a very dangerous time for options trading but above all don't fight the trend.

Baron; thanks, now mine says HIGH =45.01

My data feed showed the VIX at 93.80 @ 0946 ET today. Can someone confirm that or is it just lousy data feed?? Thanks

Finn; best to get it from the horse's............mouth. see http://www.sec.gov/answers/wash.htm _

If you're only looking at 25 trades, just bite the bullet and do the data entry on schedule D. You'll see that there is a space to enter each buy as well as sell. Watch out for Turbo Tax. It is my experience that there are glitches in the program. Each year I swear I'll never use it...

Right ! Let's hope history repeats. But consider that everyone expects AG to lower rates and we are still selling off. I think it's going to take some sort of surprise, like 75-100 bp cut to wake up the buyers. I hope I'm wrong. Luck to all