Chapter 93: Haste Makes No Hot Tofu

Qian Caiying’s inward grumbling was unknown to Zhang Long, though he could guess well enough that it was hardly affectionate.

This elder sister type was terribly proud.

Out of more than two thousand A-shares, he had effectively narrowed the field for her to three stocks: one that would bring a hefty profit, one that would take a small loss, and one that would remain flat. That was more than enough for today’s opening move.

…

“Hm?”

Hongze and several other marketing managers, including Liang Xue, received the handpicked radar list provided by Director Qian Caiying. It was a premium service, distinct from the platform’s daily basic stock recommendation report, left to the sales staff to use as they saw fit.

They could mainly promote the standard recommendation report, or they could push Qian Caiying’s selected radar list. No one was being forced to use one over the other; it was flexible, entirely at their own discretion.

Of course, Liang Xue knew this selected radar list had been built on Zhang Long’s trades, but she said nothing.

“One overlaps?”

Her brows drew together slightly. In Hongze’s stock recommendation report for the day, there was one main operating stock and three others marked for key attention. In the selected radar list sent by Qian Caiying, there was likewise one main operating stock and two key-attention stocks.

Among the key-attention picks, one overlapped.

Her thoughts immediately began to branch out. Zhang Long had referred to Hongze’s recommendation report, yet instead of buying the main operating stock, he had purchased one of the key-attention stocks. Did that mean he was more optimistic about this one?

As for why Qian Caiying had not also listed it as the operating stock, she probably did not want duplication.

Or perhaps she simply was not willing to place all her bets on Zhang Long.

“All right. Push it.”

Liang Xue pondered for a moment. Two minutes had passed, and Qian Caiying had still not explicitly named her selected radar list in the group chat as the required reference. In that case, it was fine. Which stock to push as the main recommendation was up to the four managers in the marketing department.

Liang Xue trusted Zhang Long’s ability. Without hesitation, she chose the overlapping one.

Tiannan Technology.

Of course, even if the main recommendation turned out wrong, it did not matter much. In a bear market, all the major financial firms made mistakes regularly; clients were long since used to it and took it half as entertainment.

A recommendation was only a recommendation. Whether to act on it was another matter.

…

“Hehe, he’s in.”

At HSBC UBS, Qin Miaotong and Gu Su saw that Zhang Long’s account had once again bought two stocks, using up the remaining one million in funds, and they could not help feeling delighted.

With a total of two million moving in and out, the commission would be around a thousand yuan, and they could draw two hundred from it.

Poor girls. They had no idea that Zhang Long could run up over ten thousand a day in fees just trading spot silver, and the corresponding instructor’s commission, even at only twenty percent…

There was no comparing the two. Compare people too closely, and you could die of frustration.

Of course, anyone who truly burned to make money had, in the past two years, already left the stock brokerage business and thrown themselves into futures, foreign exchange, spot trading, and other platforms where money came more easily. Back at Shengxin, quite a few employees had left for exactly that reason.

Whether a platform was fully legitimate or not, for grassroots sales staff simply earning commissions and handling fees, there was usually no great problem. The same largely held true for middle management. The real risk lay with senior executives.

Like Wang Jing: she merely earned a little from commissions and fee percentages. Even if something happened to Huiyin, it would have nothing to do with her.

Besides, whether Huiyin was secretly running a bucket-shop model and taking the other side of clients’ positions was something the lower and middle ranks would never know.

Unless you were at the absolute top, you were not qualified to know.

Zhang Long traded at Huiyin for one reason only: to fleece a fast profit from spot trading. As long as the money he made did not hit the warning threshold of Huiyin’s capital pool, nothing would happen. In a society governed by law, making money by one’s own ability was no crime.

But take an example: if he made fifty million at Huiyin, and Huiyin sat down to negotiate—Zhang Long, stop playing here, go wreak havoc on some other platform instead—and he refused to listen?

Then there was no telling what might happen.

Leave people some room, and you can still meet again in the future. If you really thought yourself iron-headed and hard-fated, fearless before heaven and earth—

That was why Zhang Long also understood that he could not fleece just one platform too ruthlessly. Better to spread it across several. More humane that way.

Beep, beep-beep—

At Huiyin’s trading department, Wang Jing received a message from Zhang Long on Q-chat. No nonsense: if there was a chance to enter the market, send him the trade suggestion at once. If he could get in, he would.

Fine. So he wanted to trade? Then let it begin.

…

“Just this little movement?”

At Dragon Dwelling on the Bund, after receiving Wang Jing’s trade suggestion, Zhang Long was speechless. Spot silver was currently oscillating around 6150. If one wanted to enter, it would certainly mean going long. After all, yesterday it had fallen all the way down; 6100 below was a support level, and as long as it held, there should be no major problem.

Whether Wang Jing’s suggestion was right or wrong did not matter to Zhang Long. Foresight would tell him the accurate answer anyway.

What he had not expected, however, was that while going long was indeed correct, the upside had only fifty points in it.

This rise would top out at 6200. End of move.

“Only thirty points net profit?”

Zhang Long sighed. Go long near 6150 and exit around 6200; after costs, that was only thirty points of profit, not much at all. Fifty lots at fifty kilograms each would bring only seventy-five thousand.

His account currently held two and a half million, enough to buy eighty lots and make a hundred and twenty thousand, but that was too aggressive.

Operating at full position all the time was not good either.

“Even a mosquito’s leg is still meat…”

In the end, holding to the principle that a small profit was still a profit and should not be wasted, Zhang Long entered directly with fifty long lots. Thirty points and seventy-five thousand was acceptable. He could not be too greedy.

So time passed, and around noon, when silver reached roughly 6200, he took profit and ran.

A small gain for the morning wave: seventy-five thousand.

“Huh? Brother Long closed…”

Wang Jing was a little startled. In the past, he would never close without fifty points or more. Why had he run after only thirty this time? But a moment later, she discovered that Zhang Long had actually reversed and gone short. His fifty-lot long position had turned into a short one.

Questions were questions, but how a client operated was his own freedom, so long as he did not stubbornly hold a bad position and end up taking one huge loss that triggered forced liquidation and crippled him half to death.

“Damn, he made money again!”

By three in the afternoon, silver had fallen from 6200 back to around 6150, and Zhang Long closed out.

Two profitable waves, one up and one down: one hundred and fifty thousand.

…

“Sharp. Beautiful.”

This was Zhang Long praising himself, because the short position at 6200 had been entirely his own decision. He had not asked Huiyin. Since the previous rebound, according to foresight, ended at 6200, then once that swing was over, a reversal naturally followed.

Seen this way, although foresight was limited to three uses a day, in practice it could steadily secure profit six times.

For the next wave earned through foresight, there was no need to ask the platform for advice; he could simply trade in the opposite direction. The only uncertainty was how many points the move could run.

Perhaps it would end after thirty points, or fifty. If greed made him hesitate and refuse to exit, profit could easily turn into loss.

So Zhang Long made a mental note: whenever he guessed right on his own, he would run after thirty points of profit.

At most, never more than fifty. He would definitely get out.

Buzz, buzz-buzz—

Suddenly his phone vibrated. Zhang Long picked it up and saw a message from Liang Xue. She did not say much, only that Qian Caiying’s face had darkened a little, and her mood was not too good.

Why was her mood bad?

An unlucky start. Of the three stocks bought in the morning, the one that would produce a big profit would not rise until tomorrow or the day after.

Another—the one that would take a small loss—had just fallen about three percent before the close, and the third had also slipped slightly.

But that third stock would recover by Friday morning, and although the small-loss one had fallen today, by Friday’s close it would only be down about five percent.

That was nothing compared with Tiannan Technology, which could catch two limit-up boards and bring more than twenty percent in profit.

Lose first, then win. No need to be impatient, elder sister.

Out of more than two thousand A-shares, he had already narrowed it to three, and one of them was guaranteed to rise.

With the range already reduced this precisely, anything more explicit would have been excessive. It was enough for Qian Caiying to use this week.

And as long as she was not stupid, she would not really put all her chips on the proxy account stocks traded by Zhang Long. That was why, among Hongze’s four teams today, only Liang Xue had grasped the implication.

It would not affect Tiannan Technology. Otherwise, if a large number of Hongze clients had really all bought in, then the institutions or hot money behind Tiannan Technology, planning to lift the stock—

The moment they saw it, they would think, who the hell leaked the news?

Forget lifting it. Tiannan Technology abandoned.

So when Zhang Long operated the proxy account, he also weighed Qian Caiying’s temperament, giving measured and moderate assistance. As long as it boosted Hongze’s performance and business development, that was enough.

There was plenty of time ahead. The hot tofu would come in due course.

P.S. Bookmarks are about to break twenty thousand. Many thanks to all the fellow readers and honored patrons for your support. My deepest gratitude.