Chapter 3: Shanghai Composite Index Reaches 2000 Points!

In the entire trading room, apart from Su Yue and Zhou Kai, who had just been transferred, there were eight other traders, including one trading team leader and one deputy team leader.

The eight traders showed no welcoming expressions upon the arrival of Su Yue and Zhou Kai.

Su Yue noticed that some of them looked gloomy, while others seemed tense. Everyone's eyes were glued to the stock market data displayed on their computer screens, showing the intense trading activity. Su Yue simply smiled and didn't pay much attention to the situation. He exchanged a few words with Zhou Kai and then took his seat at his workstation, opening his computer to monitor the market.

Zhou Kai observed Su Yue for a moment and started imitating his behavior.

After about ten minutes of silence, the newly appointed fund manager, Wang Liling, entered the trading room to assign tasks and designate the team leaders. She acted as a temporary mentor for Su Yue and Zhou Kai to help them familiarize themselves with their new roles.

Once the work assignments were given out, Wang Liling left the trading room and headed to the Fund Investment Department's meeting room for a meeting.

Su Yue and Zhou Kai then moved their workstations to sit next to their respective mentors.

"Your name is Su Yue?" Su Yue's mentor looked over his internal personnel information and smiled as she assessed him, "You studied finance at the University of Shanghai Finance and Economics, Class of 2009?"

"Yes!" Su Yue nodded.

"I graduated in 2006." Her smile became even more charming. "You can call me Senior Sister from now on."

Su Yue heard her introduction and was briefly taken aback. He raised his eyes and carefully examined her. He noticed that his mentor was a very attractive woman. She was dressed in a simple white shirt, had fair skin, a delicate oval face, willow-shaped eyebrows, refined features, bright eyes, and sleek black hair tied back behind her ears. A pair of pearl earrings gleamed under her sparkling ears.

"Why? Is there a problem?" She noticed Su Yue's gaze and inquired.

Su Yue quickly searched his memory for information about her identity but found nothing. After a moment, he responded, "No problem, Senior Sister."

"Good then!" She nodded.

She quickly began to guide Su Yue on some trading precautions while he listened to her clear voice. However, his mind wasn't fully focused as he continued to think about her identity.

"Evening Qing, what should we do about 'LeTV' stock? It's still plummeting!" Another female trader in the room suddenly turned to Su Yue's mentor and said anxiously, "It's a significant volume decline, and it's completely opposite to the overall trend of the media and entertainment sector. I can't understand it at all."

Upon hearing the name "Evening Qing," Su Yue's mind finally clicked, and he recalled who she was.

"So, she was the campus belle and goddess during our university days." Su Yue thought to himself, "I never imagined she would also work at Shenghong Fund Management Company, and she's the deputy team leader of the 'Future Investment Mixed Selection' fund. How come I have no memory of this in the original timeline?"

After careful consideration, Su Yue could only deduce that in the original timeline, Evening Qing probably left the company before he transferred to the "Future Investment Mixed Selection" fund. After all, the time he joined the fund was almost two months earlier than in the current timeline.

"I suggest continuing to reduce the holding weight of this stock!" Evening Qing switched her computer screen to analyze the trading data of 'LeTV.' She explained, "It's experiencing continuous high-volume declines against the market trend, indicating that there might be some underlying negative factors affecting it. Moreover, market institutions are not optimistic about its mid-year performance. In the short term, it's unlikely to attract major institutional buyers to support the stock. Let's cut our positions and avoid further losses; there should be no problem."

Of course, Evening Qing didn't mention the most crucial reason.

That is, the ongoing large-scale redemptions of the "Future Investment Mixed Selection" fund by investors. In response to the massive redemption requests, they had no choice but to sell off stocks with weak performance and heavy losses to meet the redemption demands. Whether they had confidence in the stock or not, they had to cut their positions.

"Okay then!" Upon hearing Evening Qing's analysis, the other trader didn't hesitate and immediately started placing sell orders to reduce their holdings.

After replying to the trader, Evening Qing turned her attention back to Su Yue, preparing to continue guiding him and explaining some trading tips. However, she suddenly noticed that the fund trading sub-account she had given to Su Yue a few minutes ago had changed from an empty position to a fully invested position.

"I told you to observe the market first, didn't I? Why are you in such a hurry to buy?" Evening Qing's bright eyes showed a hint of displeasure, and her face darkened.

Su Yue noticed her change in expression but remained calm and composed. He replied, "Market opportunities often come and go quickly. Hesitating for a moment might cause us to miss them. Senior Sister asked me to observe the market to find suitable investment opportunities, and I believe I've found one."

"In the financial trading market, as long as it's open, there will never be a lack of trading opportunities," Evening Qing said sternly, and her perception of Su Yue, her junior, diminished a bit. "The most crucial quality for a qualified trader is patience. If the financial market is a forest, and trading opportunities are the prey, then we traders are the hunters in this forest. As hunters, lacking patience often leads to little harvest."

"But what if the prey is right in front of you?" Su Yue smiled and replied, "In that case, the correct approach is not to wait but to decisively pull the trigger on your trading terminal."

For traders, funds are like the long gun triggers in Evening Qing's metaphor.

After hearing Su Yue's insight, Evening Qing was briefly taken aback, and her expression eased a bit. She asked, "What stock did you buy?"

"Fushun Special Steel!" Su Yue uttered the stock's name.

Evening Qing wasn't familiar with this stock and estimated it to be an obscure one. She quickly searched for it in the trading interface and opened the stock's data. She found that the trading activity was not very active, and the recent intraday trend wasn't particularly remarkable. The stock's concepts, performance, and market attention were all quite ordinary, and she couldn't see any investment value.

"The logic behind your purchase..." Evening Qing observed for a while but couldn't discern any trading opportunities for the stock. She was about to ask Su Yue about the reasoning behind his buy order when she suddenly noticed a series of five consecutive market orders with significant buying volume appear on the stock's real-time trading screen. These orders totaled nearly 50 million yuan in funds and caused the stock's price to shoot up in a vertical line. Within an instant, the stock's price surged from a 1.5% increase to a 7% increase.

Before she could react to the sudden surge, the stock, 'Fushun Special Steel,' quickly topped the list of real-time gainers in the market, attracting the attention of market investors.

"This..." Evening Qing widened her eyes, unable to comprehend the logic behind the sudden price movement of the stock.

She pondered for a moment but still couldn't figure out the reason. Just as she was about to turn her head to ask Su Yue, she saw the stock experience another surge due to the influx of momentum-buying funds from the market. The stock's price spiked again, reaching the daily price limit in just one minute.

"Daily limit?" Evening Qing watched as 'Fushun Special Steel' reached its daily limit after being locked by 260,000 shares of active buying orders, feeling both amazed and dreamlike.

Hearing Evening Qing's exclamation, the trader sitting next to her couldn't help but ask, "What's hitting the daily limit?"

"It's nothing!" Evening Qing replied briefly and regained her composure. She quickly turned her attention to Su Yue and asked, "How did you know this stock would rise?"

Su Yue stared at the computer screen, looking at the 8.39% profit in his fund account and the additional 251,700 yuan of floating profit gained within a few minutes. He smiled and responded, "When I placed that 3 million yuan order as a market buy, as you said before, there were signs of continuous accumulation by major funds on this stock..."

"Understood!" As Su Yue spoke, Evening Qing suddenly understood.

Su Yue's 3 million yuan order was meant to draw the attention of the major funds lurking on this stock. The goal was to let them know that there were other major funds entering the market with positive expectations. This would make them understand that if they didn't act quickly to boost the stock, they risked being overtaken by other competing major funds. By doing this, Su Yue intended to use his 3 million yuan order to pry open the stock's trading volume, inducing the major funds to quickly bid up the stock and secure the low-level chips. This way, Su Yue could take control of the stock's trading volume with his limited funds.

Of course, Su Yue's ability to carry out this operation confidently, using 3 million yuan as bait to lead the major funds into quick buying, relied on the vast knowledge stored in his memory, combined with the current market conditions, actual stock performance, 'Fushun Special Steel's' recent candlestick patterns, and volume performance, among other factors. Through this assessment, he determined that the stock had potential for positive speculation and saw an opportunity to profit from the situation.

Evening Qing carefully reviewed Su Yue's entire operation and opened the company's internal database to search for relevant information about 'Fushun Special Steel' and recent investment analysis reports. She then combined this information with the latest market rumors to evaluate the stock's investment and speculative logic. To her surprise, she discovered that the stock was not as valueless as she had initially thought; instead, it had significant speculative potential.

"Did you really have no prior market trading experience?" Evening Qing added 'Fushun Special Steel' to her watchlist and marked it as a stock of key interest. She scrutinized Su Yue again, doubting the authenticity of his resume. "Most novice traders don't possess the composure and trading mindset like yours."

Su Yue smiled and replied, "Does my personal stock trading experience count?"

"Of course, it does!" Evening Qing nodded, feeling more reassured about Su Yue's actions. She thought for a moment and asked, "Did you also buy this stock in your personal account just now?"

"Yes," Su Yue nodded.

Hearing this, Evening Qing's expression changed slightly as she reminded him, "Although the regulations for our fund traders regarding personal stock trading are not as strict as those for employees of securities companies, there are still some requirements, especially when it comes to holding the same stocks in both our personal and institutional accounts..."

"I know the relevant rules," Su Yue interrupted Evening Qing, saying, "You don't need to worry."

Evening Qing thought for a while and realized she shouldn't delve further into the matter. Many "unwritten rules" in the industry were understood by everyone without being explicitly stated. She nodded slightly and shifted her focus back to the intense trading in the market.

After Evening Qing's attention returned to the market, Su Yue used his fuzzy memory of the market trades during this time period to select several stocks with potential for significant gains in the future and added them to his watchlist. Then, he consulted the company's internal database and the recent rumors and news in the market, combined with his impressions of the overall market trend, to plan his investment strategy.

By the time he finished all of this, the market's trading hours had already reached 3 p.m.

The closing prices were as follows:

- The Shanghai Composite Index closed at 2038.61 points, down 1.23%, with a turnover of 97.023 billion yuan.

- The Shenzhen Component Index closed at 7192.71 points, down 2.25%, with a turnover of 1423.76 billion yuan.

- The ChiNext Index closed at 1384.58 points, down 1.85%, with a turnover of 484.69 billion yuan.

Facing the overall declining trend, the mood in the entire trading room was low, and there were consecutive sighs of disappointment.

"It's another day of heavy volume decline!"

"Our fund's net asset value has dropped significantly today, and investors are continuing to redeem their shares. I'm afraid that after tomorrow's settlement, our fund's size will decrease significantly."

"What to buy when everything is falling? It's really challenging to make trades in the current market."

"At around 2000 points, such a large volume can still be sold. I wonder who's selling."

In contrast to the pessimistic sentiment of others, Su Yue's heart was filled with hope, seeing opportunities everywhere.

In fact, from a later perspective, a grand bull market was right in front of them. Around 2000 points, most of the stock chips would become the real keys to wealth accumulation for the next year. As long as one was willing to invest, cheap chips could be found everywhere.

"Huh, when did 'Fushun Special Steel' appear in our fund's holdings? And it has become one of the most profitable stocks in our portfolio. Who was responsible for this trade, and what was the reasoning behind the purchase?" After the market closed, Lu Changjun, the head of the trading group, was going through the trading data and checking the list of holdings when he was surprised. "Moreover, the Fund Manager, Wang Liling, has just finished the meeting and has already entered the trading room."

"Team leader Lu, how was the closing result today?" Wang Liling scanned the people in the trading room with a glance and went straight to Lu Changjun without wasting any time.

Lu Changjun quickly reported the summary data of the fund account to Wang Liling.

Upon hearing Lu Changjun's brief report, Wang Liling frowned noticeably and remained silent for a while without saying a word.

According to Lu Changjun's report, the risk of liquidation for the 'Future Investment Hybrid Selection' fund product is much more severe than Evening Qing had anticipated.

According to the regulatory conditions set for public fund products, if the net asset value of a fund remains below 50 million for 60 consecutive days or if the number of fund shareholders remains below 200 for 60 consecutive days, it will trigger a liquidation of the fund.

Currently, the 'Future Investment Hybrid Selection' fund product is not far from meeting these two conditions.

After contemplating for a while, Wang Liling looked around at everyone and said, "What are your thoughts? Let's all contribute our ideas and work together."

"We must stabilize the net asset value of our fund and stop the continuous redemption wave from investors."

"Our priority should be to stabilize the larger investors in our fund. We can't afford to have them redeeming at this moment."

"The key is to turn around the net asset value. Only when the net asset value improves can we truly restore investors' confidence."

"Let the fund sales department promote our fund products again. It might be effective."

"Bringing in another large client can help stabilize the fund's size, and that will give us more flexibility in our operations."

Everyone began sharing their thoughts and suggestions seriously. After all, they were all tied to the same financial interest. If the 'Future Investment Hybrid Selection' fund product had to be liquidated, the entire trading room would be disbanded, which was undesirable for everyone.

"In the shortest trading time, we need to liquidate all the losing stocks in the fund's holdings, freeing up positions and funds. This is the most important thing to do now." After everyone had spoken, the trading room fell silent, and Su Yue calmly said, "Otherwise, we can only passively reduce our positions and won't be able to actively seek and seize real investment opportunities."

Hearing Su Yue's words, Wang Liling's eyes lit up slightly, and the gloom in her heart seemed to dissipate a bit. She smiled and said, "Su Yue, please continue."

Su Yue nodded and continued, "In the financial trading market, real profits are the most enticing. Under the continuous decline in net asset value, investors will redeem their fund shares, and there's no way we can stop or persuade them. What we need to do is find ways to increase the net asset value, allowing our investors to make money. When that happens, the fleeing investors will naturally return, and the current wave of redemptions will subside.

Even if our fund's size undergoes a short-term sharp reduction due to investors redeeming their shares, dropping our assets below 50 million and the number of shareholders below 200, we shouldn't be afraid.

We still have 60 days to turn things around, right?

As long as we can raise the net asset value within 60 days, the redeemed investors will come back.

The key is for all of us to maintain our composure and change our previously passive trading strategies. With limited funds, we need to actively seek and seize real investment opportunities.

In fact, I believe that a short-term reduction in our fund's size is not a bad thing.

Reducing the fund's size will make our operations more flexible and versatile in the current market situation, and it will also be beneficial for us to improve the net asset value."

"Very well said!" After listening to Su Yue, Wang Liling's eyes brightened, and she already had an idea in her mind. She smiled and praised, leading everyone in applause.

The others in the trading room also understood instantly and clapped along.

Among them, Evening Qing looked at Su Yue with a smile and a calm demeanor, thinking about his performance during the trading session. She had a higher opinion of him and couldn't help but mutter to herself, "What a talented junior! Are all new traders this capable nowadays? Wang Liling asked me to guide him, but can I even teach him anything?"

(End of this chapter)