At this point, it was already September 1987, and the main contract for the futures had shifted to October and November. As for the December contract, which Zhong Shi considered the main one, a significant amount of capital had also entered the market.
"Who is this? What a big move, it seems like a challenge to the previous 10,000-hand trade?" Zhong Yi stared at the numbers on the screen, lost in thought.
"Yes, but not exactly. It could also be that the same capital is now going long." Zhong Shi kept his eyes fixed on the screen. As this large order was placed, scattered long orders were instantly cleared, and the index price plummeted, quickly forming a long bearish candle.
"How do we judge this situation?" Zhong Yi watched the rising numbers, feeling a growing sense of joy. Each fluctuating number meant that their short positions were profiting.
"Wait, wait for the bulls to jump out! With such a rise, the bulls can't help but jump out to challenge the bears!" Zhong Shi said calmly, not taking the rise seriously. Although this sudden fluctuation affected other months' contracts, fortunately, the December contract had fewer counterparties.
As he had predicted, not long after, when the 15,000-hand large order swept away the market's buy orders like a whirlwind, three 3,000-hand long orders quickly appeared on the screen, almost simultaneously, all placed at a relatively low price, clearly a provocation, showing great confidence in their capital.
Now it was up to the shorts to accept or not!
At this moment, the people in the trading room could no longer focus on their meals, gathering around to watch the numbers on the electronic screen, each with their own thoughts. Even the mischievous Liao Xiaohua became quiet, staring intently at the young teenager, eager to hear what he would say.
"Accepted! Accepted!" As everyone was still pondering, the trading column showed consecutive trade confirmations, and the trading volume instantly increased. In just a few seconds, 9,000 long orders were accepted, without even causing a ripple.
"What does this mean?" Liao Xiaohua, after waiting for a long time without hearing any words from the others, became impatient. He quietly leaned close to Liao Chengde's ear and whispered.
No matter how dull he was, he knew this was a critical moment. From the serious faces of the others, he could see that the group, who had been laughing and eating together just a moment ago, had become serious. Even his father only shook his head and did not answer his question.
However, he recognized the numbers on the screen. Seeing the numbers jump by tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, and knowing that the unit was in dollars, his heart raced as if a fierce beast was staring at him.
He had a vague idea of his father's wealth, which, converted to dollars, was only a few million. According to the numbers on the screen, it would only be enough to buy a few hundred contracts.
What was this? If the numbers were real, then this amount must be in the hundreds of millions, far exceeding his father's wealth. Liao Xiaohua quietly thought, staring at Zhong Shi and Zhong Yi, trying to read their expressions.
What puzzled Zhong Yi was that after the 9,000-hand long order was placed, there was no further action, even as the shorts pushed the index price to a new low.
At this point, the S&P 500 index was around 365. After the short order, it quickly dropped to 360, a critical level. If it broke through 360, the bulls might be completely defeated.
The bulls only resisted slightly at 362 and 363, then watched the price fall, which was very unusual.
"Could it be that the bulls are now going short?" Zhong Yi muttered to himself.
Although his voice was low, in the quiet trading room, it was clearly heard by everyone. Andrew glanced at Zhong Yi, his face showing approval, clearly agreeing with his view.
Liao Chengde, however, frowned deeply and said after a moment, "If it's the bulls, why would they place a 9,000-hand long order? Isn't that redundant?"
"Perhaps they want to create a false impression that the bulls are short on funds and have been defeated. Those following the large capital might change their stance and go short, allowing them to take advantage of the situation. In fact, those long orders were just liquidated by themselves."
Zhong Yi thought for a moment before carefully saying this, having considered this possibility for a long time.
"Don't jump to conclusions so quickly. Let's first check the information from the New York Dow!" Zhong Shi chuckled, showing a mysterious expression.
"Right, how could we forget that?"
"Indeed, the stock index and futures always move in tandem!"
Everyone suddenly realized and quickly switched to the Dow Jones interface. The Dow was up, higher than the previous trading day, and slightly rising, indicating a good trend.
"Still so bold to go short in this situation? One point in the S&P is equivalent to eight or nine points in the Dow. Could they be trying to manipulate the Dow?" Zhong Yi's brow furrowed deeply, finding the situation hard to understand.
"To move the Dow, how much capital do they need? The total market value of the Dow is in the trillions of dollars!" Zhong Shi sneered, showing disdain.
In fact, something similar had happened in the future. In China's capital market, a large commercial bank used its proprietary funds to疯狂拉升指数，然后通过自己的期货公司大量建立空仓，接着在市场上发表声明，称自己的交易系统出了问题，使大盘重新回到正常的轨道。
In fact, something similar had happened in the future. In China's capital market, a large commercial bank used its proprietary funds to drastically push up the index, then through its own futures company, established a large number of short positions. It then issued a statement in the market, claiming that its trading system had a problem, causing the market to return to a normal track.
In this rise and fall, the commercial bank successfully made huge profits by using the index's decline. In the stock market, it bought over 7 billion worth of component stocks, which fell by only five points, while the corresponding short index futures contracts were as high as 7,000. The numbers showed that the commercial bank's gains and losses in this "mistake" event were roughly balanced, but the short sellers who got the news made a fortune.
However, China's securities regulation was far less stringent than the SEC. In such a situation, the SEC might bankrupt the commercial bank, while in China, it could only be a light punishment.
"You're wrong. In fact, this can only be a test. Watch, it won't be long before the bulls attack, and the number will definitely not be 360, or even 359, it might be 358 or lower!" Zhong Shi stopped looking at the screen and instead sat back at the table, picking up a piece of well-done beef and chewing it.
"Why is that?" Zhong Yi also sat back down, but he picked up his chopsticks without any appetite, his eyes still glued to the scrolling screen.
Seeing Zhong Shi sit back down, the others, though puzzled, also returned to their seats, full of questions, waiting for Zhong Shi's explanation.
Only Liao Xiaohua remained standing in front of the electronic screen, his eyes fixed on the fluctuating numbers, trying to verify if Zhong Shi's prediction was correct.
"It's actually quite simple. This is a greeting between the two sides. If I'm not mistaken, these two groups are very familiar with each other, and this change might even be a joint effort." Zhong Shi swallowed the meat in his mouth and reached for a rolling crab stick with his chopsticks.
"What?" The others were shocked by this explanation, their faces changing.
"It's falling, it's falling, it really broke 360!" Just as everyone was still uncertain, Liao Xiaohua suddenly shouted, and the group quickly gathered around. The price had quickly broken through 360 and reached 358, the level Zhong Shi had predicted.
For a moment, the shorts were overwhelming, with dozens or hundreds of short orders on the screen. Just as the index was about to break 356, a 10,000-hand buy order from the bulls suddenly appeared, instantly clearing the low-price shorts. Before the shorts could react, another 10,000-hand buy order came, quickly pushing the price back to 360.
A total of 20,000 long orders had severely hit the low-price shorts. Before the shorts could react, the index had already soared, returning to 365 and showing signs of further rise.
The shorts were now truly in a desperate situation. To close their positions, they would have to accept a loss of more than five points. If they didn't close now, they might lose even more.
"Amazing!" Liao Xiaohua was stunned for a moment, then gave Zhong Shi a thumbs up, his voice full of admiration. The trend matched Zhong Shi's analysis perfectly, as if he had seen the future.
"Actually, futures trading is a game of human psychology! Apart from some uncontrollable factors, hehe!" Zhong Shi bowed, accepting Liao Xiaohua's praise. Turning around, he looked at the faces full of disbelief and stroked his smooth chin, speaking with a mysterious air.
"Tell us, what's really going on?" Zhong Yi didn't care about the formalities, grabbing Zhong Shi's shoulder and shaking him, breaking the mysterious aura Zhong Shi had tried to maintain.
"Actually, it's quite simple. The previous shorts successfully pushed back the bulls, successfully stirring up the market's bearish sentiment. As a result, everyone started going short, allowing the largest short to successfully exit. At this point, the Dow was rising, so there was no reason for the S&P 500 to fall. So the bulls gathered strength at a lower price and hit the shorts hard."
"Didn't you see those two 10,000-hand long orders? If I'm not mistaken, one of them must be the previous large short, but I don't know which one!"
"This is the art of war: 'When the enemy is strong, I am weak,' 'When the enemy advances, I retreat,' 'Deception,' 'The beauty trap'..." Zhong Shi said, munching on the crab stick. (I hope everyone will recommend and collect this story.)