Suggestions on handing for futures trading entries

jasonb885

Hi,

I've been dabbling in futures trading, and at Schwab, an entered and exited futures position intra-day shows up as a "Sweep to Futures". This can be a realized gain or a realized loss.

Any suggestions on how best to handle this?

Thank you.

NotACPA

Why don't Buys and Sells of appropriate securities work?

And, assuming you continue, Q isn't really designed for high volume trading, and don't be surprised if you start running into problems.

jasonb885

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20530210#Comment_20530210

Because it shows up as just a deposit with a "sweep" memo. It is a deposit/withdrawal transaction. There's no security entry as a buy/sell. This seems to be how Schwab codes intra-day futures positions that open and close the same day.

NotACPA

SO, you haven't tried recording Buys and Sells, even though they ARE securities transactions? Is that right?

And, what's the specific problem with what's downloading?

jasonb885

It doesn't download as a securities transaction. Schwab transmits it as a Payment/Deposit for the totality of the futures positions entered and exited for that day. One trade or 50, one commodity or 50. If I'm in and out intra-day, I get this transaction for my net that day.

So I'm curious if there's some useful way to categorize this since I'll have either a debit or credit for the day. Is it an Income category on winning days and an expensive category on losing days? Maybe that's the best way to track it. I don't know, so I thought I'd ask.

Thanks.

jacobs

 I'm curious if there's some useful way to categorize this since I'll have either a debit or credit for the day. Is it an Income category on winning days and an expensive category on losing days? Maybe that's the best way to track it.

I wouldn't use two different categories for the days with gains and the days with losses; I would pick income or expense based on what the typical grand total is over a year. So if it's generally an expense, then use that, and the days with gains will have a "negative expense".

Is Quicken making the Payee name "Sweep to Futures"? If so, you can create a QuickFill rule for this Payee name and assign it the category you select, so all your similar transactions will automatically be categorized to the same, correct category.

NotACPA

And just what is this "Futures" account at Schwab? Is it cash only, which you seem to be suggesting, or is it an investments account that holds the actual trades?

And why can't you setup in Q an (if necessary, Offline) account to hold the actual trades? Wouldn't you need/want that info for tax reporting? OR, you could follow @jacobs suggestion that will give you the $ totals