Chapter 38: Is this something a normal human being would do?

"Manager...?" Finally, someone couldn't hold back any longer and cautiously spoke up.
"Shh!" Liang Haiyuan immediately glared at the person and hissed, "The manager is thinking! Don't disturb him!"
"Ah! Sorry, sorry!" The person quickly shrank back.
A few more suffocating minutes passed.
That strange "feeling" still yielded no response.
There were no warnings of danger, nor any urge to take profits.
'Strange...could it be...not enough information? Not enough to trigger that 'switch'?'
Su Hao muttered to himself, this kind of trading method that relies on "intuition" can sometimes be quite frustrating.
He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the expectant faces of the crowd, and suddenly asked:
"Liang Haiyuan, in your opinion, what will happen to the market next? Will it rebound?"
"Difficult! I doubt it!" Liang Haiyuan shook his head decisively without hesitation:
"The CSRC acted too ruthlessly this time, and without any warning; it was practically a suicidal attack!
Think about it, just a few days ago, the official media were still vigorously promoting a proactive securities policy, stirring up investor optimism, and luring retail investors into the market.
And what was the result? A huge backstab! This time, market confidence has completely collapsed! And the resulting panic selling…
I estimate… the impact will be quite profound, and it won't recover in the short term!"
Hmm, that makes sense.
Su Hao nodded thoughtfully.
"Manager! Our short positions in stock index futures have broken even!"
Liu Bo, who was in charge of monitoring the market, couldn't help but speak up, his voice brimming with barely suppressed excitement:
"But! But that put option… the premium has almost doubled! Holy crap! A whole 100% profit! Manager! Should we… close out that option position first? Secure the profits?"
A put option, essentially, is the right to buy a specific asset at a predetermined price at a future date.
Its price fluctuates wildly as the expiration date approaches, market volatility changes, and the price of the underlying asset rises or falls.
Moreover, you can easily resell this "right" to someone else, profiting from the difference.
The most exciting part is that while ordinary stocks or futures may have price limits,
options, theoretically… have no upper limit on their potential gains!
Doubling in value? In extreme market conditions, that might just be a small appetizer!
Now, those put options they held, which were worthless just days ago, had seen their premiums skyrocket in just a few hours, doubling in value!
Huge profits were within their grasp!
Everyone's breathing quickened.
Eyes burned as they looked at Su Hao, awaiting his final decision.
Su Hao, hearing this, turned his gaze back to the constantly fluctuating trading screen, scrutinizing it carefully once more.
The frenzied numbers, the glaring red and green, the clamorous market.
But his mysterious "market sense," the "sixth sense" that had guided him to countless accurate judgments, remained calm and unwavering, utterly undisturbed.
No signal.
He took a deep breath, his eyes suddenly sharpening like a knife, and uttered four words with an undeniable decisiveness, which echoed softly in the tense, deathly quiet office:
"Hold on."
The meeting ended, and the members of Trading Department Seven, like victorious soldiers, strode out the door with their heads held high.
However, as they stepped into the spacious trading department lobby, everyone was startled by the eerie scene before them, instinctively holding their breath, their steps slowing.
It was too quiet!
The entire lobby… was deathly silent.
You could hear a pin drop!
This… this is so abnormal!
Just minutes before they entered the manager's office, it was a scene of wailing, chaos, everyone running, screaming, and smashing things—a veritable hell on earth.
But now, all of that was gone… all those sounds, all those movements, had vanished.
Looking around, those colleagues who had been jumping around like doomsday madmen just moments before now resembled defeated roosters.
Or rather, they looked like walking corpses, their last ounce of energy drained, their eyes vacant, faces ashen, slumped motionless at their workstations, as if their souls had been collectively ripped away.
A heavy sense of despair and deathly silence permeated the entire hall.
“…”
The members of Trading Department Seven exchanged glances, seeing a complex, indescribable emotion in each other's eyes.
Just this morning, their own group had been in no different state from these people before them, perhaps even worse—a picture of despair, uncertainty about the future, and a readiness to jump off a building at any moment.
But now… it was as if an invisible hand had shifted the pointer of fate, completely reversing two worldlines that might have been infinitely close but ultimately led in completely opposite directions.
On this side, it was a scene of celebration and victory for Trading Department Seven.
On the other side, it was a scene of utter despair for everyone else.
Looking at the miserable state of their fellow sufferers around them, and then thinking about the ever-increasing numbers in their own accounts representing enormous profits,
this stark contrast left the members of Trading Department Seven with an indescribable awkwardness and… a subtle embarrassment.
Should they burst into laughter and celebrate their victory?
Or should they feign compassion and offer a few words of comfort?
This feeling was incredibly unsettling; they simply didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
They were terrified that if they couldn't help but laugh out loud, one of the guys next to them, blinded by losses, would pounce on them and beat them up.
"Brother Haiyuan, do you think our put options can still make money?"
One of them lowered his voice, breaking the eerie silence, and asked cautiously.
“I guess we’ll have to wait a bit longer. Let the dust settle,” Liang Haiyuan explained, his voice low:
“This is like a tsunami after an earthquake. The main shock of the stock market crash has already occurred, but the truly devastating shockwave, the chain reaction in other markets, has only just begun.”
Yes, a tsunami.
In the turbulent sea of ​​the financial markets, the most chilling and destructive aspect of a black swan event of this magnitude is often not the brief, violent tremor of the earthquake itself.
It is the ensuing, continuous, and all-encompassing aftershocks… the overwhelming tsunami!
It is about to roar in!
Their other short positions were precisely positioned along the path of this impending tsunami.
"Sigh, what a pity!"
One of them clicked his tongue, a hint of greed in his voice, full of regret:
"If only we had bought more put options back then! If we had raised more funds... our returns this time could probably have multiplied several times over!"
"Alright, be content, kid. Back then, there were only so many put option derivatives related to the stock market, whether they were stock index options or over-the-counter options."
Liang Haiyuan patted him on the shoulder, laughing and scolding:
"We already scavenged every nook and cranny we could find, leaving nothing for anyone else! What more do you want?"
While the options market as a whole appears diverse and varied,
if you want to buy a specific type of option, with a specific expiration date and a specific strike price in large quantities, the available "supply" is extremely limited, and liquidity becomes a major problem.
It's certain that during those three crazy days, virtually every stock market-related put option that met their requirements ended up in the pockets of Su Hao's Trading Department Seven!
They scrambled to the ground, leaving nothing behind!
"But speaking of which, our manager... he's fucking amazing! Do you guys remember? We bought these put options... three days ago! Just three days ago! I just couldn't resist checking the historical data... Holy crap! Guess what?"
Another person, his face beaming with admiration, exclaimed excitedly:
"The timing of our purchase... was perfect! Exactly perfect! It was right at the all-time low before the crash... the absolute bottom! Even if we had bought it a day later, just the day before yesterday, the price would have risen considerably!"
Hearing this, everyone nodded in deep agreement.
It seems those few days were like being in purgatory, waiting for the market to turn around in boundless anxiety and torment.
Every single second was like a knife cutting through his skin…
But ultimately, it was worth it!
But upon closer reflection, a chill ran down his spine.
How was this even possible?
It was as if he had a third eye, no, a godlike perspective!
How could he have been so precise, exactly three days before the crash, at the absolute bottom of the price range, to complete his position building?
The error was less than a few hours!
Liang Haiyuan took a deep breath and exclaimed sincerely:
“The manager… he probably already used his discerning eyes to pinpoint that absolute bottom! He hit it in one fell swoop! That’s a level of skill! A level we can’t even dream of reaching!”
“Is… is this really logical?” Some still found it unbelievable:
"This...is this really something that 'technology' can explain? Can such a conclusion be reached purely based on technical analysis and model deduction?"
"I think there's definitely an element of intuition involved. Truly powerful investment intuition requires massive data analysis, rigorous logical deduction, and a profound understanding of market patterns as solid support, doesn't it?"
Liang Haiyuan patiently analyzed, although he himself found it incredibly far-fetched:
"This level of operation can't be done on a whim! You guys are investors yourselves, don't you understand this basic principle?"
He understood, but precisely because he understood, it felt even more...outrageous!
It's fucking outrageous!
From the god-like timing of capturing the absolute bottom, to the astonishing judgment of accurately predicting a stock market crash, to daring to, like the most composed hunter, go all in on 50 million in cash under such a judgment...
That kind of unwavering composure in the face of imminent collapse, that monstrous strength of heart and courage!
All these incredible elements combined...
This...is this really something a normal human being could do?