Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Translation: Godtl
"Oh my~ Jin-ho. You're here already? Isn't it too early? You don't have to come in so early now that you're not a junior but a senior, right?"
Assistant Manager Yang Mi-ju.
Something felt off.
The same person who'd been giving me and Assistant Manager Lee the stink eye first thing in the morning was now flashing me a radiant smile.
What, did she hit some jackpot in stocks or something?
"Well, old habits die hard."
"Giggle. How can it already be a habit when you've only just started? You're so diligent and wonderful. Hmm? And wasn't your profit rate the highest across all departments yesterday? Thanks to you, I feel so reassured."
"..."
Everything from her gaze to her demeanor was so unsettling that I gave a quick greeting and hurried to my seat.
'I can't get used to this.'
Originally, my workspace was just a cramped desk with a single monitor.
But now, it was decked out with six monitors, a high-function keyboard, and other equipment arranged neatly.
They say new things are always better, don't they?
Indeed, my setup looked much cleaner and more state-of-the-art compared to the other traders'.
'But I've got nothing to do until the market opens.'
Normally, I'd be running around with Assistant Manager Lee Hye-rin, gathering materials, distributing them, and preparing for meetings—but that routine ended yesterday.
Two newly assigned juniors in our team were now handling those tasks.
"Here, Assistant Manager. These are the research reports from today."
"Ah, yes. Thank you."
I used to be the one handing out materials, but now I was on the receiving end from the juniors.
Sure, I could look up reports on the computer, but printed copies were necessary for meetings, so on busy days, I'd spend the whole day by the copier.
'Those guys probably have more experience than me. I feel kinda bad.'
But financial firms prioritize performance over seniority, don't they?
In securities firms, especially, if you don't meet a certain score in monthly evaluations, your contract gets terminated automatically.
A terrifying place.
Someone you saw today could suddenly disappear the next day after evaluations.
"Jin-ho, you're here early as usual."
"Ah, yes, Assistant Manager. You're here too? But you look... exhausted."
"Ugh. Don't even mention it. I was so worried I couldn't sleep last night. Now that I'm a senior too, my performance evaluations actually matter. What if I keep making losses? I might get my contract terminated and kicked out—just thinking about it made me so anxious."
That's why traders became so high-strung.
Assistant Manager Lee Hye-rin had deep dark circles under her eyes.
"But thank goodness you made such great profits yesterday, Jin-ho. I heard that while individual performance counts, they also give extra points for good team performance. You're practically my savior."
"It's only been one day, though."
"Ah! By the way, how many trades do you usually make?"
Yesterday, I only made three trades.
Three buys—so three in total.
Come to think of it, I didn't sell anything.
Surely the price won't drop when I try to sell today, right?
"I did 150 trades just yesterday. My fingers hurt, and my eyes are killing me. And I messed up some settings, so I ended up taking unnecessary losses too."
"...150 trades?"
"150 is actually below average. Most prop traders do hundreds. That's why everyone skips lunch and just clicks like crazy. They also set up automated programs with pre-planned strategies before the market opens."
I knew prop traders executed a high volume of trades daily, but I hadn't realized it was hundreds per person.
"That's why, when trading high-liquidity stocks, they program risk management settings—like automatically shorting a certain percentage of the position or buying ETFs—to lock in profits."
So that's why traders would rush back to their computers after meetings, frantically inputting things.
I'd wondered why they were so busy before the market even opened—now it made sense.
They were setting up automated buy-sell ratios based on the day's investment strategy.
"Don't tell me you didn't do any of that?"
"I only made three trades yesterday..."
"What? Just three?! And they weren't day trades? Come to think of it, I noticed this even during mock trading—you're a swing trader, Jin-ho. You've really got the beast's heart. How do you hold without selling? The charts must be fluctuating wildly, not just steadily rising."
Trading styles are largely divided into four categories.
High-frequency trading, which involves thousands or even tens of thousands of transactions per day.
But since that's almost entirely handled by programs, we can set that aside.
Next, there's day trading, which most people here engage in, and position trading, where you hold onto stocks for months or even years.
Finally, there's swing trading, which involves fewer than ten transactions per day.
'Honestly, I have no idea what kind of beast's heart it takes to do day trading.'
Even with risk management in place, just the thought of constantly buying and selling makes my head spin.
Not to mention, I wasn't even sure if my intuition would work for day trading.
Sure, it was fine when the feeling struck to buy, but I'd never had a clear gut instinct about when to sell.
'Maybe it's just because I've never tried day trading before.'
Up until now, whenever I got a hunch, I'd just mindlessly hit the buy button and leave it at that.
Come to think of it, swing trading might actually be more stable for me than day trading.
"No meetings today. Everyone, just review the research materials and strategize on your own."
With those words, the team leader disappeared into his office.
Damn. No meeting?
What I need is data.
Listening to my teammates' discussions always helped me understand things far better than just poring over research materials alone.
In that case, there was only one place left for me to turn.
"Um... Assistant Manager?"
"Hm? What is it, Jin-ho?"
"There's no meeting today."
"Ah. The team leader does that sometimes when the market's expected to be bearish overall. He's leaving it up to us to decide whether to short for profit or just sit tight."
So that was the reason.
"Then, why don't we review the research materials and have our own meeting?"
"Oh. Don't tell me, Jin-ho..."
Assistant Manager Lee Hye-rin looked touched as she spoke.
"Are you worried about me? Afraid I won't make a decent profit? Is that why you're offering to help?"
"..."
Far from helping her, I was the one who needed assistance.
"Sure. Brainstorming together will be more efficient anyway. Let's see... Interest rates have gone up a bit recently. The ones benefiting from that are the banks. Look here—their NIM (net interest margin) is projected to rise."
Higher interest rates naturally benefit banks.
Especially when household debt is high—the more debt, the better for banks.
Because that means they'll collect more loan interest.
On top of that, about 80% of a bank's income comes from the interest rate spread.
When loan rates rise, bank profits naturally increase as well.
"Of course, there's still risk—potential bond valuation losses or loan defaults—but on average, it's still profitable."
"But here, it says we should absolutely avoid banking stocks?"
"Banking stocks are practically stagnant. Especially in our country, where financial regulations are strict, it's tough for banking stocks to rise. Their dividends aren't anything special either."
Just look at the PBR of our domestic banks—there's a staggering five-fold difference.
Meaning, their stock prices are currently undervalued by as much as five times.
And yet, their prices still don't rise.
The heavy financial regulations in our country are a major factor.
Not to mention the lack of innovation within the sector.
And with dividends paid only once a year, they're not particularly attractive.
That's why the advice is to steer clear of banking stocks.
"The one thing worth paying attention to is this—KK Bank. I'm actually torn about whether to jump in or not. This could very well be the full-fledged start of fintech, don't you think?"
Fintech.
Simply put, it's financial services conducted via smartphones.
We're already in an era where we can transfer money through apps, but for serious banking, you still have to visit a branch.
But this newly emerging KK Bank has no physical branches.
It's a 100% internet-only bank.
And the banking sector has been stagnant for ages.
Some of the banks representing our country were founded in the 1800s and have just been rebranded over and over, right?
In other words, with no real innovation or competition, banking stocks as a whole have been frozen in place.
And now, a new player is trying to shake things up.
The debate rages on—will this actually work, or will it get crushed by the established banks?
But for day traders like us, the distant future doesn't matter.
All that's important is how the stock price moves today.
"That's why I'm conflicted. Whether to jump in or not. Since it's their first listing, investors will probably flock to it. But even if it surges, the daily limit is 15%. So, within that range, the price chart is probably going to be all over the place."
There's something called the Giyoung Graph.
It got its name because the stock chart resembles the hairstyle of the cartoon character Giyoung from Black Rubber Shoes. Newly listed stocks experience extreme volatility as waves of investors rush in and out, creating that distinctive spiky pattern.
"Jin-ho. You're not thinking of jumping into KK Bank, are you?"
"Ah, well, I..."
The research materials explicitly warned against investing in bank stocks, so I'd planned to follow that advice.
But just as I was about to turn the page—
A jolt of electricity shot through my fingertips and raced through my entire body.
"Jin-ho?"
"...I think I'm going in."
"Wow. You really do have nerves of steel. With newly listed stocks like this, you've got to be razor-sharp about timing—buying at the lows and selling at the peaks. You need to keep repeating that cycle. Are you sure you can handle it?"
"If it looks bad, I'll just cut my losses and bail."
But right now, my intuition is screaming at me.
It's telling me I have to go in.
"Hmm. Maybe I should give it a try too? Oh, the market's about to open soon. Hurry and get ready, Jin-ho."
"Ah, right. Let's crush it today."
"Let's crush it!"
Returning to my desk, I checked my capital while waiting for the opening bell. After accounting for all the stocks set to sell at market open, I'd have just over 1.1 billion won left... Wait, what?
'What's this? A glitch?'
Somehow, my account showed an additional 4 billion won.
I immediately went to find the Team Leader.
I didn't want any trouble from accidentally touching money that wasn't mine.
"Team Leader, sir. I think there's an error in my system. The deposited funds showing in my account are 4 billion—"
"If you're talking about your capital, that amount is correct."
"Excuse me?"
"Starting today, Assistant Manager Jeong will be trading with a total capital of 5 billion won. So take note of that and get back to your desk—the market's about to open."
What? From 1 billion to 5 billion, just like that?
I had good returns yesterday, but is this kind of capital injection even allowed?
'Wait. The market really is about to open.'
But there was no time to dwell on it.
As the Team Leader said, the opening bell was imminent.
I hurried back to my seat and immediately checked KK Bank's status as trading began.
'Right. Assistant Manager Lee Hye-rin said risk management through diversified investments is crucial...'
I don't know.
If that was the plan, I should've prepared before the market opened.
But the moment KK Bank appeared, my entire body trembled violently with intuitive certainty.
Click— Click—.
I kept hammering the buy button.
I couldn't resist the compulsion.
I even poured in all the funds from yesterday's investments, which had automatically sold at my preset prices the moment the market opened.
After going all in, I finally felt at ease.
'Does this mean I'm done for today?'
Well. If I buy everything today and sell tomorrow like yesterday, that's it.
Surprisingly sweet deal.
But that thought was short-lived.
"...Huh?"
After going all-in, the calm sensation suddenly began surging again.
Is it telling me to buy even more?
'But I've already spent all my bullets.'
Yet this wasn't a buy signal.
When I hovered over the buy button, the sensation quieted. But the moment I moved to the sell button, an electric jolt shot up my fingertips.
'It's telling me to sell!'
Just like the Assistant Manager said.
This game is all about timing—getting in and out.
Buy at the lows, sell at the peaks.
That's the nature of newly listed stocks.
I frantically clicked the mouse, executing a full sell-off.
"Phew. Any later, and I would've been in serious trouble."
The moment I sold, the graph that had been surging toward a breakout suddenly reversed course, plunging toward the bottom like a madman.
Thankfully, I took profits.
"With this done, maybe I should look at other stocks—"
I tried closing the KK Bank window to check other stocks.
But before I could even minimize it, another intense premonition slammed into my brain like an emergency alert.
'W-what now? It's telling me to buy again?'
If the last signal was to sell, this time, the moment I hovered over the buy button, the signal went haywire.
Reflexively, I mashed the buy button.
Clickclickclick!
This has to be the end, right? Right?
No such luck.
"Again?!"
This time, within mere seconds, the signal swung back to sell.
In just a few minutes, these violent surges of intuition kept hammering me, leaving my temples throbbing as if my engine was overheating and about to combust.
Clickclickclick—!
Yet I couldn't stop my fingers from obeying those electrifying signals.
'S-somebody help me.'