However, this is obviously a grey area and it's why the IRS has special tax rules for day traders of stock and real estate professionals.  

Why  well Dad is Japanese was a Billionaire got hammered int the Japanese melt down of mid 90s' and instructed the family and family trust that if you pay cash U can't lose your properties.. so thats what they have done all these years.. and you really can't argue with that if you have the cash and don't care about leverage.. thats the long term safe play.  

We are both in finance (trader and analyst) and are not enjoying the corporate world at all, so we are looking to build a real estate business instead.

It is unreasonable to think they are all going to home runs.A swing trader in the market will make 20 trades a week (as an example) -- 9 will be up, 9 will be down, and 2 will be push trades.... so how they earn any money? 

That's what happened. ya I hear ya with certain parts of the US>. but look how the Japanese handled the tsunami  pictures of all those folks politely standing in line for their water.. but no question in gun happy America and in the inner cities were they shoot each other like crazy right now with out any disasters I can for sure see it..

Going are the awnings, japanese blinds and front stone finish ( replaced by a,more modern stone).

Day traders were the 15 minute heros of the Dot Com boom and bust.

The chart above may be confusing, but it is actually rather simple—it is the screen that our Head Trader and I look at all day in the land of Mortgage Backed Securities.

Another concern for those short term metal traders waiting for gold to shoot to the moon: The IMF could flood the market with gold and knock the price down.

I certainly have no clue where prices are going and even many of the best traders have gotten this cycle wrong.