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The way the bill is written, the tax is "per transaction" and is levied on the venue (i.e. the exchange). A transaction from the exchange's view is a matched purchase + sale pair, so it is likely the tax would be 0.25% per round turn. But the wording is vague enough that the government and...

It's easier than that. As rluser noted, there is a directory named IBJts (for browser based) or Jts (for standalone). Within that, are subdirectories with nonsense names like darykq (that's the one for edemo). There will be one such for each login you have ever used. Within that...

I see that a lot. Sometimes the inside bid and ask change together with no fills going through. A few years ago I heard of a fellow who was feeling bored/frustrated one day and decided to flash some serious size. Somebody filled him, and unwinding the trade put him out of business.

Holding period does not affect wash sale rules, only whether you re-purchase within 30 days. Note that wash sales only affect your taxes if you own/re-purchase in the new year. Regarding electing MTM accounting, the deadline for 2009 was April 15th. You can form an entity (e.g. LLC), but...

Could it be that the OP was asking the wrong serious question?

I just ran the numbers, and 4% per month is 60.1% per year (with monthly compounding). Is that not good enough for you? I don't know any money managers who do that well consistently. Could your numbers be off?

OK, I apologize for my rather snarky post. I detest all these political rants on ET and long for a more rational discussion. For people who are opposed to "Obamacare", you might take a look at some of David Frum's opinion pieces. For those not familiar with David Frum, he was an economic...

Did you actually READ that article? I did, and I did not see even one mention of Social Security.

This is a common misconception. The U.S. is the only country with such a visa that does not require companies to hire its citizens first. The only requirements are that the company must give citizens equal opportunity to apply and must pay the "prevailing wage". The hiring company gets to...

I agree totally on both counts. Under the proposed tax, your total tax would be based on the value of the stock and the frequency of trading. With lower priced stocks, presumably you would trade more shares. I think it is way too soon to start planning contingencies. It is my understanding...

I don't really have an opinion, but I tend to be a bit skeptical about stock price data going back to the 19th century. The basic problem I have with long-term investing is that by the time you have usable feedback, you're dead.

When you buy cheap stocks, you should consider that they may be on their way to becomming free (i.e. non-survivors). If your database does not contain stocks that are no longer traded (because the company merged or went out of business), your test results will be unrealistically optimistic...

I was a computer programmer in a prior lifetime, and my preference is to use the computer to test everything I do. The challenge in value investing is to get enough data and data that is clean enough. In my opinion, only the Compustat Point-in-Time (PIT) database makes the grade...

I have a stockbroker friend who keeps trying to interest me in value investing. I have looked at it, but it just doesn't suit my needs. I am a trader, not an investor. I also think value investing is harder than it looks because value stocks tend to be quite sensitive to bear markets. That...

For my tick data, I use BLOBs (binary large objects). In my case, these are tables of transactions written to a flat file in binary format. For the index futures, they take about 4gb per day per contract. The BLOBs very fast to process.

You know you're in trouble when you find yourself in deep pholosophical conversations with telemarketers ... or the cat.

You didn't say how you routed the order or what kind of quote stream you are viewing. I will assume you are using SMART routing and Level 1 (or equivalent). The price you see may be on a secondary market (i.e. an ECN), or it may be a print of a trade made off-exchange or earlier in the...

That's it ... you share the profits, and the losses are all yours. If I were going to trade prop, I would probably check out Bright Trading in Las Vegas. They're not the cheapest, but size and integrity are important, and I haven't heard any really bad things about them.

"Prop" is proprietary trading, meaning the use of company (as distinguished from customer) capital. There are a few prop firms that supply all capital, but most require the trader to make a deposit that protects the firm from losses. That "guaranteed capital" is simply a form of hidden...

I recommend using somebody who specializes in taxation for traders. It will probably not cost any more, and it is more likely to be right. Find somebody who works via Internet, fax, and phone. I am guessing you will pay $600-800 per return, but should not have to go over about $1200. I have...