Chapter 40
Chapter 40
The Black-Haired Investor Awakened as a Superhuman 040
==========
Democratic governors in states like Michigan and Virginia implemented stringent lockdown measures.
The federal government strongly criticized these actions, citing concerns about the economic impact.
"LIBERATE MICHIGAN! LIBERATE MINNESOTA! LIBERATE VIRGINIA!"
Especially on the 13th.
Trump didn't just engage in verbal sparring through the media.
He went as far as posting explicit tweets supporting protestors against the lockdown measures.
In response, Michigan Governor Whitmer countered that the President's remarks were inciting far-right groups.
Thus, the political conflict between quarantine and economic reopening, and between the federal and state governments, continued to intensify.
Nevertheless, the stock market continued its upward trajectory after hitting historic lows.
[ AK (Offshore Account)
• Investment Capital: $100 million
• Investment Scale: $1 billion
(10x Leverage)
• Holdings: Tesla
• Shares Held: 2,339,181 shares
• Purchase Price: $427.5
• Current Price: $732.75
• Valuation: $1,714,594,851
• Profit/Loss: +$714,003,005
• Return: +714.00% ]
700 million dollars. But now, it's just a number.
'It's not real money until I sell.'
Above all, Tesla's rise hadn't even truly begun yet to liquidate the position.
Because the federal government, along with countries around the world, was printing money on an unprecedented scale.
The distributed money would eventually flow through the private sector and into the market.
At that time, the market would inevitably be engulfed in a truly insane frenzy, not just a simple rise.
Then, the numbers would dance.
The charts would scream.
New highs would be written every day.
But I mustn't get carried away by the numbers in front of me.
Wasn't holding steady until that day arrived the virtue of a winner?
Of course, it was.
This investment method of going all-in on one stock, using the highest level of leverage, and waiting for the crazy market to arrive.
People often called it gambling.
A method used by ordinary investors.
Something that could never happen here on Street, where trained elites congregated.
I, too, had to do that until my brain Awakened as a superhuman.
Risk management was the most basic of basics. Because the market didn't care about its participants.
So, I had to diversify my portfolio to manage risk, creating a structure that could distribute risk by considering the correlation between stocks.
Even so, I always had to prepare for the possibility that such a view might be wrong.
Setting a stop-loss line was not enough.
A hedging strategy was essential.
If I didn't take a counter position in the portfolio or prepare an option strategy to defend against volatility, I would lose everything in an instant if the market betrayed me.
So, I had to have at least minimal insurance called hedging.
The market never flowed as expected, and if I wasn't prepared to handle the volatility, survival itself was impossible.
This was the standard, the established way, of Wall Street.
It was how to deal with the market, and it was the long history and tradition that Wall Street had built.
However, those things that had been considered truth were now just outdated to me.
There was no need to do endless research to select stocks, nor to rack my brains calculating for portfolio diversification.
Even deploying hedging strategies in many ways to offset risk had become an unnecessary luxury.
That was only necessary when I couldn't predict the market.
Now, the market...
Doesn't betray me.
No, this brain—
* * *
But just one thing.
There's something I can't analyze.
It's human madness.
The storm of emotions that transcends the realm of logic and shakes the market, as I've confirmed many times.
Madness is the fuel of the market!
A market that moves only with reason has gentle curves of rise and fall, but when madness seeps in, the story changes.
The rise becomes excessively high, and the fall becomes endless.
Tesla was still a long way from entering the realm of madness, but WTI crude oil futures were starting today.
In fact, the expiration date for the May futures was tomorrow, the 21st. But it was obvious that chaos would erupt starting today, one day before.
The reason is simple.
All contracts must eventually be fulfilled.
People who failed to liquidate their futures contracts by the expiration date on the 21st and held them until the end would actually have to take delivery of the physical oil.
But now there's a big problem.
There's nowhere to receive the physical oil.
Global crude oil storage facilities were already saturated, and even oil tankers couldn't unload their oil and were drifting at sea.
In this situation, the only option left for those holding crude oil futures contracts was to sell. At any price.
So, it's too late to hold out until tomorrow, the expiration date.
And that's why today is the day when all contracts have no choice but to explode at once.
It was true.
Crude oil futures contract holders had to sell at any price.
Unless they were going to pile up oil drums in their front yards, they had to sell.
Even at crazy prices that they would never even think of normally.
Today is that promised 'day of madness'.
* * *
[ SH83: It's today. ]
Here it's 9 a.m.
Over there in Korea, it would be 11 p.m., soon crossing over into tomorrow.
Nevertheless, the reason Jo Chief expressed it as today was because, at least in the crude oil futures market, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) was the standard.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange operates on Eastern Time and starts its regular session at 9:30 a.m.
So, Jo Chief would be keeping a separate tab on our federal Eastern Time, but of course, I didn't need to do that.
Just now, one minute passed, and it became 9:02 a.m.
[AMIND: Yes. 28 minutes left. Good luck. ]
* * *
Seok-joon was grateful to Hyun-woo.
In Korean terms, it was that he didn't ignore his messages.
Hyun-woo wasn't just a successful investor on Wall Street. He was a global player at the forefront of the vaccine market.
Even if the assets moving in Seok-joon's hands approached 10 trillion won, he was only treated well in the small well that was Korea.
The SH Bank he was affiliated with was just a small financial institution in the Asian region compared to the large institutions of Wall Street and Europe.
'Moreover, I'm not even on the National Pension Service side.'
Unlike Hyun-woo, who was leading the vaccine market.
The influence he could have on the global market was negligible.
Yet Hyun-woo was consistent with Seok-joon.
A short and concise but polite reply. And even consideration in Korean.
It was an attitude rarely seen in highly successful Korean-Americans.
"AMIND? This person, that... you know. Hyun-woo Na. Is that him?"
Seok-joon turned his head at the voice coming from right behind him.
Vice President Kwon had come down from the upper floor without a sound.
Although it was past 11 p.m., the high floors of SH Bank's headquarters were still full of lights.
Now, one day before the WTI crude oil futures expiration date, a global event with unprecedented interest was approaching.
"How many contracts does he have?"
Vice President Kwon asked.
"I don't know."
Seok-joon expressed his difficulty.
In this gambling den, even family members don't share positions.
Moreover, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's regular session was about to open.
The sight of executives coming down to the floor and rummaging around at such a time was a familiar yet very uncomfortable sight.
But shouldn't they not be doing that, especially today?
It's the day right before the crude oil futures expiration date.
On a day when everyone is screaming that there's no more place to store crude oil.
"I'm not a shaman, how would I know that?"
Seok-joon said quietly, adjusting his silver-rimmed glasses.
"So, what I'm saying is, is there a possibility that Hyun-woo Na is intentionally disrupting the market? You have a sense for people, don't you know even this much? It seems like you guys communicate a bit."
"It's just exchanging greetings."
"You didn't just cut off a business class seat just to exchange greetings, Jo Chief. Now someone who should know better is being so precise..."
"Vice President."
Seok-joon's voice rose slightly. The flow of the conversation was crossing the line.
The annoyance and fatigue he had been holding back exploded momentarily.
Vice President Kwon also raised his eyebrows and looked at Seok-joon. Seok-joon's subordinates even held their breath as silence enveloped the floor.
Then, Seok-joon manipulated his phone and held it up in front of Vice President Kwon's gaze.
Hyun-woo's tweet from April 2nd.
[ AlphaMind (@AlphaMind_1999):
Pay attention to the status of the Cushing storage facility.
Storage capacity is nearing saturation. If this trend continues, crude oil can no longer be stored.
Then, the crude oil futures market around the upcoming expiration date may face a situation unprecedented in the history of capital markets. ]
"It's exactly April 2nd. If the market crashes, it's not disruption, it's just a result that was already predicted.
That's why I've repeatedly said it, right? We need to comprehensively review the crude oil products we're selling."
Seok-joon didn't stop.
"If we don't fix those, there will be legal risks. I've kept saying that."
Vice President Kwon opened his mouth.
"So. So, what I'm saying is. The price just has to not fall."
Vice President Kwon frowned annoyedly.
"Hyun-woo Na is the problem. If you fan the flames in a house that's already on fire, who knows what will happen? He must have a lot of volume too. Isn't that right?"
Seok-joon met Vice President Kwon's gaze directly.
"As you said, it will crash."
"How much? 12 dollars? 11 dollars? How far do you think it will fall?"
Seok-joon let out a short sigh and looked at the monitor.
"Given the current market situation..."
He continued, suppressing the annoyance that was welling up in his heart as much as Vice President Kwon.
"We can't rule out the possibility of hitting 0 dollars."
"Huh. Zero, are you saying that, saying that because you think it makes sense? Right now?"
Vice President Kwon was dumbfounded.
But Seok-joon's judgment wasn't just because of the market situation.
It was because the warning that it could escalate to a 'situation unprecedented in the history of capital markets' came from Hyun-woo's mouth, of all people.
Hyun-woo Na.
Who is he?
If you had only heard about the Corona Report, you would have dismissed him as a lucky prophet.
But the infectious disease scholars and epidemiology experts who had read it thoroughly admired his perfect prescient analysis.
Beyond simply listing data, he thoroughly predicted the spread rate and patterns of the epidemic, the possibility of the collapse of the medical system.
And the impact it would have on the economy and social structure, and it was realized as he predicted.
But what made him truly great was that he didn't just stop at prediction, but he courageously bet on his own perspective.
He believed that his analysis was correct.
And based on that belief, he seized the moment of crisis as an opportunity to move.
He wasn't just someone who looked at data, but a real player who connected that data to action.
That's not all.
He blossomed once more at the AlphaMind launch.
While leading the vaccine-led bio market, he proved his qualifications as a market leader from a mere player.
It was a warning left by such a person.
Seok-joon looked at Vice President Kwon's face, which was still just annoyed.
He could clearly see how that face would soon turn pale.
'Vice President, you'll be the first.'
Beyond Korea, to Wall Street and the world.
Hyun-woo Na.
Those who ignored his warning would soon pay the price.