while you may have an overall gain. the law says you look at your tax basis in each purchase and the related sales price to determine gain or loss. example sell 500 shares with an overall tax basis of $5000 for $6000 thus it looks like there's a $1000 gain. however, say 250 shares have a tax basis of $12.50 each total $3125 while the other 250 hares have a tax basis of $11.50 each total $2875. the first 250 would have a loss of $125 which would be disallowed under the wash sale rules if repurchased within 30 days of the sale. while on the other $250 you would have a taxable gain of $1125. just pointing out how this tax rule works.
