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Hmm..... Looks like #2 is the full S&P futures ($250 per S&P point). #4 is the e-mini S&P futures ($50 per S&P point).

To clarify: http://www.tradingconceptsinc.com/eminitrading/what_are_emini_futures.shtml SP is the full S&P 500 futures. ES is the e-mini S&P 500 futures.

SPX itself is an index. It is not tradable. (You said "asset"). Did you mean SPY (the ETF) or S&P futures?

Yeah. Just roll it over to the new expiration date. e.g. if you long: sell Mar 09, buy Jun 09 immediately. As long as you have enough margin in your account, you can keep rolling indefinitely. The day-trade margin and overnight margin are a bit different for futures (day-trade: lower...

I believe NSDQ is the symbol for the Nasdaq SuperMontage. http://www.stockwatch.com/stocks/stocks_helper.aspx#exchangecodes (Search for "NSDQ") I don't know what NASD is. Maybe a market maker? I use RealTick and Schwab's StreetSmart Pro and have only seen NSDQ in level II.

"Back and forth"? Is it one or the other - NYSE versus Nasdaq. Does it really matter?

Out of my 15 monitors, only a few of them are identical. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43661&perpage=6&pagenumber=428 Different technologies, makes, models, sizes, colors. Bought at different times over about 9 years. Would I ditch all the existing ones and...

I agree with you entirely TraderZones. One should not rely on getting advices from Internet forums regarding tax matters. Whatever a trader decides to do, it needs to stand up to IRS' audit. One should seek for assistance from accounting professionals. The purpose of my posts is to point...

Interesting question. For US-based brokerage firms, they require a tax payer ID (either Social Security Number or EIN) to open an account. I wonder if they accept foreign nationals to open an account here. My gut feel is "no". When I have time I will chat with some of my brokers. But I...

I am not sure if anybody can advice (without consequences) you whether you have trader status. Take a look at this page and decide for yourself: http://www.fairmark.com/traders/defined.htm Basically there are 2 tests. And I quote:

I think this is the ideal case but unless we are a market maker, wouldn't it be very difficult for individual traders to do, especially with the environment today: penny spread on many popular stocks and higher volatility?

Really? There are approximately 300 million people in USA. That's young/old/baby/men/women included. 3 million day traders. That 1 day trader in every 100 people??? Highly unlikely.

What did you mean by "gamble it all away"? Day 6 you had $71222. Day 1 you had $27031. Gamble it all away: did you mean resetting back to $27031? Or to zero? (How can it be going to zero trading equity?) On Day 6, perhaps you can take out $27031 then even if you "trade it to zero" you...

From what I have read and my conversations with my trader accounting firm: filing with trader status and electing for "Mark To Market" are two different things. Here is one of such pages you can read on the Internet: http://www.traderstatus.com/trader.htm And I quote them: Whether...

I don't think that is what we are talking about here. Form 3115 is for application for change in accounting method. The web page that I referenced specifically said if you file as a trader but NOT electing for "Mark To Market", you report the expenses in Schedule C and the trading gain in...

Where and how do you declare trader status?

Should you report your tax return as a "trader"? That's what I and probably many other traders would like to know. I found the following web page that I think has very good information on filing your return as trader status: http://www.fairmark.com/traders/intro.htm 11 pages. Go...

Marc to Market: Let me ask you for a clarification: Your spreadsheet showed that starting on Day 1, you "End of day balance" was $27031.12. Did you really mean this was your "balance", not your accumulated profit for the year? If this was your balance, that means you started with only...

Thanks for your comments Januszon. Yes I do have my own system developed over the years. It is a discretionary approach. I don't use program trading. My approach got me 140%+ in 2008 while the market was down by 45%. So far this year - 2009 Q1 - I am at 24%. I do trust my approach over...

As envy as United States citizens may be, some countries don't have capital gain tax. I used to work and live in Hong Kong (China now)... capital gain tax from trading stocks and index futures: zero. Maybe following the Brit's system. Income tax: 15% flat from above-exemption to infinity.