Chapter Twenty: The Blood-Stained Chip
Page 1/3
[Dear customer, your savings card ending in 2389 made a bank-to-securities transfer of 21,900 Huaguo yuan at 8:43 on April 6 (in words: twenty-one thousand nine hundred yuan), available balance 212 yuan.] Zhang Yang transferred the money from his bank card to his securities account, and the Construction Bank immediately sent a notification to his Nokia phone.
Of the 21,900 yuan, 20,000 was the fee for Lai Weijie’s managed trading, and the remaining 1,900 yuan came from selling market research reports.
Originally, he planned to do real trading once he had more funds, but he unexpectedly discovered a “golden pit,” and he wasn’t about to pass up free money.
Apart from money for food and daily expenses, Zhang Yang left almost nothing unused.
In the language of stock traders, this meant...
Always fully invested, always moved to tears!
As Zhang Yang put all his “ammunition” on the table, the speculative trading desks at the Bank of China Securities People’s Road Branch in Sichuan-Chongqing, the China Merchants Securities Hongling Middle Road Branch in Shenzhen, and Guoxin Securities Baisha Road Branch in Hangzhou were already activated.
What is a speculative trading desk?
Simply put, a securities company opens a direct channel for you to connect with the stock exchange, allowing rapid execution of trade orders and improving trading efficiency.
Ordinary retail investors must first place orders through their securities accounts.
Note!
It’s order placement through the securities account, not immediate buying!
Since it’s an order placement, a trader at the securities company must help you buy shares on the market, forming an employer-employee relationship that requires paying corresponding fees – this is the securities trading commission.
A trading desk at a brokerage typically costs about 300,000 yuan per year.
Don’t think that’s expensive. Having a trading desk not only speeds up transactions but also saves a significant amount on commissions.
Currently, average commission rates at securities firms range between 0.07% and 0.3%. For example, buying 100,000 yuan in stocks costs about 70 to 300 yuan in commission.
However, with a speculative trading desk, according to well-known speculator “Zhang Alliance Leader,” you can negotiate the commission down to as low as 0.027%, meaning a 100,000 yuan trade only costs 27 yuan in broker fees.
If you scale 100,000 yuan up to 10 million, the savings become substantial.
This explains why speculative traders often purchase trading desks at brokerage branches.
If you trade millions and pay 0.1% commission, no speculator can bear such a massive cut.
...
Shenzhen, Huaguo.
China Merchants Securities Hongling Middle Road Branch.
Wearing a plaid short-sleeve shirt, carrying a backpack, and sporting black-rimmed glasses, the unassuming Chen Sanrong walked into the trading hall.
“Mr. Chen, your trading desk is this way,” branch manager Wang Yougui said, hurrying forward to greet him.
Although trading desks can be accessed online, brokerage branches usually reserve some desks for clients.
Chen Sanrong preferred trading at the branch; trading stocks here gave him a vibe like an internet-addicted youth visiting a cybercafe.
Page 2/3
“Thank you.”
At his trading desk, Chen Sanrong nodded politely and then took out his own laptop from his backpack.
He didn’t use the branch’s computer but his own.
“I won’t disturb you. Call me if you need anything.”
“Alright, you get to work.”
After some polite exchanges, Wang Yougui, dressed in a suit and leather shoes, quickly left.
Just as he stepped out of the trading area, a newly arrived female fund manager couldn’t help but ask, “Manager Wang, who is that? He looks like a programmer.”
“Heh!”
Wang Yougui sneered coldly.
“A programmer can’t compare. This is a market speculator just emerging with millions in assets.”
After speaking, he added, “Perhaps you’ve heard of him — he’s called ‘Brother Jumping Off.’”
“Brother Jumping Off?” The female fund manager was stunned.
She never imagined that the plain-looking, somewhat honest middle-aged man was the notorious “Brother Jumping Off,” famous for brutal sell-offs and sharp one-word limit-ups.
Before she could react more, Chen Sanrong logged into his QQ account and quickly opened the “Chang’an Auto Wealth Group,” sending a message.
[Brother Jumping Off]: I’m ready here.
Soon, messages from other group members popped up.
[Zen City Shadow Kick]: Same here. The market’s terrified now. When this stampede hits, who knows how many retail investors will get wiped out, haha.
[Stock Trading for a Living]: The more die, the more we earn.
[Ghostly and Gorgeous]: About to hit the opening call auction. I’m placing a 10,000-lot limit-down order to shake the fragile hearts of retail investors.
[South Seas Battle Hymn]: That’s ruthless. I like it.
This QQ group had only seven people, all market speculators.
Because Chang’an Auto was so large, no single speculator could control it alone. Unsure if other major players were involved, these mid-sized speculators planned to pool forces and split the pie.
Although the Securities Law explicitly prohibits market manipulation, including collusion among speculators and capital pooling, regulatory enforcement in 2009 was limited, and many speculators just scraped by under the iron fist.
Collusion among speculators to manipulate stock prices was common not only in 2009 but even as late as 2019.
While they no longer chat openly like this, once a familiar branch “lights the fuse,” other speculators swarm in, effectively “reading each other’s cues.”
...
9:15 a.m.
Page 3/3
The A-share market entered the call auction phase.
“Ghostly and Gorgeous” played no games and directly placed a limit-down order at 6.63 yuan, sending the small retail investors on the forums into a panic.
[AAA Steel King]: Limit-down on the call auction? Damn, is this going to be a consecutive limit-down? I need to get out fast.
[Lil’ Fairy Loves Stocks]: Chang’an Auto wants me dead! Limit-down on the call auction, and I have 700,000 yuan in this stock!
[Carefree Wanderer]: Help, I’ll never trade stocks again. Can someone return my money?
After the five-minute cancel period ended, seven speculators smashed out 200,000 lots at the limit-down price in the simplest, most brutal way.
At the same time, they placed buy orders at the same price to suppress the price and ensure they kept enough shares.
At 9:21, trades at 6.63 yuan began executing automatically, forcing many retail investors to sell.
[Stock Trading for a Living]: Change price.
After this message, the 200,000 limit-down lots mostly filled, returning many shares to their hands, though these didn’t immediately show in their accounts.
They then used their capital advantage to sweep up shares up to 6.93 yuan, a 6% drop, prompting more retail investors to flee.
-7%
-8%
-10%
As the price hit the limit-down again, more retail investors surrendered shares in this psychological battle, hoping to do reverse T+ trades to reduce costs.
Meanwhile, negative news continued to spread, causing other funds to hesitate.
Even the secretary of Chang’an Auto, witnessing the price swings, had no way to dispel rumors—or rather, there were no rumors to dispel.
While the speculator’s sickle repeatedly cut into retail investors, Zhang Yang quietly picked up these bloodied shares at the 6.63 yuan limit-down price.
At 9:30, the market officially opened. Zhang Yang looked at the 3,300 shares already traded—33 lots of Chang’an Auto—and smiled faintly:
“Smashing the limit-down right away — this sickle is ruthless and violent.”
He didn’t care which speculator was behind it; all he needed to know was that he bought 3,300 shares of Chang’an Auto at 6.63 yuan.
Elsewhere,
On the second floor of the library study room,
Lai Weijie stared at the limit-down opening of Chang’an Auto, feeling a wave of dizziness.
He hadn’t forgotten that at last Friday’s close, Zhang Yang had been adding positions continuously, going all-in on Chang’an Auto.
“Limit-down 10%...”
“Limit-down 10%...”
Lai Weijie muttered through gritted teeth:
“Going all-in on Chang’an Auto and hitting limit-down... Zhang Yang, you really are a trading genius!”