TradeLog Blog

The 2014 tax season is rapidly coming to an end, and many stock and option traders are scrambling to complete an accurate IRS Form 8949 for reporting their capital gains and losses on Schedule D. Misinformation abounds when it comes to trader taxes. What do you need to know?

One sentence changes everything. You may think completing Form 8949 for Schedule D is pretty straight forward, but the majority of active traders are affected by one instruction which has some massive implications. We'll reveal this instruction and explain three situations in which it affects most traders. And we'll tell you about the implications you need to be aware of.

The June 9th AAPL stock split affects many TradeLog users. Our support team has put together these specific instructions to help you easily adjust for the split of stock and option positions in your TradeLog trade history.

TradeLog offers a range of useful filters for trade analysis. In this second part of our series of tips, you will learn about simple Find functions that will help you quickly isolate certain types of securities or certain types of records.

If you finished your 2013 trader tax reporting with TradeLog, congratulations! But before you forget about 2013 completely, there are a few things we recommend you do in order to avoid any future disasters.

Every year we have users of TradeLog contact us because their hard drive crashed, their computer was stolen, they accidentally deleted (or just can't find) their data files, or their files somehow became corrupted. When events like these occur, it can be extremely difficult to restore what was lost. And since you may have had positions and wash sale deferrals carried over from one tax year to the next, that information is critical in order to complete your next tax year accurately!

Our support staff has three suggestions that may protect you in case such a disaster strikes:

If you're like most traders, technology is something you need, but not something you should have to worry about. What traders really need is an ultra-fast, reliable computer to handle all their trading needs - from running trading platforms to TradeLog software. What makes a computer reliable and fast? We asked Eddie Z of EZ Trading Computers to help us answer that question and provide some of the minimum requirements for a good trading computer. Here are the four features he explained:

2014 is here, which means it is time to start thinking about filing 2013 taxes - not the most exciting task, we know.

The good news is there are no major changes to IRS requirements this year! But there are some updates to IRS forms and instructions as well as other important information you should know. In this post we have put together a collection of information active traders need to know, as well as links to many resources available to help active traders with tax reporting.

Trading, to some, is synonymous with financial gain... with others, financial loss. It is an aspect of the financial sector that the average American knows little about. One of the biggest reasons for this unfamiliarity can be broken down to one factor: Fear. There are lots of things to be afraid of in life, but the reason for most fears is just simply not understand the object of the fear, in this case trading. Most people look at the stock market and financial decisions and want to run and hide. The fear of making a mistake is so inherent that they do not make a choice which in reality is a choice all its own.

TradeLog contains powerful filters that are often overlooked by software users. Learning to use these filters can be practical and exciting. You can tap into virtually endless possibilities for filtering your trade history data, and then use that filtered data for analysis and reporting. In this series of TradeLog Tips we'll show you how to use the various filters. The first one we will highlight is the Find>Ticker filter function.

Many people assume that trading during retirement is a desirable option purely because of the financial profits. Trading during retirement allows one ample time to keep up with financial news, potential stocks to pick up and general trading topics in order to plan and execute a solid strategy, and thus make the most of your investments. If this pursuit fits your personal interests and passions, consider the following compelling reasons to continue or learn to trade during retirement.