u/Professional_Ad_4267

Hi all, ​I am seeking technical advice on HMRC's classification regarding crypto trading activity.

I am currently employed full-time (£22k/year apprentice) and looking to understand if my strategy would likely be classified as an investment (Capital Gains Tax) or a financial trade (Income Tax)

For reference, i programmed this algorithm myself and have not distributed or sold it with no plans to do so, it runs entirely on my computer at home and the script trades a single pair on the Kraken Exchange through their api by creating a grid of buy and sell limit orders around the current price.

The ​automation part is that the algorithm is on 24/7 and is set to modify the grid layout hourly by fractional amounts based on price movement.

I know about the £3000 CGT allowance, and if the algorithm continues on its current path, it will exceed this allowance, so i want to prepare asap. I turned the code on after the tax year ended, so there's no need to worry about last tax year. After final tests, it has now completed 1 month of running non-stop.

​This is a side-activity, not my primary income. The strategy is simple and could theoretically be executed by hand quite easily, I automated the process as i have experience through my apprenticeship, and it saves me time.

In case the activity is relevant, the algorithm does not have a timeframe or specific profit margin on selling the tokens it buys, i may take days or weeks, or it may take minutes or even seconds.

​My Questions:

​HMRC states that "only in exceptional circumstances" would an individual be considered a financial trader. Does the use of an automated algorithm, by its very nature of being "systematic" and "organized," push this into that "exceptional" category?

How would I confirm what this is classed as, from what ive seens its a bit of a grey cloud where if they decide youre a financial trader you will pay penalties, interest and be required to pay up the rest. Can i reach out, describe the situation, and get a concrete response?

Are there any benefits to being a financial trader over paying cgt? From what I can see, it makes you quite worse off.

If i am a financial trader, are there any considerations in reducing my tax liability?

​Are there any precedents or experiences with HMRC classifying high-frequency retail crypto-bot users as traders?

​Beyond the "Badges of Trade" framework, are there specific "red flags" I should avoid to ensure this remains categorized as a personal investment activity, as that means I can use the more tax efficient approach.

​I am looking for community input on whether this setup is defensible as a personal investment or if I should preemptively assume a "trader" tax classification.

If i have missed out on any important details, let me know, and I'll add them in right away. Thank you so much for your help.

It's quite a while until the next tax year ends, so im looking for community advice and experiences before moving onto potentially discussing this with a professional.

Hi all, ​I am seeking technical advice on HMRC's classification regarding crypto trading activity.

I am currently employed full-time (£22k/year apprentice) and looking to understand if my strategy would likely be classified as an investment (Capital Gains Tax) or a financial trade (Income Tax)

For reference, i programmed this algorithm myself and have not distributed or sold it with no plans to do so, it runs entirely on my computer at home and the script trades a single pair on the Kraken Exchange through their api by creating a grid of buy and sell limit orders around the current price.

The ​automation part is that the algorithm is on 24/7 and is set to modify the grid layout hourly by fractional amounts based on price movement.

I know about the £3000 CGT allowance, and if the algorithm continues on its current path, it will exceed this allowance, so i want to prepare asap. I turned the code on after the tax year ended, so there's no need to worry about last tax year. After final tests, it has now completed 1 month of running non-stop.

​This is a side-activity, not my primary income. The strategy is simple and could theoretically be executed by hand quite easily, I automated the process as i have experience through my apprenticeship, and it saves me time.

In case the activity is relevant, the algorithm does not have a timeframe or specific profit margin on selling the tokens it buys, i may take days or weeks, or it may take minutes or even seconds.

​My Questions:

​HMRC states that "only in exceptional circumstances" would an individual be considered a financial trader. Does the use of an automated algorithm, by its very nature of being "systematic" and "organized," push this into that "exceptional" category?

How would I confirm what this is classed as, from what ive seens its a bit of a grey cloud where if they decide youre a financial trader you will pay penalties, interest and be required to pay up the rest. Can i reach out, describe the situation, and get a concrete response?

Are there any benefits to being a financial trader over paying cgt? From what I can see, it makes you quite worse off.

If i am a financial trader, are there any considerations in reducing my tax liability?

​Are there any precedents or experiences with HMRC classifying high-frequency retail crypto-bot users as traders?

​Beyond the "Badges of Trade" framework, are there specific "red flags" I should avoid to ensure this remains categorized as a personal investment activity, as that means I can use the more tax efficient approach.

​I am looking for community input on whether this setup is defensible as a personal investment or if I should preemptively assume a "trader" tax classification.

If i have missed out on any important details, let me know, and I'll add them in right away. Thank you so much for your help.

It's quite a while until the next tax year ends, so im looking for community advice and experiences before moving onto potentially discussing this with a professional.

Hi all, ​I am seeking technical advice on HMRC's classification regarding crypto trading activity.

I am currently employed full-time (£22k/year apprentice) and looking to understand if my strategy would likely be classified as an investment (Capital Gains Tax) or a financial trade (Income Tax)

For reference, i programmed this algorithm myself and have not distributed or sold it with no plans to do so, it runs entirely on my computer at home and the script trades a single pair on the Kraken Exchange through their api by creating a grid of buy and sell limit orders around the current price.

The ​automation part is that the algorithm is on 24/7 and is set to modify the grid layout hourly by fractional amounts based on price movement.

I know about the £3000 CGT allowance, and if the algorithm continues on its current path, it will exceed this allowance, so i want to prepare asap.

I turned the code on after the tax year ended, so there's no need to worry about last tax year. After final tests, it has now completed 1 month of running non-stop.

​This is a side-activity, not my primary income.

The strategy is simple and could theoretically be executed by hand quite easily, I automated the process as i have experience through my apprenticeship, and it saves me time.

In case the activity is relevant, the algorithm does not have a timeframe or specific profit margin on selling the tokens it buys, i may take days or weeks, or it may take minutes or even seconds.

​My Questions:

​HMRC states that "only in exceptional circumstances" would an individual be considered a financial trader. Does the use of an automated algorithm, by its very nature of being "systematic" and "organized," push this into that "exceptional" category?

How would I confirm what this is classed as, from what ive seens its a bit of a grey cloud where if they decide youre a financial trader you will pay penalties, interest and be required to pay up the rest. Can i reach out, describe the situation, and get a concrete response?

Are there any benefits to being a financial trader over paying cgt? From what I can see, it makes you quite worse off.

If i am a financial trader, are there any considerations in reducing my tax liability?

​Are there any precedents or experiences with HMRC classifying high-frequency retail crypto-bot users as traders?

​Beyond the "Badges of Trade" framework, are there specific "red flags" I should avoid to ensure this remains categorized as a personal investment activity, as that means I can use the more tax efficient approach.

​I am looking for community input on whether this setup is defensible as a personal investment or if I should preemptively assume a "trader" tax classification.

If i have missed out on any important details, let me know, and I'll add them in right away. Thank you so much for your help.

It's quite a while until the next tax year ends, so im looking for community advice and experiences before moving onto potentially discussing this with a professional.

Hi all, ​I am seeking technical advice on HMRC's classification regarding crypto trading activity.

I am currently employed full-time (£22k/year apprentice) and looking to understand if my strategy would likely be classified as an investment (Capital Gains Tax) or a financial trade (Income Tax)

For reference, i programmed this algorithm myself and have not distributed or sold it with no plans to do so, it runs entirely on my computer at home and the script trades a single pair on the Kraken Exchange through their api by creating a grid of buy and sell limit orders around the current price.

The ​automation part is that the algorithm is on 24/7 and is set to modify the grid layout hourly by fractional amounts based on price movement.

I know about the £3000 CGT allowance, and if the algorithm continues on its current path, it will exceed this allowance, so i want to prepare asap. I turned the code on after the tax year ended, so there's no need to worry about last tax year. After final tests, it has now completed 1 month of running non-stop.

​This is a side-activity, not my primary income. The strategy is simple and could theoretically be executed by hand quite easily, I automated the process as i have experience through my apprenticeship, and it saves me time.

In case the activity is relevant, the algorithm does not have a timeframe or specific profit margin on selling the tokens it buys, i may take days or weeks, or it may take minutes or even seconds.

​My Questions:

​HMRC states that "only in exceptional circumstances" would an individual be considered a financial trader. Does the use of an automated algorithm, by its very nature of being "systematic" and "organized," push this into that "exceptional" category?

How would I confirm what this is classed as, from what ive seens its a bit of a grey cloud where if they decide youre a financial trader you will pay penalties, interest and be required to pay up the rest. Can i reach out, describe the situation, and get a concrete response?

Are there any benefits to being a financial trader over paying cgt? From what I can see, it makes you quite worse off.

If i am a financial trader, are there any considerations in reducing my tax liability?

​Are there any precedents or experiences with HMRC classifying high-frequency retail crypto-bot users as traders?

​Beyond the "Badges of Trade" framework, are there specific "red flags" I should avoid to ensure this remains categorized as a personal investment activity, as that means I can use the more tax efficient approach.

​I am looking for community input on whether this setup is defensible as a personal investment or if I should preemptively assume a "trader" tax classification.

If i have missed out on any important details, let me know, and I'll add them in right away. Thank you so much for your help.

It's quite a while until the next tax year ends, so im looking for community advice and experiences before moving onto potentially discussing this with a professional.

For the past 2 years my direct insurance renewal quote comes in at extremely high prices so I keep using comparison sites every year using the EXACT same details as before and get offered a much much cheaper rate with the same company (every year this company comes cheapest for me) which leads to calling them up and asking for them to match their own quote where they give me some classic response of "you must have changed some details", the agent realises nothing changed and says they applied the discount anyway.

​

If i check comparison sites about 2 months before renewal, this same company comes in cheapest by quite a BIG margin. However, once it reaches the sweet spot of 21-28 days before renewal when i can actually lock in the price for the next year, this company suddenly ups their prices when I get the same quote. (Im talking £400 2 months prior to now offering £600 where the apps auto renewal is about £700)

​

Here is when it gets even more annoying, i lock in the price because its slightly cheaper than the competition anyway and have the insurance for around 1 month, when i revisit the comparison sites using the same details, the company resets the offer all the way down to £400 which they refused to honour when I was renewing.

​

This has led me to check prices 1-2 months after renewal for the past couple of years, getting a much much cheaper rate, calling them up and asking to be transfered, where I recieve more months insurance (as the year resets) plus a hefty refund to make up the difference.

​

Are they even allowed to do this? When I asked for them to honour the price they gave me a month ago they make some excuse that they are regulated and cannot provide discounts to customers, they couldnt give a reason as to why prices rise for renewal and then plummet back down again.

​

This is with Hastings.

​

Tl;dr I cancel my insurance a couple of months after renewing and end up swapping to a new identical policy saving about 30% on my car insurance.

​

​

I 20M have found myself in another situation with my 20f girlfriend. I'm blocked from all channels apart from standard sms.

She has recently sent the following texts:

"i just dont know what i want.."

"im struggling a lot right now,"

"i feel like im not going to make it,"

Throughout our relationship, she has continually suffered with her mental health, leading to either hurting herself, hitting me, or on one occasion even attempting suicide.

I have recently made a post of relationship advice to get support with how I've been treated in the relationship, but I wanted to post here for support to make sure I dont do the wrong thing.

While typing this, she has been attempting to call following the above messages and blocking on all other media, but I can't bring myself to answer right now.

Does anybody have support on how to deal with a partner who, while amazing outside of conflicts, can be very difficult and exhausting to deal with when mental health issues kick in. It has been very hard coping with a lot of these issues, and to me it feels like I cannot mention certain discomforts on my side because the last thing I want to do is make her feel unsafe to raise issues which lead to her doing something stupid.

What can I do to give her the help she needs, especially during times like this. She typically resorts to punching, kicking, biting, and occasionally makes threats with a blade when things get really bad. At one point, I had to restrain her as she began pulling roughly at her hair and then mine.

I really really want to try my best to help her. She is very sweet and loving outside of these conflicts, but she gets very emotionally very quickly over very small things. In my opinion, which i would never admit to her, she can be extremely immature.

She is recently getting a diagnosis for ADHD and has seeked therapy in the past before. I have tried encouraging her to build some hobbies and spent time with friends, but she does not like the idea of meeting anybody while she is at university. She is moving in with 3 other girls next year which i hope to be an opportunity for her to spend time with friends, but the past 2 years she has not really bonded with any of the 16 combined flatmates over the 2 years.

This naturally puts quite a toll on me, too, and I will admit I have cracked recently. Each time it happens, i feel more and more numb to it all with the sudden switch up between being loving and gentle to blocking, cussing, shouting, and hurting.

Have you ever dealt with a partner who suffered from their mental health, I am not sure if this is a form of BDP due to the quick switch ups in her attitude and am just going around to see what the best course of action is for this kind of scenario. Thank you for your help in advance.

Recently, I (20M) have been finding myself feeling very conflicted as to keep my relationship with my (20F) girlfriend.

We have been dating for 4 years and shared many first times growing up together but it has been a difficult past couple of months, mainly due to being long-ish distance while she pursues a full-time degree and I am undertaking a degree apprenticeship. Over the years, there has been lots of blocking across social media and arguments. Right now, she has me blocked on everything.

I'm still conflicted on whether I want to keep pushing to keep the relationship because while quite a lot of stuff has happened over the past few years, I do feel like she has improved and changed for the better, but now that we are blocked, a lot of these previous issues are kind of "flooding" back in. I'll list quite a few issues that are making me reconsider.

1. I feel like I can not enjoy my hobbies without upsetting her

Quite frequently, I find that when I work on hobbies or projects, she gets very upset because her day no longer feels fulfilling, and I'm spending too much time away rather than spending it with her. I have spent time working out at the gym, making games, programming other side projects, and focusing on my career development for the years to come. When I try to bring her into these things, the typical result is she says that I am too boring, im self-centred, and always talk about myself, or im not spending enough time with her. I have responded to these criticisms by saying I dont mean to come across as egotistical or self-centred talking about my project, but I just want to share what I've created. Nowadays, I keep these things to myself to avoid conflicts.

2. I feel like she is extremely emotional

A lot of arguments have stemmed from, in my opinion, small issues. There was one time which led to her drinking and throwing my phone at me because I said "ooo spooky" to something she was showing me. Minutes later, she was crying in the bed, curled up, which i came over, and comforted her. Ive grown to put up with this over the years, but the part which led to the drinking etc was that minutes after I comforted her, she started crying again and making claims that I never look after her. Long story short, she said she "forgot." I came over with tissues to make sure she was all okay, I had to apologise many times before she finally apologised for "being so forgetful"

3. Mental health issues

This has not happened a lot too recently and has calmed down, but sometimes after arguments she would tell me about how shes punching herself, pulling her hair, and at one point she even showed me a towel she tried to use to hang herself.

She has struggled with her mental health a lot over the years, and she has only ever attempted such a thing once but it still haunts my mind that one day I will say something that will lead to her doing something like that again.

I have expressed that it made me extremely uncomfortable to constrain her when she was trying to pull her hair out once in person because it's not a position i ever want to be in. But I dont really find it easy to express my discomfort when she makes these threats because the last thing I want to do is make her feel like she can't share when these bad things are happening.

While she suffers with her mental health, this comes in short waves, and almost always follows a bad argument, but the idea that I may say something that tips her to the breaking point has made me keep a lot of upset to myself. Recently, she has gotten into the habit of drinking when she's upset.

4. Constantly feeling sleep deprived

Since being blocked, I have noticed that sleep feels so much better, and i am able to focus better throughout work. This has made me realise how bad the cycle of sleep deprivation was.

As i am a degree apprentice, I'd wake up by 7 for the workday. She would usually wake around 11am-1pm. This leads to a cycle of conflicts I have come to realise where:

Weekdays she would be upset if I asked to sleep by 10:30pm for work the next day

By Friday, she is typically so upset if he ends up staying up all night as it's the weekend trying to feel better with her

The weekend is burnt up apologising to her for not giving her enough time throughout the week etc etc.

I have brought this cycle up in the past and raised the concern that the weekend I have, which we could be spending doing the things we coulsnt throughout the week, is burnt up with her ghosting or arguing with me.

The most recent argument which led to her blocking me and refusing to talk to me anywhere was due to me calling at about 2:00am to talk as she was on my mind all night and I couldnt sleep. When she oicked up, she spent about 3 hours or so talking about promises she wants me to keep so she can trust me again. By the last "promise me this," i couldn't even talk anymore, I was so tired I was practically paralysed and didn't respond to her. I tried explaining the following morning that I was so tired and would promise now, but she wouldn't talk to me claiming, "How can you not make a simple promise when I need it the most?" I've never felt so tired to the point I couldn't speak anymore, and I feel like she never respects my boundaries for times I need to sleep to not affect my health. She claims that she always gives me the opportunity to sleep, and she asks when it gets late. But over time, I feel like while she gives me the choice, she expects only one answer.

Amongst the above, there has been a recent trend of her comparing me to random guys that someone in her distant family is talking to, making comments like "you are exactly like (person) doing (something)" which i have expressed makes me extremely uncomfortable but that still wasnt respected.

I dont know how to feel about it all, and whether i am just listing off every bad thing in our 4 year history because I feel down, or whether this is actually a huge problem.

I was and still want to push a gentle approach where we just spent time to find ourselves again rather than pushing and forcing a relationship, because while we feel better in the short term, its starting to become very short lived. She has made claims recently that she cannot trust me with her feelings, and thats why I wanted to push to just talk here and there but focus on ourselves until we both feel better again, but she responded by saying she doesnt want to talk to me unless i apologise profusely, then blocked me. (She has done this many, many times before and eventually reached out a few days or hours after)

I do not know if I am the issue here, as she says she has made so many attempts to spell it out for me, and I am no longer the gentle patient person I used to be.

Tl;Dr., i feel lost as to whether to push for my relationship and if it can be salvaged. While many bad things have happened over the 4 years together, the good times with her feel worth working towards, and i dont know if im the issue.