Chapter 6: What's there to be afraid of! Buy it!

"Heave-ho, heave-ho."
Su Hao awkwardly stretched his somewhat stiff limbs, the abrupt movement attracting the attention of Li Huilin beside him.
"Hey, Su Hao, what are you doing?"
"Ah, Sister Huilin, nothing, just stretching my muscles."
For the past three days, whenever the market opened, these newbies at the bottom had to push those creaking metal carts, darting around the various trading departments like fish, delivering instructions and documents.
"Sister Huilin, didn't you say that the stock market is ever-changing? The most important things are two things—one is 'mindset'! You have to be as steady as a mountain! The other is 'speed'! You have to be as fast as lightning!"
Mindset? That's something for those seasoned veterans in the trading department who're practically bald to worry about.
His only value as a newbie who'd only been there a few days was his ability to run like a whirlwind!
Yesterday's intense day of running around left Su Hao's calves still sore and heavy, as if filled with lead.
This tangible fatigue made him realize for the first time... his malnourished body really needed a serious workout.
But the problem was, where would he find the time?
Going to the gym after get off work?
Although he'd heard that working out after get off work was a popular trend among office workers...
But even during his years of gaming addiction and irregular sleep schedules, a veritable "game addict," he'd never had a regular exercise routine.
How could this body, weakened by the electronic world, possibly sustain extra physical exertion after get off work?
It was simply a pipe dream.
Just as Su Hao was pondering this, Li Huilin suddenly leaned closer, her voice lowered, tinged with relief:
"Su Hao, good news. Today... we probably won't have to struggle with that broken cart."
"Huh?"
Su Hao was somewhat bewildered.
They were the lowest-ranking newcomers in the team. If they didn't push the cart, who would?
"It's the manager," Li Huilin explained, "He seems to have already spoken to the other groups. So, it'll probably be the newcomers from the other groups running errands for us today."
So sudden?
Why wasn't this arranged yesterday? It nearly broke my legs...
Of course, he absolutely couldn't voice this complaint.
However, Zhou Yi's sudden adjustment felt somewhat unusual.
Could it be because he's a relative?
“So, our task today,” Li Huilin’s tone carried a hint of barely perceptible excitement,
was to conduct simulated trading throughout the entire day before the market closed. The manager just gave us that order. I bet it’s because of that ST stock from yesterday; the manager wants to give you a chance.”
“Ah…” Su Hao seemed to understand, realizing that.
“Thanks to you, I’ve benefited too. Thanks, Su Hao.”
“Don’t say that, Sister Huilin, I just got incredibly lucky.”
“Really just luck?” Li Huilin tilted her head, winking playfully,
“Hmm… you could say that. It’s probably your ‘secret weapon,’ and it wouldn’t be polite for me to keep asking, right?”
Secret weapon?
Su Hao inwardly chuckled bitterly.
He had no secret formula whatsoever; he only figured out what the red and green bars on a candlestick chart meant yesterday.
"So, all you'll be doing today is demo trading?"
A strange feeling quietly rose in Su Hao's heart.
This seemed... to be a crucial opportunity to test his mysterious "ability."
"The morning meeting is about to start," Li Huilin glanced at her watch and reminded him, "You'd better listen carefully. For a trading department like ours, the most important thing before the market opens each day is to grasp the mainstream hot topics."
"Mainstream hot topics?"
"Yes. For example, recently popular stocks, theme stocks, focus stocks, leading stocks, etc., they often don't appear in isolation; they usually cluster together in a specific area. We call this phenomenon 'mainstream hot topics.'"
This felt a lot like a game!
Su Hao remembered that in games, the strongest character or talent combination in the current version was also called the mainstream gameplay.
It seems the stock market operates similarly, labeling the most likely sectors to cause a stir and become market focus as "mainstream hotspots," then concentrating manpower on research and trading.
"The morning meeting is to determine which sectors will lead the market rally, which will follow suit, creating trading opportunities. Our trading department is the most sensitive to these."
The meeting materials are nominally printed and bound by these new employees.
But in reality, they're mostly sourced from the company's internal research department.
Those in the research department are all graduates of prestigious universities, elites with impressive credentials.
They scour massive amounts of information daily, both domestically and internationally, conducting in-depth analysis and predicting the impact of this information on the stock market.
Then, they produce a refined, filtered report.
The new employees' job is simply to print and bind these reports, distribute them to department members, and prepare meeting materials.
“To be honest, Sister Huilin,” Su Hao said with a wry smile, “those reports are like gibberish to me.”
Global macroeconomics, industry dynamics, company analysis, market trends…
How did these people manage to cram a living, breathing, and ever-changing world into these cold, rigid numbers and charts?
He was completely baffled; he couldn't understand a thing.
“Hehe, don’t be so modest,” Li Huilin chuckled, patting his arm. “Don’t be so pessimistic. Didn’t you learn all this in school? Besides, didn’t you get sick of this stuff when you were studying for your professional certification exam?”
“…” Su Hao remained silent.
He couldn’t very well say that his university major had nothing to do with finance, and that he hadn’t even taken the certification exam yet, could he?
“Oh, it’s almost time. Everyone should be arriving soon. Let’s hurry in.”
“Okay.”
Mainstream hot topics… grasping the hot topics is very important…
Su Hao silently repeated this phrase to himself as he followed Li Huilin into the conference room, while secretly reminding himself to listen carefully.
Because he will soon have the opportunity to hear firsthand the real-time assessments of today's market "hot topics" made by elites who graduated from prestigious universities, based on in-depth research reports.
This information is top-tier, invaluable information that money can't buy elsewhere.
The conference room was packed, an invisible pressure hanging in the air.
"Have you all seen the report?" Zhou Yi's sharp gaze swept over everyone, his voice steady and powerful.
"Currently, the market's focus is on the new energy sector. In particular, the risks across the entire industry chain are escalating rapidly. Everyone, share your thoughts, one sentence each."
Ah… I didn't understand at first. Su Hao felt a bit dizzy.
"Following several recent electric vehicle fires and destructions, major global automakers have begun to re-examine safety standards… In addition, the price of nickel, one of the core materials for batteries, has plummeted by 45% compared to six months ago, leading to increased inventory impairment risks for companies," a senior trader spoke first.
“Overcapacity is also severe,” another person chimed in. “Global power lithium battery production capacity is projected to reach 3000 GWh this year, far exceeding market demand. This supply-demand imbalance could lead the industry into an ‘overcapacity cycle,’ triggering a price war.”
“But then again, isn’t the long-term outlook for new energy vehicles still bullish? Many countries around the world have plans to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars after 2035,” someone offered a dissenting opinion.
Su Hao remained silent, trying to keep up with the discussion, his eyes rapidly scanning the report in his hands, his ears catching every key word.
“The policy direction in Europe and America is clear, but for us short-term traders, those distant promises are meaningless,” Zhou Yi interrupted the discussion. “Who knows if those promises will change overnight? This uncertainty itself is a huge risk.”
In the trading department, short-term trading is done 100%.
For them, any long-term promise is like a mirage.
The same applies to retail investors in the stock market.
"We can try short selling in the morning session, focusing on the new energy industry chain. However, we must strictly control the risks," Zhou Yi decided. "We can use ETFs with a high weighting in battery stocks for hedging."
"Yes, Manager. What about leverage?"
"No more than 1.5 times, be conservative for now. Short in the morning session. If the market rebounds after digesting the information, look for opportunities to go long in the afternoon. Each of you manages your entry and exit points!"
"But!" Zhou Yi's voice suddenly became stern, "Don't be too greedy! I know everyone was anxious because you didn't meet your targets last month, but you mustn't get carried away at times like this, or you'll only lose more! Understand?"
"Understood, Manager!"
The meeting ended, and everyone immediately filed out, like heading to their respective battlefields.
Zhou Yi issued a series of instructions, but Su Hao felt like he was listening to gibberish, not absorbing a single word.
***
"Hoo—"
Li Huilin took a deep breath, feeling her fingertips trembling slightly.
This feeling was long gone.
"You absolutely cannot make a mistake..."
Zhou Yi made it very clear that this simulated trading session was an "assessment."
If she messed it up, she would probably have to continue working as a menial trading assistant for a long time.
She did the same repetitive work every day, serving tea and water, running errands and delivering documents—a true "maid's" job.
"It's okay! I can do it!"
Li Huilin clenched her fists tightly, trying to bolster her courage.
This was the opportunity she had dreamed of, and she had been preparing for it for a long time.
Now, all she had to do was wait for the opening bell, and then… fight hard!
“But… is Su Hao okay?”
She couldn’t help but tiptoe and steal a glance at Su Hao in the next cubicle.
Li Huilin herself was busy organizing the research department’s reports and data on new energy stocks, as well as the core content of the meeting, trying to formulate a clearer trading plan before the market opened.
But what about Su Hao?
He was just… motionless, like an ice sculpture, staring blankly at the computer screen.
He looked completely bewildered, a rookie who had no idea where to begin.
It seemed that last ST stock was just luck after all.
“Later… when I’m not so busy, I’ll go help him.”
Li Huilin thought to herself.
After all, this newcomer is under my protection!
The atmosphere in the entire trading department suddenly became extremely tense in the final minutes before the market opened.
The air seemed to freeze; only the suppressed breathing and the occasional soft clicks of keyboards and mice could be heard.
Everyone was like a sprinter crouching at the starting line, muscles taut, eyes focused, waiting intently for the starting gun to fire.
Finally, accompanied by a blaring alarm that echoed throughout the entire floor, the market opened!
Everyone, almost simultaneously, tensed up, their eyes burning, fixed on the screens in front of them, ready to charge towards their respective targets!
“…”
But Su Hao did nothing.
He wasn't feigning composure, playing some kind of "waiting for the right moment" game.
He was genuinely… completely lost and bewildered because he had absolutely no idea what to do.
"Where... should I even begin?"
If it were opening a loot box in a game, he could stare intently at the box, waiting for that "feeling" before clicking.
The same applied to gambling for equipment or looting corpses.
But stocks are completely different.
There are too many factors to consider, too many complexities.
"Will the stock I buy now go up immediately, or tomorrow? Who knows!"
In games, opening loot boxes or gambling for equipment provides instant results and feedback.
Stocks are different.
"Even if I buy a stock based on my intuition now, what if it doesn't start rising for a year?"
Moreover, with such a vast number of stocks on the market, he didn't even know where to begin to find that so-called "feeling."
This feeling was like searching for a specific grain of sand on an endless beach.
"Calm down, calm down."
Whenever his mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts, Su Hao would tell himself this.
Although I've only ever used this tactic in games before…
But regardless, I can't rush things now.
I must calm down and take it one step at a time.
"The meeting just mentioned that today's 'mainstream hot topic' is the new energy sector, right?"
Let's start there.
Anyway, he had to put on an act to impress the manager, right?
He took a deep breath and, feigning composure, opened the report from the research department.
"Hmm..."
Su Hao stared at the text and charts on the screen, feeling like he wasn't reading Chinese, but some kind of alien script.
The report also included a long list of stocks related to today's "mainstream hot topics."
Just as Zhou Yi had predicted, almost all of these stock names were now highlighted in green, indicating a decline.
"I remember the manager saying... short in the morning, long in the afternoon? And hedging the risk?"
Short positions, long positions.
How exactly should these be handled? How to manage the risk?
Sigh, if he had known it would be like this, he should have asked Li Huilin more questions about practical operations and gained some experience.
"But... since these stocks are all falling, we absolutely can't buy them now, right?"
There are quite a few new energy-related stocks.
But looking at the sea of ​​green, it was unsettling, a sight that made one feel utterly lost if they bought in.
Thinking this, Su Hao prepared to close the list of stocks filled with green, a list that instilled anxiety.
However, just as his finger was about to touch the close button—
"...?"
A faint yet incredibly distinct stinging sensation, like a weak electric current, shot through his fingertip and instantly spread throughout his body!
This feeling... seemed familiar!
"Could it be..."
Su Hao abruptly stopped, enlarging the window he was about to close again.
Then, he held his breath, his gaze slowly and carefully scanning each stock in the list.
Finally, the mouse cursor stopped on an inconspicuous name amidst the ghastly green.
【GEM】
This was a company that recycled new energy batteries.
"..."
His throat involuntarily bobbed, and he swallowed hard.
That strange, intense, surging sensation was emanating from his fingertips, his palms, his arms!
Incredibly clear! Incredibly intense! It almost made his entire body tremble uncontrollably!
Yes! That was it! He couldn't be mistaken!
He used to have this unique, intense feeling every time he got a top-tier item in a game!
'But…this stock…'
Su Hao stared intently at the glaring green numbers on the screen, representing a massive drop, his eyes twitching uncontrollably. This was fucking a disaster!
It was almost purple with green!
It was practically heading for the daily limit down!
And didn't the meeting just declare that the battery sector was extremely risky and should be shorted?
At least in the short term, there was absolutely no chance of any recovery!
However… the intense sensation emanating from his fingertips, a sensation that nearly made his soul tremble, was frantically, stubbornly, and undeniably screaming the same message into his brain:
It's it! That's right! Choose it! Buy it!!
"…Yeah! What's there to be afraid of!"
A thought flashed through his mind like lightning.
"Anyway... it's just demo trading, isn't it?"
Thinking this, he felt a significant weight lifted from his shoulders.
Damn it! Then... I'll trust it one more time!
I'll trust my damn, yet incredibly real... intuition one more time!
Click—
The crisp sound of a mouse click echoed in the quiet corner.
Amidst a screen filled with a sea of ​​green representing declines, Su Hao no longer hesitated. His right index finger slammed down...
the button representing "buy"!