How the market usually moves by weekday and by time of day. Filter for NFP weeks to see how those weeks tend to play out.
Built from the Session cycle you log in each Day wrap (times in ET). Uses the week, range and day filters above. Sunday evening moves (after the 6 PM open) go on a Sunday day wrap.
Each square is a 30-minute window, placed at the breakout candle (the entry). Color shows how often the move reached its target before its stop: green mostly yes, red mostly no, gray not decided within 4 hours. Fainter squares have fewer examples. The bottom row is your own trades by entry time. Patterns come from the 5M charts you import in Day wrap and use the market, week, range and day filters above.
How futures in your own account are taxed and where you can save. Not tax advice; confirm with a CPA before you file.
Futures in your personal account already get one of the best tax deals in trading. Your main levers are good records and lowering your taxable income through your day job.
60/40 rule. NQ futures are Section 1256 contracts. However short the trade, 60% of your net gain is taxed at the long-term capital gains rate and 40% at your normal rate. A stock day trader pays the normal rate on everything.
No self-employment tax. Gains from trading your own money aren't self-employment income, unlike prop payouts.
Simple reporting. Tradovate sends a 1099-B with one net number. It goes on Form 6781.
Year-end rule. A position still open on December 31 is taxed as if you closed it that day.
Use a losing year. If a year ends with a net futures loss, you can choose to carry it back up to 3 years against earlier futures gains and get a refund. Otherwise losses offset other gains, plus up to $3,000 a year of regular income, and the rest carries forward.
Put more into your 401(k) at work. Trading gains don't count as earned income, so they can't fund an IRA by themselves. Your W-2 pay can. Raising your 401(k) contribution lowers the income taxed alongside your trading gains.
Pay estimated taxes on big gains. Or raise your withholding at work, so you don't owe a penalty in April.
Don't count on deducting expenses. Charting, data and courses are only deductible with trader tax status, which needs trading to be close to a full-time business. With a full-time job that's hard to prove.
| Prop payouts | Your Tradovate account | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxed as | Self-employment income (1099-NEC) | 60/40 capital gains (1099-B) |
| Self-employment tax | Yes, about 15.3% | No |
| Expense write-offs | Usually yes (eval fees, data, platform) | Usually no |
| Retirement plan from it | Solo 401(k) or SEP IRA | No, use your work 401(k) |
Roth IRA: no deduction now, but it grows tax-free. 2026 limit $7,500 ($8,600 at 50+), full contribution for single filers under $153,000 of income.
Nasdaq: Section 1256 contracts, what they are and how to report
Schwab: Tax strategies for traders
Traders Second Brain: Are prop firm fees tax deductible?
Collective: 2026 self-employed retirement plan limits
Tick what's in front of you before you get in.
Trades missing something your stats need are flagged here automatically. Fix them in the editor, let the log fill in what it can work out from numbers you already saved, or release an item with a written reason.
Changes the colors everywhere. It follows you to any device you open the log on.
Which Forex Factory folders to keep. The evening update saves the ones ticked here (USD only), and your log shows the same ones. Events you add yourself always show. Treasury auctions are always kept.
Turn off to hide the auto-found chart patterns from the ledger. They stay saved, and the Patterns tab still uses them.
The smallest move the CSV import counts as a leg, in points, per market. Anything smaller is part of a range. Blank lets each import set it from the file: 3× the typical 5-minute bar range, about three normal candles, so it tracks that market's own volatility (around 55–60 on NQ lately). The import dialog remembers the last value you used here too.
Alpha compares each day's P&L (as a % of your capital base) with how the markets you traded moved that day, close to close. Prices are saved automatically every weekday evening.
One file with everything: trades, days, news, cycles, prices, settings, rules and study cards (chart pictures stay here; the Full backup ZIP in Export has those). The same file restores into the Trade Log website.