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To: CodeToad
That’s not how the math works. Day traders can make a lot of money. They don’t pay the taxes as they make every trade.

The math is the math. A day trader may not pay taxes every time they execute a trade, but the taxes will eventually have to be paid at some point.

If I buy $10,000 worth of Amazon shares and then sell it later when the value reaches $15,000, I have a capital gain of $5,000 to report on my tax return. If I held the asset for more than a year I'm paying at a long-term capital gains tax rate of 20% in the highest tax bracket. If I held it for less than a year, I'm paying an ordinary income tax rate on the gain -- which could be as high as 35% in 2020.

When you add in the cost of the transactions themselves (brokerage fees and commissions), the actual gain shrinks even further.

72 posted on 02/16/2020 8:22:17 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey.")
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To: Alberta's Child

“The math is the math”

Well, I guess that settles that. Way to go!


73 posted on 02/16/2020 8:23:33 AM PST by CodeToad (Arm Up! They Have!)
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