Whipsaw

A new day dawned, and the trading began.

After the market opened, the price of shells continued to rise. However, thirty minutes later, there was a sharp pullback. This was the result of Wood unloading 400 boxes all at once.

In the trading hall, everyone gasped in shock.

"Teacher, what should we do?" a nervous novice asked anxiously.

"Wait for the battle between the bulls and bears," the experienced trader replied calmly. "It seems that the same bearish force from before has resurfaced. But don't worry; the bull force is led by the famous merchant Wood. He's a powerful force. Soon, we'll see new highs."

Sure enough, seeing the price no longer decline, some traders started to buy at the dip. Prices began to rise slowly.

"I'll buy 50 boxes to catch the bottom," the trader called for a red-vested attendant.

"I'll buy 10 boxes," the novice said, nervously.

An hour later, the price reached a new high.

(Wood had bought 200 boxes, leading the bulls to recover lost ground.)

The novice excitedly asked, "Teacher, you're amazing! We've reached a new high. Should we sell?"

The trader, equally exhilarated, replied, "This is the power of the trend. With the right path comes great support, and with the wrong path comes only defeat. We'll gather more strength by joining forces. We can't sell now, we need to buy more. I'll purchase another 50 boxes."

The novice's eyes glinted with greed. "I'm scared... But I believe in the power of the trend. I'll buy another 10 boxes."

However, strangely, after the new high, the price only held for 30 minutes before collapsing again in another sharp drop.

(Wood unloaded 500 boxes.)

This dramatic drop, visible on the 15-minute chart, was terrifying. The trading volume was enormous, almost signaling to everyone that large traders were unloading their positions.

At noon, the market closed.

The novice was in a panic. "Teacher, what do we do now?"

The trader, with beads of cold sweat on his brow, replied, "Don't panic. The bears have been relentless, but we must trust in the power of the trend. The bull force, led by Wood, is formidable."

The novice trembled, speaking with a quiver in his voice, "Okay... okay."

After hastily eating some bread, the two returned to the trading hall.

It felt like torture as they waited for the afternoon opening.

Surprisingly, the market again began to tilt upwards. (Wood bought another 200 boxes.)

The trader shouted, "Little brother, I'm buying 50 more boxes."

The novice asked, "Teacher, why are you still buying?"

The trader replied gravely, "I'm defending the position for the bull force. As long as the upward trend continues, there's hope. Today, the bears have put in all their effort. This is the decisive battle, and we can't lose."

However, in the next 15 minutes, the price experienced a slight dip.

The trader, enduring immense pain, muttered, "Damn it! Why hasn't Wood acted yet? He's letting the bears bully him! What are you doing, Wood? Fight back!"

In the following 15 minutes, the price plunged sharply again.

(Wood unloaded 600 boxes.)

This time, the price broke through the bull's defense line.

The novice, shaking, asked, "Teacher…"

The trader snapped, "Don't speak! Come here, little brother."

The red-vested attendant jogged over.

The trader coldly ordered, "I'm unloading all of my positions, 1,250 boxes, all of them!"

The novice, pitifully, pleaded, "Teacher... teacher..."

The trader ignored the novice and muttered, "Wood, if you're so weak that the bears defeat you, I won't help you anymore. You don't deserve help."

After waiting for a while, the trader received the receipt from the red-vested attendant. He nearly fainted.

The transaction price had dropped significantly by 3%, which showed that many people had chosen to unload at the same point.

The trader calculated, and with the added leverage, he had lost 20% of his capital...

His face grew even darker.

After waiting a little longer, the chart confirmed what he feared: another massive drop.

The trader knew he was out of the game, but at least he had only lost 20%.

He put on his hat, ready to leave the trading hall.

"Teacher... teacher... what should I do?" the novice begged for help.

"I'm not your father. Figure it out yourself!" the trader shouted angrily.

Trading was brutal. The trader had understood this principle when he was speculating in commodities. But the cruelty of paper contracts, especially in comparison to other goods, was even more severe due to the ease of trading.

The trader felt a mysterious force breaking the natural laws. His countless experiences and conclusions had been shattered by a malignant force...

...

In the end, the trader was eliminated.

In the VIP room, Wood was also shocked by the strength of the betrayers' power.

If Wood had established an alliance of "buy and never sell," even during a crash, they would not have sold.

However, with the breach of the bull defense line, many of those following the "trend investment" ideology believed Wood had lost.

Thus, they started unloading their positions.

Wood bought 1,000 boxes, trying to stabilize the price, but it still drew another huge drop.

The opponent unloaded at least 2,000 boxes.

In the next 15 minutes, Wood bought 1,000 boxes again to push the price up.

In the next 15 minutes, Wood bought another 500 boxes, and the price rose once more.

At the closing bell, the daily chart ended with a bullish trend.

This line Wood had drawn was the ultimate mockery of the "trend investment" faction.

He mused, "The traitors should be cleared out now."

He was relieved he caught it early. If those traders had joined him at the top and started unloading, it would have been a disaster.

Through the whipsaw, he first drove out the trend investors.

He'd rather let the bears make money than allow the trend investors to profit.

Because both the bulls and the bears had their own positions, but the trend investors were slippery and despised by both.

...

Edward, not knowing that Wood was working against another faction, had been monitoring him but could not understand Wood's actions today.

Buying and selling intermittently, but not in a typical reversal.

Looking at the chart, it resembled a classic bull and bear double kill pattern from his previous life: exploding both the shorts and the longs.

But Wood didn't profit from today's trades. Instead, he had lost a fair amount of money.

Was he engaging in some form of performance art?

Edward felt a headache coming on. The speed at which these ancient traders evolved was staggering.

At this point, just by looking at the warehouse receipt, Edward was completely unable to understand Wood's strategy.

Since the daily chart showed a bullish candlestick, Edward's positions had suffered further losses.

He continued to patiently wait for the war to end. Wood was his prey, and he kept a close watch on every move Wood made.

In ancient times, hunters used animals as their prey, setting traps and using bows and arrows to hunt.

It required a great deal of intelligence, patience, and endurance to outwit and outlast the prey.

Now, the traders were hunting other humans, living, breathing targets. It required even more courage, wisdom, and patience.

And if one were to become the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, a leader of a nation, the prey would be civilizations, hunting other civilizations.

"Give time to civilization, and give civilization to time." This quote from The Three-Body Problem was one Edward did not agree with.

"Give time to barbarism" was more like it.

Having crossed over from the future into the year 1370, Edward would never believe humanity's future would become more civilized.

It would only devolve further into the jungle rule.

World War I, World War II—how brutal they were. How could there not be a Third World War?

Civilization? What is that? This is humanity!

In The Three-Body Problem, Luo Ji, the "wall-facer," stared at the wall, focused on the Trisolaran civilization.

However, Edward could only focus on one human being for now. His position was still not high enough to shoulder the responsibility of staring at an entire civilization.

Only by successfully hunting Wood could he reach a higher position.

Or, he could be hunted by Wood and lose everything, being eliminated from the game.

In this deadly battlefield, only one of the bulls or bears would survive.

This was the brutal duel between men!