For what it's worth:
Most expenses are considered to be hobby expenses unless traded as a business. There are up to 50 expenses that a "business designated" trader can write off... things like data feed to your puter... cable tv.... power supply for puter...
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The more successful an individual is, the higher the tax bracket goes up.
A trader's largest expenses are taxes, whether you LOSE or make money.
A person trading as an individual, (which is classified by the IRS as an INVESTOR) without business designation is subject to the $3000 capital loss rule, meaning, if you lose say, $23,000 you can only write off $3000.
The INVESTOR classification is also subject to wash sales, meaning, if you buy and sell a stock for a loss, you cannot claim that loss if you buy that stock (or derivative) back within 30 days, or, if you owned it 30 days prior. SO, the wonderful $3000 rule doesn't even kick in until all wash sales are calculated. So you can have $23,000 in wash sale losses and actually end up owing Uncle SCAM.
In addition, as an INVESTOR classification, margin expenses can only be deducted if the trades that require margin make money.
Last, writeoffs for INVESTORS are troublesome with the exception of kids, mortgages and charity because the IRS looks at many INVESTOR expenses as hobby expenses. Even with the allowable write offs, the investor is subject to a 2% threshold, meaning, if s/he had say, $100,000 in income, the 1st $2000 cannot be written off... medical expenses have an amazing 7.5% threshold!!
NOW the other plain vanilla designation allowed by Uncle Scam is to be designated as a 'business entity' which includes.......(drum roll please).....
TRADER in SECURITIES election
or
a formal business structure such as a pass through entity which is an LLC or LP.
Or a C Corp, which in my opinion is the top dog.
An S Corp shouldn't be considered here because an S corp has to designate 50% income to payroll.
Back in the 19teens the rich learned to use corporations to their advantage to reduce their taxes by increasing financial flexibility.
Trading with a business election allows the trader to write off EVERYTHING from dime one.
C Corp filing allows for extreme flexibility but has some hoops.
Now I'm sure I'll see the double taxation argument and others but the bottom line is that EVERYONE is an individual who has their own 'thing' going on which basically equates to research and placing yourself within the structure that best suits you.
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This is something I posted elsewhere in et. It may answer some questions or may not but you need to speak to a licensed pro about stuff like this, which I am NOT. Maybe consider looking into some free online seminars about taxes for traders from tax professionals to help guide a suitable path for yourself. -Get a TradeKing account maybe as they have tons of archived online seminars. Also, seeing you don't have a problem with putting in "time", maybe research where and how to set up an entity by yourself and possibly save yourself up to a thousand bucks. Online resources are good as well as books on the subject that you can get from Barnes and Noble. I personally have set up a few entities and it isn't that hard. Delaware LLCs and C corps currently seem to be en vogue with the most benefits.
Also, why "Weezer"? Besides the fact that they're a great band. A buddy of mine had 3 dogs that were all named Weezer... He said it made things easy (he was a bass player)