Chapter 14

◎ Stock Trading is for Professionals ◎

Fan Qi registered on the sixth floor, and as soon as she arrived downstairs, she was informed to go to the trading hall to meet Mr. Liao.

At the trading hall in Yaohua’s area, Liao Jiqing had Liao Yazhe vacate his seat so Fan Qi could sit between the father and son. Liao Jiqing handed her a sheet of paper with several stocks listed along with handwritten strategies and the trading plan for the day. “You two discuss which stocks to buy.”

“Okay.”

The stocks listed were mostly the same as the ones Fan Qi had reviewed yesterday.

For short-term traders, most stocks in the market are just “extras.” Out of over four thousand stocks in the A-shares market, only a handful are suitable for short-term trading on any given day. With these four or five stocks in hand, the task now was to pick one or two to buy.

“Look at this Huada. When it first opened…” Liao Yazhe began, trying to suggest this stock.

“Do you have any research materials? I need to see the concentration of shareholders.”

Liao Yazhe handed her a folder. She flipped through it, carefully reviewing the trading data. “No, this stock has too many participating funds. It may look good in terms of theme and pattern, but who knows if the fund manager next door is a fool? If you push it, they might dump it. If we want to act, it should be in the afternoon. These people are less likely to be around then, so the chance of a dump is smaller.”

“How do you know the fund manager will be gone in the afternoon?” Liao Yazhe laughed.

Fan Qi looked at him, “Where do you and your dad spend most of your time in the afternoon? Will you be at the scene?”

Well, she was right. Fan Qi took another folder and started looking at the next stock. This one had already experienced an upward swing. After a recent pullback, she asked, “How much have we bought so far?”

“Over a million. We plan to push it today.”

“I agree. The previous wave has built momentum, and the five-day pullback is enough. It’s time to go for it.”

Liao Jiqing said, “Use five thousand lots to push the price to 2.71.”

“Alright,” Liao Yazhe began executing the trade.

After rising a couple of points, the price plateaued and fluctuated, then rose again, attracting followers who wanted to jump on the bandwagon.

Fan Qi, on the other hand, opened Ailai Electronics. Today, large funds continued buying, and using the consistently low performance in the electronics sector, she held onto the stocks she bought yesterday. Small orders suppressed the price, while large orders absorbed the supply, pushing the price down by one cent. Though it was only a cent, the drop was already 14%.

For penny stocks, a one-cent rise or fall could mean a massive shift in price, which was why, in the Hong Kong stock market, everyone knew that penny stocks were rife with fraudulent companies, but people still kept trading them. The volatility could be immense—two or three cents could result in a 30% to 50% swing.

This stock had already lost a lot, and its price was very low, meaning it had a small market cap. By yesterday and this morning, they had absorbed most of the low-priced shares. If they wanted to acquire more shares, they’d need to push the price up.

She turned to Liao Yazhe and said, “Help me buy three thousand lots of Ailai Electronics.”

A six-cent stock felt so satisfying to trade. She could easily buy three thousand lots with just a small amount of money.

“You only have twenty thousand. After this, you’ll have just eighteen thousand left.”

“Stop talking nonsense. If I wait any longer, I won’t be able to buy those three thousand lots.”

Liao Yazhe helped her make the purchase. The Liao family wasn’t participating in this stock; their capital was too large, and with such a small market cap, their money would explode the stock price if they invested.

Liao Jiqing didn’t hold back at all. He started nagging the moment he saw a slight mistake in Liao Yazhe’s operations. “Don’t hesitate. Be decisive. If you’re going to bet, be ready to lose. Hesitation leads to mistakes later.”

“If you miss the opportunity, don’t chase it.”

“Look at you. Didn’t Fan Qi just say you need to stop and think at this point?”

“…”

Under the pressure of family and experience, Liao Yazhe looked as nervous as a whimpering puppy. Fan Qi almost wanted to pat his head.

Seeing Liao Yazhe staring at her with a puzzled expression, Fan Qi smiled and said, “What’s with that look? Just stay calm, breathe deeply, and keep your mind at peace.”

“Go study. Don’t disturb me,” Liao Yazhe said.

“Disturb what? The market is about to close, big brother!” Fan Qi pointed at the time display on the trading hall screen.

Liao Jiqing told her, “Fan Qi, come to the meeting room with Yazhe after the market closes. Let’s discuss the morning session.”

“Okay.”

After the market closed, Fan Qi followed Liao Yazhe to the meeting room.

At the long table in the meeting room, there were six seats, each with a wooden lunch box and a can of Calpis drink, clearly indicating it was a Japanese-style bento.

Fan Qi didn’t take long to recognize Ma Jiasheng, who was the head of the analysts. They all sat down and opened their lunch boxes.

Fan Qi’s lunch was the same as Liao Yazhe’s: eel rice, along with two pieces of tempura shrimp and some side dishes.

She opened the can of Calpis, and the sweet-sour drink went down her throat. She felt a bit frustrated. Why did this place have Calpis but no Pixian Bean Paste? Chen Zhiqian was really stingy. Since he had returned to the mainland, he didn’t even bring her any seasoning. Fan Qi felt a little down and shoved a big mouthful of eel rice into her mouth.

Liao Jiqing took a few bites of his meal and turned to Liao Yazhe. “Summarize the morning’s trading operations.”

Liao Yazhe gave a brief introduction while the others continued eating.

As the eel rice entered her mouth, Fan Qi’s mood lightened significantly. The eel was fresh, sweet, and tender, though the tempura shrimp was a bit soggy. Tempura should always be eaten fresh, right out of the fryer. As Fan Qi focused on her meal, she heard Liao Jiqing say, “Fan Qi, tell us about your approach to buying Ailai Electronics.”

Fan Qi quickly swallowed the bite of eel, took a sip of Calpis, and slowly replied. She explained how she had accidentally copied the wrong stock code yesterday and later noticed that Ailai Electronics had some capital involvement, which led to her judgment for today.

“I hope everyone will take a look at Ailai Electronics this afternoon. It’s not about us trading it, but rather analyzing its pattern and trend,” Liao Jiqing said before letting others report.

Once Ma Jiasheng finished his report, Liao Jiqing closed his lunch box, took a tissue to wipe his mouth, and said to Ma Jiasheng, “Ah Hao has been with our company for a long time, ever since the Chinese Chamber of Commerce days. I know his family situation, and we’ve been taking care of him, but it seems like he doesn’t appreciate it. Ma Jiasheng, what needs to be dealt with, still has to be dealt with.”

“Boss, I understand,” Ma Jiasheng replied.

Liao Jiqing nodded. “Good. Fan Qi, from now on, I’ll personally guide you.”

“Miss Fan has great talent. It’s indeed better if the boss personally guides her,” Ma Jiasheng said, partly to salvage his own reputation.

This situation had been obvious to everyone in the morning. Liao Jiqing was simply reiterating his dissatisfaction with Ma Jiasheng.

After the meal, Fan Qi returned to her desk to review the materials for Book 1. She had already gone through them last night, marking the differences from the last time. Now, she was reviewing again and making sure she could memorize everything.

A piece of chocolate was placed on her desk. Fan Qi looked up to see Miss Xiang. “Thank you!”

Miss Xiang looked through her review materials. “Are you going for your broker license?”

“Yes.”

“This license is really hard to get. It’s impressive if you can pass it in half a year,” Miss Xiang said.

“Yeah! So I study whenever I have time!”

“Good luck. Get it done quickly. That Xu Miao’er next door is really annoying. The receptionist who greeted you, she got fired by her.”

Fan Qi was stunned. “Because she greeted me?”

“Yep. They said she had no sense and called her out to greet you.”

“I didn’t mean to get the poor girl in trouble,” Fan Qi said, feeling guilty.

“It’s fine!” Miss Xiang whispered to her, lowering her head. “I hired the receptionist as an administrative assistant.”

Fan Qi was overjoyed. She made a heart shape with her hands and said, “You’re amazing, Sister! I love you!”

In her mind, she had already started calling Miss Xiang “Sister.”

Liao Yazhe came out of the office. “Let’s go, waiting for the market to open!”

In the afternoon, Mr. Liao didn’t go to the trading hall. Fan Qi and Liao Yazhe entered the trading hall.

Liao Yazhe opened Ailai Electronics. “Fan Qi, Ailai Electronics has risen.”

Seeing the straight upward climb, Fan Qi smiled. “It will probably consolidate at seven cents today, and in the late afternoon, it will rise by another point or two, shaking loose the earlier trapped positions.”

“There are so many ‘crabs’ in stocks like this, and many are probably trapped by several cents or even a whole dollar’s worth of shares. Who would be willing to let them go?”

“Crabs? Does Hong Kong have crabs?” At the mention of this, Fan Qi’s mouth watered.

“Very rarely. The Hong Kong stock market, for a long time, was dominated by tycoons from Shanghai after the 1940s war. ‘Crabs’ is a term from Shanghai dialect. It refers to those who are stuck with shares and can’t move them. When you say it, it’s like a bunch of crabs,” Liao Yazhe explained, looking at Fan Qi. “I’ve noticed that when you talk about stocks, your terminology is different from mine. You call placing an order ‘falling the plate,’ and you call being stuck with shares ‘trapped.’ Didn’t the mainland not have a stock market?”

“I translate based on my understanding of English,” Fan Qi replied.

“But how do you get such precise stock insights? You’ve only been in Hong Kong for a short time, and you’ve never traded stocks here before. How did you learn it?” Liao Yazhe asked.

Fan Qi gave him a sidelong glance. “In my dreams, I was Livermore’s daughter, and I inherited his trading wisdom. Back then, my father was a legend on Wall Street…”

Liao Yazhe wasn’t sure whether to believe her. It seemed like he should, since her English was good and her trading was spot on, but her story sounded too fantastical.

“Stop zoning out. We can buy Huada now,” Fan Qi said to Liao Yazhe.

Liao Yazhe checked the time and price, and seeing it was suitable, he began to push Huada’s stock price higher.

As the market closed in the afternoon, Liao Yazhe stood by Fan Qi’s side. “What you said is true?”

“I was kidding. I started paying attention to stocks as soon as I came to Hong Kong. I haven’t acted in many dramas this year, so I’ve spent most of my time studying stocks. I’ve filled up so many notebooks and gone through so much material. Every day, I read the newspapers and financial news. I didn’t have money to buy stocks, so I set myself an initial fund of twenty thousand. Every day I write in my notebook how many lots I bought at what price. In the beginning, I kept losing, but in the last few months, I’ve been making stable profits. And did I really earn two thousand? I was just looking for a brokerage to open an account and start trading!” The truth was closer to what she said earlier, but this time she was just making up a story.

Clearly, Liao Yazhe preferred to believe the new version. “Compared to you, I really haven’t been diligent enough.”

“Dreams are above, and loneliness is below.” This was something an old-timer from a short-term trading forum had once said. The man had lost so much money that he couldn’t afford food, but he continued researching, eventually becoming a legendary speculator in the ultra-short-term trading circle. “Most of the time, our minds are on stocks. I can endure loneliness and will put my heart into it. I hope that once I start trading for real, I’ll see some returns.”

“Definitely!” Liao Yazhe responded.

He looked at Fan Qi’s side profile. Her eyes were bright and clear. Feng Xueming had told him she didn’t care much about rewards, and that the most she’d made for acting in Jin Lian’s Past was only twenty thousand. He guessed that she took the role to save some money for trading stocks.

Thinking about it, Feng Xueming was interested in her, but that interest seemed to be more for play than anything serious. Even if he didn’t like Xu Miao’er, to inherit the Liu family fortune, he’d still have to listen to his grandfather.

“Fan Qi, most men with money in Hong Kong who pursue female celebrities don’t take it seriously, but you…” Liao Yazhe suddenly didn’t know how to continue.

Fan Qi smiled. “Thank you, but Mr. Feng and I, our relationship is strictly professional collaboration.”

“That’s good,” Liao Yazhe said.