Let you be a great man, not a scumbag

Chapter 1805 How could the stars be linked to Facebook?

She playfully slapped Jiang Cheng.

She clearly understood Jiang Cheng's words instantly.

"Stop teasing me like that. You have no idea how nervous I was just now."

...

The next morning, Xu Zhigang, still hungover, was jolted awake by an urgent phone call from his trader.

The voice on the phone trembled: "Mr. Xu! Something terrible has happened! After the US stock market closed last night, Star Capital quietly bought 4000 million shares in the $175-$177 range through an anonymous linked account! What's worse, they started buying in the pre-market session in conjunction with three overseas funds. Now, just half an hour after the market opened, Facebook's stock price has already surged to $178.2!"

Xu Zhigang sobered up considerably in an instant. His fingers gripped his phone so tightly they turned white. His first reaction wasn't anger, but deep self-doubt.

He repeatedly checked the four words "Star Capital," his mind a jumbled mess.

He clearly saw Xingchen's sell order the day before.

How did we suddenly become the opponents who are doing the opposite of what we were doing?

So those orders yesterday really were from Jiang Cheng.

This discrepancy between "thinking someone was a teammate, but actually being a hunter" instantly plunged him into a panic of "information gap out of control".

An arrogant, defensive mentality began to take hold.

Xu Zhi instinctively roared into the phone, "Impossible! How could Xingchen be linked to Facebook? You must be mistaken! Those 4000 million shares are probably just short-term arbitrage; they won't last long!"

At this point, he was unwilling to admit that the "insider information" he relied on might be a trap.

Yesterday, he once again patted his chest and guaranteed in front of the powerful and influential. Now, admitting his mistake is even more unacceptable to him than the drop in stock price.

Soon, the trader sent Xingchen's position building details and real-time trend charts from Facebook.

Staring at the ever-increasing curve on the screen, Xu Zhi's wishful thinking resurfaced.

With a leveraged position of $1200 billion, the liquidation line was at $185, but it's currently only at $178.2, so there's still room for maneuver.

The more he feared failure, the more panicked he became.

He immediately grabbed another phone and began contacting the powerful figures who had previously flattered him to "get through this difficult time together."

But when you call, either no one answers or you only get a perfunctory "wait and see."

Only then did he belatedly realize that those people who followed him in increasing leverage yesterday were merely taking advantage of the "insider information." Once the tide turns, no one will be willing to share the risks with him.

In just half an hour, Xu Zhigang's mindset shifted from "self-doubt" to "arrogant defense" and then to "seeking help by chance," each step revealing his misjudgment of "control."

Meanwhile, Jiang Cheng was doing his morning exercises with Wang Yuyan while watching real-time data.

Seeing that Xu Zhi hadn't made any move yet, Jiang Cheng's lips curled into a smile.

That's how the stock market works; the more volatile it is, the easier it is for people to miss the best time to close their positions due to repeated psychological struggles.

Xu Zhi was in this state at that moment.

Just after hanging up the phone with the investor who had been following him, Xu Zhi's phone screen displayed a red warning pop-up from the brokerage firm.

"Your Facebook short position has reached an 8% loss, corresponding to a loss of 96 billion RMB. If the stock price breaks through $180, it will trigger a Level 1 margin call, requiring you to replenish 480 million RMB in margin. Failure to replenish the margin by the deadline will result in forced liquidation."

He stared at the number "96 billion," his fingertips icy cold.

These losses were just the beginning; he knew better than anyone the lethality of leveraged short selling.

Of my 1200 billion yuan position, 700 billion yuan is leveraged at a ratio of 1:1.5. Once forced liquidation is triggered, the brokerage will not give any buffer time and will directly sell short positions at market price.

Currently, Facebook's stock price is being driven up by Star Funds, and market closing will only cause a surge in sell orders, further pushing up the stock price.

The final loss may be more than 96 billion, and may even exceed 200 billion, swallowing up all of his personal account's 500 billion principal.

What suffocated him even more was the plight of the powerful and wealthy.

If Mr. Zhang cuts his losses now, he will lose at least 50 million yuan of his 1.5 billion yuan position.

Mr. Li's 30 billion yuan position has already suffered a floating loss of over 2 million yuan, and he simply cannot come up with additional margin, so he can only passively wait for the position to be liquidated.

The words Mr. Li said on the phone, his voice trembling with tears, "This money is borrowed; if I have to liquidate my positions, I'm finished," struck Xu Zhigang like a hammer blow.

He knew very well that once these people really lost money, they would never admit defeat and would only push all the responsibility onto him. At that time, not only would he not be able to gain a foothold in the industry, but his family would probably be dragged down with him.