I do nothing and start that at 10am. Qball, probably not many caught the "plastic" reference.

 

IMHO:
Stock price too expensive for me. All the cruise lines’ forward bookings are predominantly cancelled-cruise-of-2020 credits. Earnings will only come from ancillary revenue (drinks/excursions/on board up sells). With countries like Grand Cayman throwing people in jail for breaking quarantine, I think 2021 cruise sector earnings are going to be very very weak. I think RCCL did one test cruise and had to return to pier after too many onboard Covids. Without any ships actually cruising yet, it’s too early and too risky for me to jump in. Maybe after summer.

 

I like CCL for the shareholder discount on cruises. I liquidated early this year around 40 as I was consolidating my brokerage accounts. I bought back in around 15 just for the shareholder discount on cruises. My wife likes (or at least used to like) cruising on Princess.

 

-How much are you leveraging your $20,000?
-How do much time does it take reporting 1,700 trades on your tax return?

$75 per week comes out to $3,900 per year, which is a respectable 19.5%. A few days of being the windshield vs the bug can take that down to the mid teens very quickly. An 80% success rate at the often touted 2% monthly returns is 19.2%. You seem to be in the ballpark with the research I've done. I'm still uncertain about the time commitment, bookkeeping requirements and the tax liability of trading outside of a retirement account.


In the past, I've just rolled the covered calls out to the next expiration cycle. You could also buy back the shares after exercise, which creates a CG problem in a taxable account. An exercised ITM option isn't the end of the world. I recently sold FEB 725 CC on a portion of my TSLA position. I'm planning on rolling out to March in about a month.

Thanks for all the TW pointers. There are lots of similarities between thinkorswim and tastyworks. I just figured out that Tom Sosnoff is the connection between the two.

 

Futures and options are 1256 contracts. There is no single trade reporting like there is with individual stocks. You just get a 1099. 60% long term capital gains rate, 40% regular income rate. Get your tax advice from an expert but that is the treatment for options and futures.

 

It sucks. I pay my taxes quarterly, taxed as ordinary income. Paying Uncle Sam and the state 4x/yr sucks. As for the End of year tax, it’s fairly simple. All brokerages I’ve used send a summary of capital gains and that all you need to plug in. They do usually send a statement broken down of all 5000+ trades I’ve done, but ultimately the summary of P/L is all you need

 

Broken stock or broken company? I had the thought as well the other day though. When rationality returns to the world, people are gonna go cruising in droves. They have the money saved. I'll bet prices will soar. But what do I know? dyodd, ymmv, etc etc etc...

 

I am supposed to pay quarterly, but I tell them to pack sand. The money I would waste giving to the .gov makes more in my accounts. I take the penalty. jmho, dyodd, ymmv, etc etc.

I'll bet my return is like yours. My accountant weighs it. To answer the other question somebody asked, I use Ally and they send me a breakdown of all the trades on some tax form. I don't think it actually has to be filed like that though. I'll do some research and edit this if I see something different.

 

FIFY (he types in a polite, respectful manner, not often seen on the interwebs)

I could have been a little more specific in the original tax question. I'm still at the equity option level, I'm saving futures for when I really hate my kids and want to blow their inheritance. Options on equities are not 1256 contracts based on my pilot level understanding of the tax code. Options on ETFs and individual equities are taxed as ST CG. The difference in tax treatment is one reason it may make more sense to sell options on SPX vs SPY (index vs equity). I'll ask my CPA the next time we talk, probably Jan/Feb. It looks like single trade reporting summed up in an annual P/L is the requirement for my trades.

 

You are correct. I didn't even think about options on equities. I only trade options on indices because I like my money. The indices are far less volatile than individual stocks and are more ranging in nature. Even when trending as they are now the indices tend to do it in a controlled way. The 1256 tax treatment is key to keeping gains if you are successful. It can be as much as a 15-20% savings.

I love iron condors on SPX.