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Your broker will very likely allow you to export your trade list into
one or more of many formats, including GainsKeeper or TradeLog.
GainsKeeper: http://www.gainskeeper.com/
TradeLog: http://www.armencomp.com/gtt-tradelog.html
Interactive Brokers exports both of the above formats, and more. IB
also has a very primitive equity chart that really is not very useful.
However, IB will generate full reports for any date range you select,
including a Mark to Market report that you could hand off to an
accountant.
Assuming that you are in the U.S., both GainsKeeper and TradeLog can
generate custom reports (text based), track "wash sales" and generate
your Schedule D tax form for you. If you have a professional
accountant, some will accept the raw data file and do all your taxes
from that source.
I have used GainsKeeper in the past and was very pleased with them.
Nice clean presentation, flexible custom reporting, responsive web
site, easy uploading of files (that were exported from your broker)
and excellent customer service.
My accountant accepts TradeLog raw data from which to produce a tax
return, rather than me having to use GainsKeeper or my broker to
generate reports. For that reason alone, I have switched over to
TradeLog (the easier I can make my life, the better). I have not yet
spent enough time with TradeLog to give a review.
Once you hit this level of trading, the thing that becomes an issue is
wash sales (if trading in the U.S.). Both of the above products will
handle wash sale reporting for you. More importantly, if you trade at
this frequency, and with sufficient volume, you may qualify for
"Trader Tax Status" in the eyes of the IRS (even if you are not a full
time trader) which will allow you to elect "Mark To Market
accounting". Similarly, you may opt to form an entity (i.e. a
business) for your trading. An accountant specializing in trading can
help here.
I use Green & Company as my accountants. They specialize in taxes for
traders and have CPA's located around the U.S. All interaction is
handled via the web, email, phone, fax and courier. They can also help
you to form an entity for your business. They are not cheap, but did a
good job.
Green Trader Tax: http://www.greencompany.com/
Robert Green published a very informative book on U.S. tax
considerations for traders, including information on wash sales, mark
to market accounting, and the formation of entities. Whether or not
you go with Green & Co., the book is a wise investment:
http://www.greencompany.com/Traders/Guides.shtml
Hope that helps.
Mike
--- In amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Ken Close" <ken45140@xxx> wrote:
>
> Google searches produce nothing useful, so I would like to ask this
question
> of frequent swing and day traders: what software do you use to
track trade
> results (closed trades especially but also open trades)? Does it
include
> calculation and display of a total resulting equity curve? Does it
help in
> any way for collecting and exporting reports for use at tax time?
Does it
> integrate with Amibroker or is standalone? Please note that I am
not asking
> about the backtesting and resulting listing of trades and their
statistics
> in Amibroker, but rather the recording of real trades made and
closed over
> time.
>
> As background to the questions, as I consider a more frequent
trading system
> compared to mutual funds and positions held for many weeks if not
multiple
> months, one that might make trades lasting weeks at most and perhaps
only
> days, my mind boggles at the recordkeeping involved. With potential
trade
> volumes in the 10 to 30 per week, the data entry starts to seem
formidible.
> Surely some (many?) on this list do this all the time, and I would
> appreciate knowing something about your recordkeeping system(s), not
your
> timing systems (:-o).
>
> Now before TJ jumps in here, I just reviewed the AB Account Manager
Help
> page. This seems like it is what I am asking for, but I wonder if
anyone
> uses it for their real work, and if its "limitations" (one level of
undo,
> chronological entry order, not clear whether reports can be exported
or not)
> inhibit it for the purpose I am asking about. If you use something
else, it
> must offer benefits pveer the built-in Account Manager---what are
they?
>
> Is this enough information for you to respond? Thanks for sharing.
>
> Ken
>
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