NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH

Tax-Loss Trading and Wash Sales

Mark Grinblatt, Matti Keloharju

NBER Working Paper No. 8745*
Issued in January 2002
NBER Program(s):   AP    PE

An analysis of trades in the Finnish stock market around the turn of the year shows that Finnish investors tend to realize losses more than gains towards the end of December. They also buy back the same stocks they recently sold, with a repurchase rate that depends on the size of the capital loss and how close the sale is to the end of December. The resulting net buying pressure from these 'wash sale' repurchases is greater for stocks with small market capitalizations and has a calendar pattern that is similar to that of stock returns.

*Published: Grinblatt, Mark & Keloharju, Matti, 2004. "Tax-loss trading and wash sales," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 51-76, January.

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