Chapter 242: What the hell does this mean?

In truth, this market crash feast was far from over.
If Su Hao wanted, he could easily continue leading his team to rampage through the carnage of the market, doubling profits once more.
But his intuition, the golden finger that had guided him to create countless miracles, suddenly went silent.
Was it overloading the engine and causing it to burn out, or was it a warning from the depths of his soul: "Know when to stop, or you'll be heading straight for the abyss"?
Su Hao couldn't pinpoint the exact reason. But perhaps it was for the best.
Rubbing his throbbing head, he thought that if he continued like this, he'd be dead before he even finished making the money.
“Um… Chairman Su,” an employee suddenly spoke cautiously,
“We’ve made so much money, which is certainly a fantastic thing… but… but won’t the SEC be watching us?”
Upon hearing this, the crowd began to murmur:
“Definitely…”
“But we haven’t done anything illegal!”
“That’s true, but turning six billion US dollars into over ten billion in just two days is inherently illogical.
In their eyes, ‘illogical’ is a cardinal sin, and they’ll definitely find a way to make trouble for us!”
The crowd, who had just been cheering for making so much money, instantly felt a shadow fall over their faces.
Seeing this, Su Hao clapped his hands loudly, breaking the oppressive atmosphere.
"Alright, those trivial matters are for Chairman Huang and the others to worry about.
As for us, mission accomplished! Everyone get back to work today, get a good night's sleep. If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up! Everyone, get some rest!"
"Yes, sir! Chairman Su!"
The employees, feeling like they'd been granted a pardon, immediately began packing up, preparing to leave work.
Su Hao appeared calm and collected, waving goodbye to everyone, but inwardly, he was starting to feel uneasy.
To be honest, he himself hadn't expected to grow the business so large, much less anticipate such outrageous profits.
For those two days, he was completely immersed in a dopamine rush, his brain entirely controlled by instinct, acting impulsively without considering how to clean up the mess after this operation.
"They wouldn't...really send someone to check the water meter, would they?"
A classic scene from a movie suddenly flashed through his mind: a group of burly men in black suits kicking open a door with a bang, shouting in unison:
"FBI! Don't move!"
***
Meanwhile, across the ocean.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
"This...am I seeing things? Are you sure what I'm seeing is real?"
"Yes, Director. This is all the data our personnel collected over two days and two nights, without missing a single second."
"So you mean, someone turned six billion dollars into one hundred and twenty-seven billion dollars in two days?"
"Yes."
"...only through short-term trading?"
"...Yes, Director."
"Volmageddon."
That's what people on Wall Street are calling this event now.
It's a portmanteau of VIX and "Armageddon."
The net asset value of XIV products that went long on VIX plummeted by over 90%, essentially meaning that all invested funds were wiped out.
Trillions of dollars simply vanished into thin air.
But the ironclad rule of the financial market is that for every loser, someone else wins.
In this chaotic feast, a mysterious Eastern force amassed a fortune.
"This operation could easily be classified as insider trading, right?"
"They established their positions a week ago, then profited in one go during the crash.
From a timing perspective, they are indeed highly suspicious. But the problem is, this is just the beginning.
Most of their subsequent profits came from… short-term trading."
This is what's most infuriating.
Establishing positions in advance could very well be insider trading. But where's the evidence? None.
And the subsequent, almost miraculous, second-by-second short-term operations were the main source of their profits.
“That’s why I asked you!” the bureau chief slammed his fist on the table in frustration.
“This can’t possibly be done by a human, right? It must have been done using high-frequency trading!”
“Reporting, Chief, the evidence to determine it’s quantitative trading is insufficient…
Because quantitative trading usually has fixed patterns and algorithms, and the trading frequency is measured in milliseconds, hundreds or thousands of times per second.
But this data… seems more like…”
“Like what?”
“…It seems like subjective trading.”
“You’re saying this was all done by a human?!”
“Yes, and very likely, it was a mastermind, leading a team to complete it.”
“…”
The bureau chief fell silent.
This meant that a god-level trader directed a team to complete this insane harvest.
To be honest, although there was strong suspicion of insider trading, without solid evidence, you couldn’t just arrest someone.
But then again, if you really wanted to investigate, you could find fault even in the smallest things.
When you want to find fault, you can always find a pretext.
But this time, an insurmountable wall stood before them.
“In this incident, besides these people, the biggest winner… is Goldman Sachs, right?”
“Yes, Director. Goldman Sachs started laying the groundwork at least two months ago.”
Goldman Sachs.
It was no secret that the president's team was filled with executives from Goldman Sachs.
“Those people started building their positions two months ago…” The director's voice carried a chill, “This means…”
“It means this was a complete, meticulously planned 'massacre'.”
The inflow of funds into the XIV product began to accelerate several months ago, and precisely two months ago, this speed became abnormally frantic.
It looked like a group of people conspiring to embezzle funds!
There's an old saying on Wall Street: Every change of regime, or a president's re-election, inevitably brings a major event to the financial markets.
From the dot-com bubble, 9/11, the housing bubble, the subprime crisis, to the exorbitant bailout plans, and now the "VIX doomsday"...
The list goes on and on.
But this time, the scheme was particularly ingenious.
The official departments "inadvertently" released impressive employment and salary data, deliberately sending a strong signal of interest rate hikes to the market, artificially creating panic, and ultimately triggering a market meltdown.
Some might think this is a far-fetched conspiracy theory.
But few people in this industry would consider it a conspiracy theory.
Because in the United States, the first thing those in power do upon taking office is always to fill their own pockets and those of their allies'.
This is a sad reality, yet no one can stop it.
What's more, this time the opponent is the President of the United States.
No investigative agency on this planet dares to investigate the head of state of this country.
“Then… Director, can we bypass Goldman Sachs and just investigate that company?” the subordinate cautiously suggested.
The director looked at him like he was an idiot: “Have you even looked at all the data?”
“What?”
“The timing of Goldman Sachs' withdrawal and the timing of the Eastern funds' liquidation and exit are exactly one second apart!
Don't you understand what that means?!”
“Ah…!”
The key point is that the main brokerage firm for this mysterious Eastern fund entering the United States is also Goldman Sachs!
This is a silent warning.
A naked threat!
They were using this method to declare to the world:
Goldman Sachs and this group of Eastern forces are in cahoots!
Why did they specifically choose Goldman Sachs as their broker?
From the very beginning, they never intended to hide this relationship.
They were clearly telling everyone: Don't mess with us.
Want to touch us?
You'd better think twice before dragging in the big shots!
“…Let’s just go through the motions,” the director waved his hand wearily. “Just a show.”
“Ah, Director, what if some fools keep pressing this matter?”
“Remember the president’s opponents before she took office?
Everyone who posed a threat to her back then mysteriously ‘met with accidents’…
So, those fools will most likely be quietly ‘dealt with’ as usual…”
The director leaned back in his chair, gazing out the window.
He knew that before long, the front pages of all mainstream media outlets would be dominated by similar news articles.
He even had the headlines ready:
【“Apocalypse of Volatility” Warning: A Market Tragedy Caused by Investors' Own Greed and Stupidity!】
The blame always falls on the retail investors!