Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Translation: Godtl
The market opened, and Team Leader Park Hong-seo stared at the dizzying flow of numbers on his monitor.
This was clearly where he should be focusing, yet his gaze kept drifting elsewhere.
"..."
Jeong Jin-ho.
Park Hong-seo had deliberately arranged his seat to have a clear view of Jeong Jin-ho. But ever since the market opened, Jin-ho hadn't done anything particularly noteworthy.
'He's just blankly staring at the screen, isn't he?'
Park was curious.
What kind of investment techniques did Jeong Jin-ho really have?
Just what method did he use to achieve those astronomical returns?
Would it actually work in live trading?
"..."
So Team Leader Park kept staring holes into Jeong Jin-ho.
Yet the young man still did nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
＊＊＊
'What the hell is all this?'
With six monitors now, everything felt even more chaotic than during mock trading.
Out of all these countless stocks, I had to pick just one suitable one—easier said than done.
'This is strange. Last time, I could just feel it when checking the stocks.'
But not this time.
Even when scrolling through the list, that intuition didn't come.
Before I knew it, I'd just been sitting there blankly staring at the screen, doing nothing, and suddenly it was already noon.
"Jin-ho... how's it going for you?"
Then Assistant Manager Lee Hye-rin trudged over to my desk with a devastated expression.
"Can I take a break from my seat?"
Sniff. "Don't even ask. I've already lost 3% today and got my trading suspended."
"Ah... they suspend trading just for losing 3%?"
"Of course. 3% is a big number for securities firms. The risk managers monitor our profits in real-time, and for beginners like us, they suspend trading the moment we lose just 2%. They say veterans get leeway up to 5% though."
Warren Buffett once said:
First, never lose money.
Second, never forget the first rule.
This was the ironclad principle every securities firm constantly drilled into us.
"People think we prop traders are just day-trading maniacs chasing profits, but actually, securities firms prioritize safety above all else. They focus on long-term returns, not short-term gains. That's why risk management is always emphasized."
That's why the team leader stresses risk management in every meeting.
Because this isn't our personal money—it's the company's capital.
You might wonder what risk management has to do with day traders, but here we trade with only minimal risk.
If we break those rules, the risk managers monitoring our trades will impose sanctions.
"For example, if we think Stock A will rise, we take a position in A, but also buy put options anticipating it might fall. They usually use ratios like 7:3 or 8:2."
She meticulously explained other risk management strategies too—like diversifying investments across sectors using VIX or ETFs.
"Ugh. What's the point of saying all this? I'm all theory and no practice. In real trading, I just took losses and got suspended. I'm so pathetic, Jin-ho. Even with thorough risk management, this is what happened."
"Not at all. No one does well from the first day. You'll definitely do better tomorrow."
"Thanks... but what about you? How's your profit rate?"
"Ah, I..."
Her eyes blinked rapidly as she saw my completely empty trading window.
"Wait. Jin-ho. Have you not made a single trade this whole time?"
"Uh... yes."
I scratched my head awkwardly.
But her reaction wasn't what I expected.
"Wow, Jin-ho, you really are an investment master."
"Huh?"
"You knew today would be a bear market overall, didn't you? They say that in markets like this, doing absolutely nothing is how you make money."
"..."
So that's how she's interpreting it.
"I just didn't get any particular feeling."
But I couldn't just sit there doing nothing.
The real problem was that I truly wasn't getting any intuition at all.
This was the first time this had happened, and it left me slightly flustered.
Was I doing something wrong?
I felt like I was missing something.
"Intuition is important. But when you're not getting any feelings, try reviewing today's briefing materials again."
"Briefing materials?"
"Yes. Didn't I tell you? You need good meta awareness in the stock market. And our research department—basically the elite of elites—has prepared materials outlining today's trends. If you study those well, you're already halfway there."
Come to think of it, I hadn't heard any of the meeting contents today due to my sudden promotion to Senior.
My mind had been so preoccupied with that, I hadn't even registered what the Team Leader was saying.
What to focus on today, what to watch out for.
I'd been dropped onto this battlefield completely unprepared, having heard none of it.
Sigh "Well, I've said my piece, so I'll return to my desk. Ah, I hope I don't get demoted from Senior back to Junior on my very first day."
"That won't happen. No one gets it right from the start."
"Anyway, I'm heading back. I need to review today's trades and reflect on what went wrong... I lost money today, but Jin-ho, you absolutely must make profits! No—at least break even! Then I'll treat you to dinner tonight."
"I will definitely generate profits today!"
Suddenly, determination welled up within me.
I started by carefully reviewing today's briefing materials.
'International oil prices falling, dragging down U.S. markets, interest rates rising, Chinese stock market declining, foreign investment decreasing.'
The materials explained that since Korea's 15% upper limit would soon be raised to 30%, foreign investors were withdrawing funds to prepare for that change. Moreover, rising interest rates had caused a massive inflow of money into bond markets.
Additionally, the shipbuilding industry had suffered critical damage, creating significant psychological factors in the market. Thus, today's bearish trend was inevitable.
'Team Leader said in situations like this, we should profit through short selling instead.'
But how exactly do I do that?
I didn't properly understand how to execute short selling.
I knew which buttons to press for short selling (or "shorting"), but I'd heard that to short properly, you need to buy certain stocks for risk management and use hedging to minimize losses.
'But I don't know enough to do all that.'
Risk management, shorting, hedging, etc.
To a novice like me, these might as well be alien languages.
If I messed with those incorrectly, I could lose everything.
'I should just stick to what I'm good at.'
Which means trusting only these flashes of intuition.
I finished reviewing quickly and closed the materials.
Then I examined the stocks again.
'Huh?'
But now, that feeling that had refused to come earlier was tingling from the very first stock.
'Before, nothing I did could summon it.'
Was it because I read the briefing materials?
It seemed too perfect to be coincidence.
Looking back, whenever I made successful investments, I had always meticulously studied the briefing materials.
And my intuition had always come from things related to those materials.
When I obtained specific field data, that's when the intuition would flash.
I learned something today.
'No wonder they say if you listen to your mentor, rice cakes will come even while you sleep.'
That wasn't my saying—it was something Assistant Manager Lee Hye-rin had told me.
'Then I'll start buying... Wait a minute. She told me not to go all-in on one stock like last time.'
Divide the basket.
Diversify your investments.
She said all this was absolutely necessary for risk management.
That way, even if one stock plummets, you can still profit from another.
'Diversified investment. I'll do a diversified investment. But how much?'
Moderately... Would three stocks be enough?
***
"Ugh. The market's gone completely insane today."
"Ha. Let's go smoke."
"Sigh. It's forced abstinence. Can't even smoke while watching the market."
"Then why don't you go upstairs to the futures team? They just chain-smoke all day."
"Ugh. I'm too scared to go there. I'd rather quit smoking altogether."
As the market closed, curses erupted from all directions.
There was nothing to be done about a bear market like today.
Even buying some put options for risk management couldn't prevent losses—the market had been too volatile.
The real problem was that this turbulence would likely continue until the upper limit was breached.
"Ughhh..."
But the market was the least of one person's worries.
Someone was gnawing at their nails, groaning in distress over a different issue.
'Ahhh, I'm really losing it!'
There's an unspoken rule in corporate life, especially in big companies.
Don't mess with the royal family.
You might resent the parachutes, but never cross them.
From the start, their starting point and background are entirely different from regular employees.
The real issue is that if you clash with someone like that and try to move to another securities firm, they won't take you either.
Even competitors hesitate to hire employees who've rebelled against the owner's family, no matter how impressive their career.
And Assistant Manager Yang Mi-ju had just messed with the royal family.
In crude terms, she was screwed.
'No. There's still a chance to recover.'
Assistant Manager Yang Mi-ju steadied her breathing.
Today's profit rate.
-1%.
Well, not bad.
In a bear market like today, -1% was actually decent.
Other traders were in chaos, their losses so severe that trading was halted. Ironically, Yang Mi-ju had suffered fewer losses because she'd been too distracted worrying about Jeong Jin-ho to focus properly.
"Ahem! Jin-ho~."
Yang Mi-ju approached Jeong Jin-ho with a bright smile.
He flinched at the sight of her.
"I was too harsh earlier, wasn't I? I'm sorry. The market's been rough lately, and I got a little too worked up about performance. You understand, right?"
"Ah... Yes."
"I knew you'd understand. You've seemed like such a kind person from the start. So let's get along well from now on, okay?"
"Yes. Thank you."
"Oh, right. The market was terrible today—you must've taken a big hit too, huh?"
She'd heard Assistant Manager Lee Hye-rin had to halt trading.
Surely Jeong Jin-ho must've suffered the same.
Now was the perfect time to console him and show her senior's kindness.
"Don't worry. I'll cover your losses with my profits. And if there's anything you're unsure about, you can always ask me. I've been in this market long enough to know a thing or two..."
As she spoke, Yang Mi-ju casually glanced at Jeong Jin-ho's trading screen.
"Huh?"
Something was off.
Jeong Jin-ho's trading screen, which should've been drowning in red, was glowing brightly.
"10%?! J-Jin-ho. Is this really your trading screen?"
"Ah, yes. It rose at the last minute, so thankfully, I didn't lose anything today."
Unable to believe it, Yang Mi-ju alternated between staring at Jeong Jin-ho and the monitor.
'Not only did he not short or buy put options—he made 10% purely from buying stocks?!'
What the hell?
They said he was part of the royal family.
A parachute!
But how the hell did he make 10%?!
And in this insane bear market, no less?
'Just what kind of person is he?'
＊＊＊
"10%..."
Among all the prop traders on this floor today, there likely wasn't a single one who could match Jeong Jin-ho's profit rate.
It was just that the amount was small, so it didn't cause much of a stir.
"And he managed that by picking just three stocks—out of the few that were rising—amidst an overall downtrend?"
Once again, the guy was making him laugh incredulously.
In a bear market like this, stocks are usually bought solely for risk management purposes, while most profits come from shorting.
But this guy was going against conventional wisdom, making his own unique investments.
"Team Leader, did you have an okay day today?"
"Why ask when you already know? Manager Kim must've told you everything."
"Haha. Just asking out of courtesy."
While blankly staring at Jeong Jin-ho's trading screen, the risk manager, Manager Kim, came by.
"Heard you had to halt a lot of trades today."
"Yeah. Even the newbie who just got promoted to senior today had to be stopped. Must be traumatizing—his first day as a senior trader."
"Can't be helped. It's going to stay like this for a while. Just gotta endure. But what brings you here?"
"Ah. You know, besides the guy whose trades got halted, there's that other one."
Meaning he was here because of Jeong Jin-ho.
"That guy made an insane profit today. A 10% return in this bear market—without even shorting. Either he's got nerves of steel, or he doesn't know the first thing about stocks."
"Is that a problem?"
"Yes, it is. Risk management is the top priority for any securities firm, isn't it? But this guy... didn't do any risk management at all. Just went all-in on stocks. And only three of them, at that."
Just three.
Diversified investment exists for risk management—strategically spreading capital across at least 10 to 30 stocks.
Even when focusing on M&A, spin-offs, or so-called "driven events," the minimum is 5 to 10 stocks.
But Jeong Jin-ho bet on exactly three.
And his bets were right.
"Even if his bets paid off, wasn't it just pure luck? Plus, doesn't it seem like he might not even have basic investment knowledge? Buying stocks without any risk management, like some clueless retail investor..."
"Hmm. Do you really think it was just luck? And do you think someone with no basics could become a senior?"
"Huh?"
"This guy's style is just... different. He doesn't diversify. He pours money into specific stocks. He's not clueless about investing. He definitely knows what diversified investment is, what risk management is. But he still made this choice—what does that tell you?"
"That he was certain those stocks would rise."
Nothing else makes sense.
If anyone else had pulled something like this, they'd have been kicked out of the team immediately.
But securities firms don't judge a person's character.
They only look at the profit rate and evaluate based on that.
"So you came to warn him to knock it off, huh?"
"Ah, yes. It's good that the kid's confident, but risk management is non-negotiable."
"Leave him be for now."
"Huh? But no matter how good his returns are—"
"If you don't get why I'm saying this, ask your team leader. You'll understand right away."
Manager Kim, looking utterly confused, bowed slightly and left.
Jeong Jin-ho.
He completely disregards risk management—the foundation of securities firms—and even forgoes diversification, chasing only extreme profits.
The reason he can do this is that he has his own solid analysis algorithm—and, of course, his connections.
After all, isn't the company's CEO backing him?
He knows that even if he loses money, it won't hurt him personally.
'So that's how it is—'
Team Leader Park checked the capital allocation ratios distributed among his team's traders.
The usual amount given to a rookie senior is 1 billion won.
But today, the only one who made a profit was that very rookie senior.
"..."
After a brief hesitation, he adjusted the ratio.
'Might as well set the stage for him.'
Starting tomorrow, Jeong Jin-ho's capital allocation wouldn't be 1 billion won—it would be revised to 5 billion.