Chapter 9: Is this kid incredibly powerful?

"Should I seriously consider buying a car?"
For the first time, this thought seriously crossed Su Hao's mind.
Even he himself found it absurd. A newcomer who hadn't even secured his first month's salary, daring to even consider buying a car?
It was utterly delusional.
But now he truly understood why the well-dressed, respectable traders in this building, if they had the means, all tried to commute by car.
It was too early. Work hours were ridiculously early.
How early?
If you missed the first subway, you were guaranteed to be late.
Even if you were incredibly lucky and managed to squeeze onto the first subway on time, you'd often arrive at the office with only a few minutes left to catch your breath, your heart pounding, your sweat still damp, before you had to dive into work.
The only saving grace was that the seasoned veterans—the experienced traders—usually didn't bother arriving so early.
Su Hao, a nobody like him, usually received less scrutiny.
At least that's how it usually was.
But today, there was an unusual, eerie atmosphere!
"Huh?"
The moment Su Hao stepped into the office, his steps instinctively faltered.
An intense, palpable tension washed over him like a tangible wave, making his breath catch in his throat.
Looking around, the entire floor was packed with people!
From inexperienced junior staff like himself, to seasoned employees with impeccably combed hair and sharp, eagle-like eyes, even the usually elusive team leaders...
Good heavens, they were all, without exception, standing in the office as if they had all agreed to be there!
"Could it be... the stock market opened early today?" he muttered to himself, a growing suspicion in his mind.
Everyone was like a wind-up grasshopper, scurrying about in all directions. Footsteps, keyboard clicks, and hushed, hurried conversations mingled together, creating an oppressive, thick atmosphere of anxiety.
The air seemed thick with silent tension, devoid of shouts, yet brimming with the oppressive feeling of an impending storm.
This was no ordinary workday scene!
“Su Hao, you’re here?”
A slightly hurried female voice rang out; it was Li Huilin.
“Ah, Sister Huilin, I’m sorry… am I late?”
He responded somewhat awkwardly, with the caution and unease typical of a newcomer. “I didn’t expect everyone to be here so early.”
Li Huilin forced a smile that was barely more like a grimace, hastily waving her hand:
“No, no, you’re much earlier than the scheduled time. It’s… something big happened last night, that’s why.”
“Something big?” Su Hao’s heart skipped a beat.
What could possibly put the entire company on high alert?
“Hmm.” Li Huilin nodded, her speech quickening. “The Indonesian government, without any warning… dropped a bombshell—they announced they're cutting domestic nickel production by 30%!”
“Oh…” Su Hao responded instinctively, his mind reeling.
Indonesia cutting nickel production…is that a big deal?
To be honest, as a newbie who'd only been in the industry for a few days, he didn't immediately grasp the terrifying chain reaction behind it.
However, that didn't stop him from reacting.
He knew that Li Huilin, a gentle and almost always responsive woman he jokingly called his "newcomer savior," would always patiently answer his questions.
Sure enough, Li Huilin took a deep breath, her speech noticeably quickening as she began to explain:
"Just yesterday! Yesterday, we all generally believed that the battery sector was in a downturn, and related stock prices could only fall in the short term, right? Short selling was the mainstream strategy! But with what Indonesia did, the whole logic has completely reversed!"
She gestured, trying to make Su Hao understand the key point:
"Think about it, those companies holding large amounts of nickel inventory, or closely linked to nickel mines, haven't they suddenly become hot commodities? Their stock prices skyrocketing, it's almost a certainty!"
"But yesterday, several teams established significant short positions in battery stocks… You know, right? Short selling, if a short position goes in the wrong direction, and the market moves against you, the losses…"
She didn't finish her sentence, but the fear in her eyes said it all.
Su Hao had indeed been cramming on basic stock market knowledge lately, and some technical terms were no longer incomprehensible.
He understood that institutional "short positions," simply put, were "short selling."
This was a trading strategy that involved anticipating a decline in the price of a specific stock and profiting by "selling high and buying low."
Many large institutions used it to hedge risk or for speculation.
However, the risk was like dancing on the edge of a cliff.
If the market direction was misjudged, and a bet on a price drop was placed, but the price not only didn't fall but instead surged irrationally due to some unforeseen factor, then theoretically, the short seller's losses were…unlimited.
The scene before him—everyone rushing to the company before dawn, entering a near-wartime state of emergency—was a realistic portrayal of this deadly risk.
They, or rather, those unfortunate teams, firmly believed in the decline of battery stocks and boldly shorted them, only to run headlong into the "black swan" event of the Indonesian government flapping its wings.
Now, everyone was like ants on a hot plate, frantically checking their positions and assessing their risk exposure, trying to find a glimmer of hope before the storm completely engulfed them.
“What’s the scariest thing? Do you know?” Li Huilin’s voice trembled slightly, a testament to the market’s immense power:
“The scariest thing is that nobody can predict anything right now! Which stock will rise by how much? Which will fall by how much?… The market is completely in chaos.”
These words sent a chill down Su Hao’s spine.
Man can conquer nature?
Perhaps, in the face of the unpredictable and treacherous capital market, this sounded more like a weak self-comfort.
The stock market is like a vast, capricious ocean; no matter how sophisticated the analytical model or how comprehensive the risk contingency plan, it cannot completely withstand the sudden, natural storm.
Human strength has its limits, as this clearly demonstrates.
“Our group… didn’t touch battery stocks much yesterday, did we?” Su Hao asked.
Upon hearing this, Li Huilin seemed to breathe a huge sigh of relief:
"Thank goodness. Thanks to the manager's keen intuition; he sensed something was wrong yesterday and told us to stop and withdraw in time. So our losses shouldn't be too great. The real victims are the other departments; right now… sigh, it's complete chaos."
Su Hao secretly rejoiced. The usually taciturn, muscular Zhou Yi truly possessed an extraordinary market sense.
However, in that instant, he suddenly remembered something—
Wait.
"The stock I bought in that demo investment account yesterday… wasn't it a battery-related concept stock?"
Then… what will happen?
"Li Huilin! Su Hao! What are you still standing there for? Can't you see everyone's busy? Hurry up and get this data organized! Quickly!"
A slightly hoarse, sharp shout came from not far away, interrupting his thoughts.
It was another senior trader impatiently urging him.
"Ah, yes! Yes! Su Hao, let's go!" Li Huilin snapped out of her daze and quickly pulled him along.
Never mind.
Su Hao quickly banished the thought from his mind.
It's just a simulated investment, virtual numbers. It's not real.
Right now, the most important thing is to keep a low profile, extremely low profile, and do his job well, focusing on the mundane but crucial tasks, avoiding trouble at this critical juncture.
Meanwhile, in the manager's office of Trading Department One, the atmosphere was as heavy as lead.
Zhou Yi, the team leader known for his iron fist, composure, and even near-ruthlessness, was unusually furrowed, his deep eyes fixed on the wildly fluctuating market data display screen.
His team members were also holding their breath, afraid to utter a sound.
On the screen, a scene of utter chaos, thrown into disarray by Indonesia's sudden "policy snipe," was unfolding.
To the untrained eye, a mere news report about a metal production cut in a distant country might seem like an overreaction.
It's far too much of an fuss.
However, only those truly immersed in the unique ecosystem of the stock market can fully grasp the terrifying destructive power hidden behind such seemingly absurd events.
This market operates with its own unique, even bizarre, logic.
Historically, Yunzhongma attracted attention due to its name's similarity to that of Alibaba's founder; Yuanwanggu's stock price surged due to its name's homonym with that of Winter Olympics champion Gu Ailing; and Chuanda Zhisheng was highly sought after because its name resembled the Chinese translation of Donald Trump's name during the US presidential election…
This phenomenon, half-jokingly and half-helplessly, is known within the industry as "keyword investing" or "theme speculation."
While perhaps rare in the capital markets of other mature countries, it's commonplace in China, practically part of the market's DNA.
The root causes are twofold. Firstly, the extremely high participation rate of individual investors in Xia Guo leads to drastic market volatility driven by sentiment.
Secondly, the deeply ingrained culture of speculating on "theme stocks" and "concept stocks" permeates the market.
Coupled with the deeply ingrained and powerful herd mentality, this irrational sentiment can often push the prices of certain stocks to astonishing heights in a very short period, completely detached from fundamentals.
"
And right now, that's precisely the biggest problem.
How will this powerful, irrational collective sentiment—strong enough to distort the market itself—interpret and digest the Indonesian government's statement?
What kind of frenzied response will the market give?
'Ah...it's going up! Still going up!'
'Holy crap! Is this insane? Is it going to fly?'
The market opening bell was like igniting a long-suppressed powder keg."
Instantly, a cacophony of suppressed gasps, wails, and vulgar curses erupted like boiling water throughout the hall.
"This price...where the hell is it going? Stop it! Stop it right now!"
The other teams' senior traders had completely lost their composure, their faces flushed, veins bulging, roaring almost maniacally at their screens.
At a time like this, even normally authoritative managers wouldn't dare provoke them.
Watching the numbers in their accounts cascade down like a waterfall, real money rapidly evaporating before their eyes, who could maintain any semblance of rationality or composure?
Even though they were operating the company's account, the profit or loss of each trade was directly tied to their personal performance and their year-end bonuses, which they considered their lifeline.
For these professionals who saw trading as their life, this moment felt like being slowly tortured, a form of death by a dull knife.
"Manager, battery-related stocks... are almost all up right now, and the gains are very strong."
A team member's fingers flew across the keyboard as he nervously reported to Zhou Yi.
Zhou Yi's voice was low and calm, a stark contrast to the surrounding frenzy:
"This is just the first wave of emotional shock; soon, a divergence will emerge. Only those companies that truly control large amounts of nickel resources will reap long-term, substantial benefits from this event. Have we got the preliminary results of our loss assessment?"
"Thankfully! The short positions we established yesterday were all quickly stopped out immediately, and the losses are within expectations." The subordinate seemed to have regained some composure as a result:
"The main problem is... the short positions held by other teams... judging by the situation, a short squeeze... has completely erupted."
A short squeeze.
These four words are nothing short of the most terrifying nightmare for traders.
Their terrifying power makes many people avoid mentioning them even in daily life, fearing that their words might become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“Moreover, it’s not just our company. I just saw the news that several other large private equity firms also have a large number of short positions that are firmly trapped.”
Another subordinate added, his face equally grim:
“I heard…I heard that various securities companies are constantly triggering forced liquidation notices! The whole market is in complete chaos!”
Zhou Yi nodded slightly, already understanding the situation.
The so-called short-selling stampede is essentially a death spiral:
Short sellers originally expected the stock price to fall, but the stock price unexpectedly soared.
To avoid unlimited losses, they were forced to buy stocks on the market to close their short positions.
However, this forced buying further inflated the already rising stock price, causing even greater losses for other short sellers and triggering more panic selling…
This vicious cycle ultimately pushed the stock price to an irrationally high level.
At this moment, many institutions that had established short positions anticipating a decline in battery stocks had created a large number of short positions, only to be caught off guard by the Indonesian "black swan" event.
The stock price surged against the trend, and they were eager to cut their losses, only to find that the market was flooded with buying, with insufficient selling pressure to absorb the losses.
Their buying to close their positions themselves became fuel for the price increase, causing the losses on their short positions to snowball.
The only saving grace, or rather, the only thing that could somewhat limit the unlimited spread of this disaster, was the 10% daily price fluctuation limit in the stock market.
But this layer of "protection" did not provide true reassurance.
In this extreme market condition where everyone has lost their minds and is frantically buying, a stock can easily be locked at its daily limit for several days in a row, with absolutely no selling pressure.
For those holding short positions, this means they can only watch helplessly as their losses grow exponentially day after day.
And right now, there is such a stock, firmly nailed to its daily limit in an extremely glaring way:
【GEM +10%】
After the market opened, in a very short time, this stock skyrocketed, directly locked at the 10% daily limit by massive buy orders!
On the screen, only astronomical numbers of buy orders continued to pile up relentlessly, forming a despairing wall of buying pressure.
“…”
Normally, whenever the market is in trading hours, Zhou Yi's entire mind is immersed as a rock in the sea of ​​numbers and the fluctuations of the K-line, undisturbed by any external factors.
Today, however, he felt unusually agitated and unable to fully concentrate.
So, after quickly handling a few necessary risk hedging operations, he ended most of his trading orders early.
Right now, market funds were flowing into specific battery and resource sectors like madmen, causing liquidity in other sectors to almost dry up and trading volume to shrink.
Besides sitting there staring blankly, there wasn't much meaningful thing to do.
"But...how did that newcomer...know in advance?"
A thought, like a ghost, uncontrollably surfaced in his mind.
Zhou Yi's gaze, sharp as a knife, pierced through the noisy crowd and involuntarily fell on the figure outside, still meticulously running errands and photocopying documents—Su Hao.
Could this kid really have connections to this extent? Could he have actually planted an insider in the Indonesian government?
This is just too absurd!!
Otherwise, how could one have so accurately selected this stock when almost all market institutions were dismissive or even completely unaware of it, and... even bought it with an almost frantic, all-in investment?
“…”
His gaze was fixed on that figure, scrutinizing, probing, and even carrying a hint of... barely perceptible heat.