Hi Ahnuld,

I'm not really a day-trader but I do a fair number of trades a week. Typically, calculating taxes becomes a major hassle, but it's really simply a tally of gains-losses. Many brokers will automatically send you the tally of capital gains, which as you know are considered taxable income. It's no big deal, although sometimes getting an accountant to help you is a good idea, especially if you have many transactions to consider.

There are always things you have to take into account, namely long-term (> 1 yr.) vs. short-term gains, which are taxed differently depending on the income bracket you find yourself in, "wash-sale" rules, etc...

In short, though, taxes should not be an overriding consideration in deciding whether to hold or sell a stock, unless you are long-term buy-and-hold. Especially with volatile mo-mo stocks, it is not worth it to hold it through a massive sell-off just for saving money on taxes...

Please e-mail me if you have any other questions.

Regards,
Charles
--cyc