Replies to post #20112 on Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[sgolds]

Elmer, I am not a tax expert. The line that impressed me was this:

A wash sale occurs when you sell or trade stock or securities at a loss and within 30 days before or after the sale you:
... (third item)
Acquire a contract or option to buy substantially identical stock or securities.

That is the key thing - the two options don't have to be at all similar, just the underlying security.

There are some more complexities I don't fully understand regarding the effective date of the transactions. I think for most cases the effective date is the date the contract is closed so if you roll forward to a date more than 30 days after the date you close the first position then I don't think the wash sale applies - but beware of closing that transaction early. I copied the short sale rules in that post also because it covered some exceptions to this interpretation.