Ran into this problem again with my daughter’s return. Yes, we trade stock options on her account. SMILE. Come on. It is like printing money. Why wouldn’t you trade, if you can.
I will readily admit that NEGATIVE ‘Total Proceeds’ is esoteric & unusual BUT it happens as I have been moaning about for the last 4 years. Yes, it is counter-intuitive. I will readily grant you that. Yes, it basically says you sold some investment instruments at a negative value. So, how does that happen. This mostly happens with option trading. When you option loses money & then it expires or is bought at a loss.
I confess, often, to being addicted to option trading. That the proceeds are NEGATIVE does NOT mean we are losing money. SMILE. SMILE again. Most times getting a negative return is good — you make some money & get a tax break. SMILE. What can I say. It is all legal.
Free File Fillable Forms might not work for you. Be careful.
When I saw this news I expected to see a BIG drop in the Apple (AAPL) stock price. Yes, I own a fair chunk of Apple stock (which I bought in 2006) — BUT my main interest is that of trading OPTIONS on swings. But, the stock was down, but not majorly. Doesn’t make sense. I don’t like it when stocks & the market defies sense.
Yes, the iPhone 12 is OLD — 3-years? But, I am sure many still own it.
Yes, you can validly argue that given that the phone is OLD, this news doesn’t impact Apple’s current or future revenues. Very true. But this kind of flap damages reputation & credibility. So, that has to have an impact on future revenue. That is why we should have seen a move in the stock.
There has to be a mechanism whereby they can be held ACCOUNTABLE. This was totally irresponsible & utterly reprehensible. There was NO need for this — currently.
This was shouting ‘FIRE’ in a crowded theater. Yes, they caused the markets to stampede — to the exits. That, to be honest, is NOT my gripe. Like all good investors, & especially option traders, I like a GOOD DOWN DAY. I bought more NVDA & made a few (more) bucks rolling options. But, people, decent people, lost a lot of money today — & some would have panicked.
This was, as some eagerly pointed out this morning on CNBC, nothing but Fitch trying to get 15-minutes of ‘glory’. Shameless. Pathetic company.
There has to be a way that they can be punished for this irresponsible act.
I saw the above yesterday. IT is very dramatic in that it CLEARLY shows a $0.00 Cost Basis!
It is basically saying you incurred a $2,000 loss without buying anything. Isn’t that cool.
NO, no it isn’t my 1099. Mine has MORE DIGITS. Smile. Yes, mine, IF I am lucky can have NEGATIVE signs too, but, ALAS, not for the last 2 years. {NOT SMILING} But, if I am really careful & canny I might be able to get back to negative numbers this year. SMILE.
I just wanted to SHOW you this because many wouldn’t believe me IF I told them of the counter-intuitive 1099s us option traders get.
Click to ENLARGE. From ‘Fidelity’ through my account.
Kid you NOT. That is an actual screenshot of what I saw … TODAY.
So, after December 2025, the next options are in 2126. I am sure I will NOT be around. That, however, did NOT stop me from TRYING to get some. 103-years out. Beyond a SUPER LEAP. Wow.
Scary. Is the market THAT bad that we need to be looking 103-years out.
Another video that might provide some background, insights & color.
I do my best to avoid watching TV ads. I either change channels (& then come back) or (more often) Fast Forward because I am invariably watching TV on a slight delay. {That works well, because that lets me FF over Ads. (SMILE) (There is, ALWAYS, method to my madness.}
As it happens I glimpsed the end of this Ad as I was Fast Forwarding. The imagery of all those LIT JARS, even in FF, was powerful & arresting. It stopped me in my tracks! Every Ad creators dream. Getting a punter that hooked. I was captivated. I had to stop & rewind.
I, as an avid (near daily) option trader, am v. familiar with ‘CME Group‘. Plus, I see them or hear of them near daily on CNBC — the TV channel I watch most often. So, I didn’t need an introduction to them, their products or their ‘goals’.
“Opportunities can be hard to find. Like catching lightning in a bottle.”
That is the premise of this Ad. Clever. Well, it served its purpose. It got me to stop & watch. Actually it did MORE. It got me to talk about it! Wow! That is beyond the dreams of Ad. creators. Word of mouth {or in this case ‘Word of blog’}.
Well, it is cute & clever, & as you know I like to share such stuff with YOU. Enjoy.
Click to ENLARGE. From ‘Fidelity’ through my account.Click to ENLARGE. From ‘Fidelity’ through my account.
These are called ‘Leap Options’. They go out 2-years and come out around the 3rd week in September each year.
I was expecting them, & went looking for them today. I expected to see option prices at least as high as $200. NOPE. I tripled checked. Option pricing stops at $200. Yes, that is $86 higher than today’s closing price (viz., $113.78). Yes, that will be a 75% increase as of today — BUT that really isn’t that much, based on history, for AMZN. That is 846-days away — 2.3 years out.
What this says is that BASED on current market sentiments the option pricing folks do NOT expect AMZN to increase by more than 75%. That is SCARY.
As the second image shows this is very different to the pricing for January 2024. Those go up to $270. But, those prices were set in 2021.
What this says is that market sentiment has really soured. SCARY.
Click to ENLARGE. From ‘Fidelity‘.Click to ENLARGE. This was the ‘0.00’ pricing until markets closed on Monday, 7/18/2022.
I was not surprised since this was also what happened post AMZN split in June — option trading had to wait until Tuesday. So, ditto GOOG. I had told you that this will most likely be the case. Anywho, the options are now repriced, if not activates. You can see they grayed out. They look good. I can’t wait.
I already trade AMZN, TSLA, NVDA, ROKU, AAPL, NIO, JD, PLUG etc. etc. options. Now I can add GOOG to this august list. SMILE. My addiction. Option trading makes me happy.
So, here is to tomorrow. Let GOOG, post-split, option trading begin. Enjoy.
Click to ENLARGE & study. Base graph from ‘MarketWatch.com‘ (with thanks).
The most unusual feature is that the split price was 12% LOWER than the stock price the day the 20-to-1 split was announced. That is highly unusual. The price should have gone up.
As you can clearly see from the above graph the price did, indeed, initially go up. That was what was expected. Then it tanked.
Yes, of course, the tanking of the price was due to the interest rate hikes & the fear of inflation.
It was also interesting that there was no flurry of buying prior to the so-called (nominal) ex-split day, i.e., May 27, 2022. Folks finally appeared to have taken heed of my comments that there is NO ex-split day per se other than today, June 3, 2022 — the last day of trading.
Instead we saw the price go up Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday of this week. That made sense & was par for the course. It was down 2.5% today, the last day, BUT there was two reasons for that: overall market conditions & folks taking profits knowing that they have a chance to buy the cheaper split stock on Monday.
So, the split did NOT help increase AMZN price — THOUGH we all know that AMZN price would be much lower IF NOT for the split. So, that is a relief.
I have been long AMZN for 10-years now! SMILE. Yep.
I doubt whether I will ever sell my AMZN holding! I option trade against my stock. As of Monday I will have 20 times MORE OPTIONS — quite literally! I am sanguine. I am cool. I keep on smiling. I am sure that this time next year AMZN will be around $180 IF not higher. Mark my word.
Click to ENLARGE. From ‘Fidelity’. YES, you can have a NEGATIVE ‘Total Proceeds’. This is PROOF.
I will readily admit that NEGATIVE ‘Total Proceeds’ is esoteric & unusual BUT it happens as I have been moaning about for the last 3 years. Yes, it is counter-intuitive. I will readily grant you that. Yes, it basically says you sold some investment instruments at a negative value. So, how does that happen. This mostly happens with option trading. When you option looses money & then it expires or is bought at a loss.
I confess, often, to being addicted to option trading. Other than red wine, sex & walking it is my ONLY addiction. As addictions go, this is NOT bad. The option trading HANDILY covers the red wine & more. SMILE. That the proceeds are NEGATIVE does NOT mean I am losing money. SMILE. SMILE again. Most times getting a negative return is good — you make some money & get a tax break. SMILE. What can I say. It is all legal. Some may say it is complicated, but it is second nature to I. I average at least one option trade a day — on the days the markets are open. SMILE. What can I say. I said I was addicted. It also pays for my red wine & … & … & … SMILE.
Well, it is true that most people in my situation do NOT bother with the FREE File Fillable Forms. They will use an account or a paid service.
The paid services, i.e., TurboTax, H&R Block etc., are a pain to use! They ask so, so, so many questions.
Yes, as with options I know my way around IRS forms. SMILE.
I don’t need handholding. I know where to put what. IF it can do some sums for me, so much the better.
That is why I used to like Free File Fillable Forms.
However, I have not been able to use it for the last 3 years.
Like I said, I do know my way around & I have access to both Excel & a calculator. What more do I need.
This year, I fashioned an Excel spreadsheet to work out my Capital Gains taxes. I first did it by hand & then used the spreadsheet to check my math. Glad I did so. Found one mistake smile.
So, just a HEADS UP.
Free File Fillable Forms might not work for you. Be careful.
