http://www.fxop.com/Forex%20Taxation.html http://www.fxop.com/Forex%20Taxation.html That makes my head hurt, but it sounds like if you hold actual currency and

http://www.fxop.com/Forex%20Taxation.html http://www.fxop.com/Forex%20Taxation.html That makes my head hurt, but it sounds like if you hold actual currency and realize gains, those gains are treated as ordinary income (top rate 39.6%), but if you instead trade in qualified currency futures contracts, gains are taxed according to a split formula which pulls the top rate closer to the long term cap gains rate of 15%.