Lee W

Today, someone in the chat asked if DAS has the ability to show an alert when certain criteria is met. The answer: YES! To set a price alert, for example, do this: Go to Tools > Alert & Trigger. A window will open. Click Add Alert. Another window will open. Give your alert a name and enter the ticker in the SecSym box. Click ADD. A window will open. Enter the criteria. For this one, I used "last sale" is "greater than or equal to" $176.27. Click OK. Be sure to enable the sound features you want. If you want the DAS man to speak to you, be sure the first box is checked. You can click PREVIEW to hear a sample. We also have this video that shows what I've explained. It's a short video, so give it a watch. Thanks to Brendon D for finding the video.

James, Try going into the ConfigEx of that study and uncheck "include in scale." right click chart click Study Config click the study you want to change click ConfigEx uncheck the box Give that a shot.

Green Trader Tax seems to be the most well-known firm in the trading community. I referenced some of Robert Green's material in this thread. Here is the site: https://www.greentradertax.com/ You can set up a phone consultation with him to determine your needs. I don't think PDT has anything to do with taxes. Perhaps you're thinking of Trader Tax Status. In order to deduct all of the items (such as scanners, hardware, education, etc) like in a small business, you have to be Trader Tax Status. That is referenced in this thread, as well.

Ercilia, I have been given permission to use the BearBull logo and similar content to make cups, shirts, etc. My girlfriend owns an Etsy shop that makes and sells such items. She made the cup in the photo a few posts up. I think I'll have her make a sample shirt and I'll post it here. We will have the items on her site, too. I'll make a new forum post once those items are in her Etsy shop.

I've been researching this, as well. I've searched for disadvantages of electing MTM, but haven't found much. I have read that if you ever wish to revoke the election, you have to get consent from the IRS, which could be difficult. I'm not sure why it would be that way, but that's what I've read. I think the real issue is proving you are Trader Tax Status. I've read countless situations where traders have had a lot of trades throughout the year, but it was deemed they were not trader status. If you don't have any other job, it certainly becomes easier to prove, though. The YouTube video presented by Robert Green of Green Trader Tax discusses this in detail. In the example you mentioned, if someone has $15,000 in losses, the ability to deduct that is only an issue if you don't have the equivalent or more in gains. You can deduct your losses against gains, and then apply a max of $3,000 of losses against ordinary income. So if someone had losses of $15,000 in a year but gains of $20,000, they have a net gain of $5,000. I'm interested if you find anything more about MTM. I'll continue to research and will share my findings, too.

Lots of info here, too: http://www.tradelogsoftware.com/resources/wash-sales/

Ok gotcha. I had a feeling that was the case since you mentioned you started in November. Good deal.

Mike, I’m curious what you mean. How did the wash rule get you? I’m familiar with it and have reported a few wash sales over the years, but it doesn’t seem all that bad. I suppose there are instances where you can’t deduct the loss, but once the position is closed and you’re out of it for 30 days, it seems as though you ultimately can deduct the loss. See here: Wash Rule explained My understanding with regard to trading expenses is that you can deduct your expenses as long as you are Trader Tax Status. You don’t need to elect MTM for that. The Green Trader Tax site has a wealth of info on all of this. This video also talks about a lot of it. It is over an hour long, but it contains a ton of great info. It is definitely worth a watch & listen.

Many of us use or plan to use Interactive Brokers. If you’re using TurboTax (online version), IB is not a partner of TurboTax. Therefore, all of the transactions won’t directly upload into your filing. I very recently discovered some good news regarding the above. Interactive Brokers is now listed as a partner for downloading 1099 info directly into TurboTax online. I’m not yet certain if it will contain all of the transactions for Form 8949 or if it will just be the basic 1099 information. Here is the link that shows TurboTax as a partner. Also, I found TurboTax listed as a Third Party Service in the Account Settings of Interactive Brokers. TurboTax partner list This could make things a lot easier when tax time rolls around.

When I look at an IB activity report, it doesn’t break down the commission. It shows the total commission for each trade; no breakdown of ECN, regulatory, commission. IB told me they don’t normally show a breakdown of the commission. If you want it, they can get it for you, but it is only given upon request. Good news... I was able to figure out how to see the commission breakdown from IB. If you create a custom activity statement, choose "commission details" in the Sections (you select whichever Sections you want in your report), and then run that statement, you'll see the breakdown, including Broker Charges (execution, clearing) and Third Party Charges (execution, clearing, transaction fee), and Other.

Uncle B, I am currently on the fixed commission plan with IB and I've noticed that the commissions are less expensive than what my original calculations showed. Soon, I'll switch to the tiered plan so I can get a better comparison. My original calculation for the fixed plan calculated $.005/share and added the ECN fees as shown in the DAS Account Report. I've had difficulty determining whether or not the ECN fee is included in the fixed tier. Some say yes, some say no. When I look at an IB activity report, it doesn't break down the commission. It shows the total commission for each trade; no breakdown of ECN, regulatory, commission. IB told me they don't normally show a breakdown of the commission. If you want it, they can get it for you, but it is only given upon request. Allow me to track this a bit more and then I'll be happy to share. At this point, it isn't conclusive. Thanks!!

I'm pretty sure everything Robert is saying is correct. My IB account shows 4 times my cash equity as the buying power. Nevertheless, I started researching this just to gain some more insight. I found a few links that have lots of information, although this may confuse the matter more. Hopefully not. https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=3983#23 http://www.finra.org/investors/day-trading-margin-requirements-know-rules https://www.sec.gov/files/ib_marginaccounts.pdf https://www.sec.gov/files/daytrading.pdf Perhaps some of the above information will help. Otherwise, I'd suggest calling IB to speak with one of their customer service reps so you can get a better understanding of how it all works.

Thank you for the information, Uncle B! Hugely informative and helpful. Thanks, Carlos, for bringing this up. It is important to have power backup and a plan to manage everything should something happen. .

They’ve got it right, but I’ll add a little to it as I was speaking with DAS today about this. If you change the global order configuration (setup menu, order template), you have to make sure to check the “use global” box when you right click the montage and go to order template. Either way you do it, if you have an account chosen in the order template, it will always default to that account when you click a symbol, assuming you have the account set for the exchange on which that symbol is traded. So if you set the default as your U account from IB, then you change it in the montage to trade your demo account, it will switch back to the U account (the default) when you click another symbol. To avoid this, don’t choose an account in the template. Leave it blank. When you choose it in the montage, it will stay that way until you change it again in the montage.

I don’t see why it wouldn’t. If you want to test it without sending the order, change the end to LOAD instead of SEND. It will create the order in the montage but won’t execute it.

Someone asked in the chat last week how to create a hotkey that would buy a position based on a certain percentage of your available Buying Power (BP). At first, I created this with the script wizard in DAS, but it wasn't calculating correctly. I sought help from the chat and it has been figured out. Thanks to Robert H for figuring it out. I'm still not sure why the script wizard doesn't do it correctly, but whatever. Let's say you want a hotkey that buys a position based on 30% of your available Buying Power. So if your current available BP is $100,000, 30% is $30,000. I created CTRL+3 for that. Here is the script: ROUTE=SMRTL;Price=Ask+0.05;Price=Round2;Share=BP*0.3;TIF=DAY+;BUY=Send If you wanted one that buys based on 10% of your BP, then: ROUTE=SMRTL;Price=Ask+0.05;Price=Round2;Share=BP*0.1;TIF=DAY+;BUY=Send Please note that these two scripts also contain the rule to limit the price to no more than 5 cents above the ASK. You can adjust as necessary. I've marked in bold the part of the script that controls the # of shares based on a percentage of the Buying Power.

If they’re all compressed, perhaps try right-click, then click auto-fit.

This is interesting. I know a few people here are using the StreamDeck. I wonder how they compare. It looks like you have to print labels for the buttons whereas the buttons on the Stream Deck are programmed to show what you want. I think I like the full customizability of the Stream Deck more. This does look like a good and less expensive alternative, though.

I opened my account online last week and I wasn’t sure if the application would ask. It didn’t. Once I logged in and went to Account Management>Settings, I was able to see that it was on the Fixed plan. I assume that’s their default. It is simple to change right there.

Great! Glad you got it worked out!

Did you save the desktop when you closed DAS? If you didn't, but you already had the desktop saved previously, it should open everything like it was set before. If you go to the menus at the top, Trade>Orders. That should open the Orders window. Let us know if that works.

SMRT is the default route for IB. SMRTL is limit. SMRTM is market.

Excellent! Glad I was able to assist!

I use the hot buttons in the montage, but I do believe the scripts work the same for hot buttons and hot keys. I have a hot button that does exactly what you're asking. I simply enter the shares into the field in the montage and then click the button. The script for my button is: Price=Ask+.05;TIF=DAY+;Buy=Send; I suspect if you create a hot key with the same script, it should work the same as my button.

I searched for a while for this answer. Robbie comes through! Thanks so much, Robbie!