Chapter Three: Profiting in the Middle
Over the next two days, all 122 students majoring in Investment at Hudu University of Finance and Economics gradually opened their Huaxin Securities accounts, with Professor Wang Xingbang submitting the registrations.
Dormitory 308.
The bed on the left by the door.
Xu Jiafeng sat shirtless, a cigarette dangling from his lips, using available information channels to research stocks related to steel reinforcement and concrete.
Because of his optimistic view on the "Four Trillion Plan" and its boost to infrastructure, he naturally focused on steel and concrete when discussing infrastructure.
Chen Chuan, on the other hand, did not expect to get into Huaxin Securities; he only hoped to avoid failing his courses. So, he chose the relatively stable automotive sector, recommended by Zhang Yang, the top scholar.
As for Wang Liu, he paid no attention to sectors or concepts but followed the "Dragon and Tiger List," riding the market’s enthusiasm to speculate on concepts.
What is the "Dragon and Tiger List"?
It features the top five stocks with price changes deviating by more than 7%, the top five with amplitude reaching 15%, the top five with turnover rates exceeding 20%, and stocks with more than 20% price fluctuations for three consecutive days.
The list also discloses not only stock information but also details of the top five brokerage firms with the largest buy and sell amounts.
It is worth mentioning that stocks appearing on the Dragon and Tiger List often lack fundamental performance support; precisely because of this lack, they are easily swayed by hot money in the market.
If it’s a major index stock starting with “Zhong” (China), manipulating its price is extremely difficult and requires enormous capital.
The Dragon and Tiger List can be understood as a capital flow ranking; when market funds stir, stocks either surge continuously or get completely suppressed.
“Nice!”
“The board is sealed!”
The board seal on ST Zhufeng made Wang Liu snap his fingers in excitement.
Hearing the commotion, Chen Chuan immediately approached and asked, “How much did you make?”
“15,000 yuan.”
Wang Liu looked at the 900,000-lot sealed order at the bottom and said excitedly, “At the opening, there was a 900,000-lot sealed order. Maybe it can hit consecutive limit-ups.”
As soon as he finished, his tone turned regretful, yet tinged with pride: “Too bad, ST stocks have a maximum daily limit of 5%. Even with ten consecutive limit-ups, it’s just over sixty points. Sigh!”
“It’s only been two days. You should be the first in our major to hit consecutive limit-ups. If you get into Huaxin Securities, don’t forget your brothers,” Xu Jiafeng added, leaning closer.
“Definitely,” Wang Liu replied.
As he spoke, Wang Liu glanced at Zhang Yang, who was typing on the keyboard, and asked, “Dorm leader, how’s your stock growth these days?”
“Not bad.”
Zhang Yang wasn’t constantly watching the market.
Within five minutes after the opening, he glanced at his purchased shares of Baosteel and JAC Motors—both showing increased volume and rising prices.
Unlike his roommates who used simulated trading platforms, Zhang Yang combined real and simulated accounts.
One real account had only 800 yuan; he bought one lot (100 shares) of Baosteel with 500 yuan and the remaining 300 yuan was invested in JAC Motors.
As for the Huaxin account’s simulated portfolio of one million yuan, he had gone all-in on Baosteel at the previous day’s closing.
Baosteel, as the steel industry leader, is the direct beneficiary of this round of the four-trillion infrastructure plan, making its rise inevitable.
Compared to stock price fluctuations, Zhang Yang was more focused on accumulating initial capital.
As a finance professional, he understood the importance of original capital well.
For example, if you start with 10,000 yuan and even double it, you get 20,000 yuan; but if you start with one million yuan and gain only 5%, that’s a profit of 50,000 yuan.
“How much is ‘not bad’?” Chen Chuan grew curious and leaned in to look at Zhang Yang’s screen.
Zhang Yang didn’t hide it and openly showed the simulated portfolio’s profits.
“Whoa!”
“All in on Baosteel?”
Chen Chuan’s exclamation immediately attracted Xu Jiafeng and Wang Liu to gather around.
Zhang Yang’s simulated account had already made a floating profit of 23,000 yuan. On the morning of March 10, Baosteel showed a low-open, high-close trend.
“Going all-in already?”
Wang Liu thought he was aggressive enough, but Zhang Yang was even more so.
Wang Liu had put 300,000 yuan into ST Zhufeng; a 5% gain on that amount spread over one million yuan principal is just a 1.5% return.
Zhang Yang, however, went all-in with one million yuan on Baosteel, and the 23,000 yuan floating gain equated to a 2.3% total return—0.8% higher than Wang Liu’s.
“Impressive!”
Xu Jiafeng couldn’t help but give a thumbs-up.
He had also added Baosteel to his watchlist these two days but only bought 20,000 yuan worth, far less daring than Zhang Yang.
“Truly skillful and bold,” he marveled inwardly.
Chen Chuan quickly handed over a cigarette, grinning, “Dorm leader, if you get into Huaxin Securities, don’t forget brothers who share joys and hardships.”
“Don’t worry; brothers are always in my heart,” Zhang Yang said as he took the cigarette. Chen Chuan hurriedly pulled out a lighter.
*Click.*
The cigarette was lit.
Used to foreign cigarettes, Zhang Yang took a drag of this Liqun brand and couldn’t deny the strength of its kick.
...
Zhang Yang went all-in on Baosteel, while Xu Jiafeng, Chen Chuan, and Wang Liu also bought shares early in the morning.
By the one o’clock afternoon opening, Baosteel’s price gains fluctuated between 1.24% and 1.3% for over ten minutes.
Because they didn’t buy at the low opening price, they missed out on significant gains.
While the three roommates kept a close watch on the market in their dorm, Zhang Yang had already taken his laptop to the library.
The library at Wudong Road campus has seven floors: floors one to four are reading rooms; the fifth floor is for individual study; the sixth is for academic exhibitions; and the top floor is a group study area.
Zhang Yang headed straight to the sixth floor, where the financial data analysis room allows him to type freely without restraint.
After finding a seat, he immediately launched Tableau, a visual business intelligence software, and imported the data he had collected.
Tableau, Oracle BI, and Sisense are currently mainstream BI software.
Compared to basic Excel spreadsheets, BI software integrates data from different sources and formats within an enterprise—such as sales, finance, and production—into a unified data view, avoiding data silos.
Moreover, the data they produce is more intuitive, understandable even by novices.
In his previous life as a fund manager at Bridgewater Associates, Zhang Yang had spent much time working with data.
Proficiency in BI software is just the foundation for a financial analyst; to become a top expert, one must also master Hyperion Planning or Oracle Essbase for financial data analysis, and Capital IQ Pro for valuation.
Compared to stock trading, data analysts enjoy stable incomes.
Even stock market legends like Buffett rely on data from Moody’s to inform their market judgments.
Zhang Yang’s task now was simple: organize existing data, filter potential stocks, and create visualized tables to provide to students in need.
Apart from Zhang Yang himself, there were 121 other students in the Investment major—each a potential client.
Even charging just 30 yuan per subscription, with 50 subscribers, the income would be 1,500 yuan.
Considering his current capital of 800 yuan, to make 1,500 yuan in the stock market, he would need a gain of 187.5%!
What does a 187.5% return mean?
Buffett’s annual return is around 25%. Given his massive capital, a 25% yearly gain is already outstanding.
With only 800 yuan in capital, Zhang Yang would never rely on the stock market to double his money but would first focus on accumulating original capital.
After all, human energy is limited, and effort must be proportional to reward.