Hello r/stocks,
I am here because I am very confused about some details of wash sales and absolutely can not find the info to answer my question. So before we start, here is the definition of a wash sale; A wash sale is a sale of a security at a loss and repurchase of the same or substantially identical security shortly before or after. This felt straightforward, but I still had a wash sale today. So here is my scenario:
I buy 1 share of CAT for $188. The price drops the next day and I buy another share for $177. The next day it continues to drop and I buy two more shares at $172. I now have a cost basis of $177.25. A couple days later the price rises above 180 and I sell for a total of $720, a cost basis of $180. So I made a net profit. Fast forward to today and I buy a share of CAT for 172 to find it was a wash sale and I now have a cost basis of $180.
So even though I sold a majority of my shares for profit and made a net gain on all trades, the ONE share I sold at a loss makes everything a wash sale now? All help and explanations are extremely appreciated! Thanks!
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