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After many years as an investor, I've been seriously day trading for almost 10 years. Each year has resulted in more trading and a longer Schedule D which I have always done myself w/o an IRS problem. Although I didn't prepare my return properly, the taxable amount was correct. IOW, if I had...

AZD, Yes, there are plenty of high yielding stocks out there. And I totally agree that risk of owning them in this environment is too high for the yield... and probably in any environment since I'm just not a believer in bogus buy and hold bill of goods that has been sold to the public. How...

And I favor trading equities now. But it makes no difference what he or I think because he's doing what's best for him and likewise, me. You have to find the niche that suits you. That sure sounds familiar. I've had plenty of weeks where I've been totally burned out from trading by Friday...

Hi Mark, There have been some small modifications to the Pattern Day Trader rules (PDT) since the melt down las tlast summer. I'm not up to date with them so this won't be 100% accurate. The minimum in the account must be 25k. If below that, you're in violation and will be...

If you're not aware of it, IB has a program called DDE that will allow your Excel to be updated with real time quotes. So you can write anything that you want in Excel and be LIVE. I don't know what you're looking for or if/where they are available but chances are, you might look for...

While some of those exist, for every one of them there's probably a coupla hundred dead fish in the same barrel. IOW, the internet is full of people with an agenda, trying to sell you advice, usually bad.

Hey Pizza Boy :) This probably won't help you but my game plan has been to just trade away and keep pulling cash out of my account as I make it and put it in those one star FDIC insured banks that pay the highest rates (circa 3%) Coincidentally, I was E-mail chatting about your dilemma...

If possible, I would like to file my 2008 return electronically because my schedule D is a monster (in pages). I went to the IRS web site and they offer free E-file if you have an AGI of less than $56,000. I'm above that. http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html At the...

While an option coach can't hurt, I don't think that it's the key to trading success. Your math skils and a solid working knowledgeof all aspects of options (your readings) will go a long way to helping you get there. But equally important being able to be manage risk and an ability react to...

Hey Mark, While it may sound backwards, I trade not to lose. When I began concentrating on limiting my losses, my overall performance and consistency improved dramatically. I must have had 100's of trades last year that made or lost under $10. The oldest adage in the book is sooo true...

If you're good at timing, you can do just about whatever you want :) I think that a lot of people look at a strategy and choose it because of certain characteristics. In isolation, that's fine. But I think that the big picture is to determine your outlook and select the strategy that...

There's no way to "lock in" a 12% profit since there's always a scenario where an option strategy loses. In a merger arb it could be the deal falling apart or another suitor coming along or a negative reaction to the acquirer, etc.

You want a stock that's going to move toward the outside stock in your time frame and likely to maintain it's IV or increase. In general, it's not a great strategy since you have slippage on 4 legs and require significant movement. If you want to get a bit more entertaining, take a look...

All of this is all true about spreads. IV change affects ITM and OTM spreads differently. But IV change has very little effect on equivalent spreads. Since one is for a credit and the other is for a debit, what one gains, the other one loses, so give or take a few cents, both positions...

OK, here's my guess as to what's going on. Last year the OCC began a new way of doing certain types of adjustments. Wiith the new way, you can no longer compare the stock price with the strike to tell if it's in or out of the money. If that's the case here, you have to multiply the stock...

Technically, for most of these peeps it is a LEAP (of faith) into a LEAPS option.

LOL. I would never waste my time on an open position for a penny. But then again, it's your time :)

The reason that the calls didn't go up as much as expected was because AAPL reported earnings after the close on 1/21. So while the options were going up because the stock was rising 5+ pts, IV was contracting. The reason for the Mar call dropping more on Friday than the Feb was that the Mar...

LEAPS give you more time to be wrong :)

Well, ya never know. BAC IV could like well maybe double like to say maybe 750 or something, ya know? (Valley Girl stare)