King of the Wilderness

Chapter 505: Chapter 276: Final Gains (Part 3)

”When Lin called, the stock price was still climbing at 400 US Dollars. Unlike you, I didn’t wait. I immediately instructed my traders to start clearing positions in batches. I told him I didn’t care about hitting the peak; I just wanted to pocket the profits.”

He slowly reported a number that made both Scoot and Brian sit up in surprise, ”My 5 million US Dollar call options were fully cleared during the price range from 200 US Dollars soaring to 450 US Dollars.”

”The final cash-out... 1.85 billion US Dollars. Net profit, 1.8 billion.”

He spread his hands, with a tone of both pride and a hint of regret: ”Of course, if I had held on to 600 US Dollars, this number might have doubled.”

”But I missed out on that last, craziest stretch and, as a result, perfectly avoided the carnage of a server shutdown.”

Eventually, everyone’s gaze turned to Brian.

Brian picked up a glass of water in front of him, took a sip, and then slowly said, ”My situation is more complicated than you might think.”

His voice was calm and unruffled, as if he were stating a fact unrelated to himself, but his next words made the air in the conference room freeze.

”I invested a total of 150 million US Dollars.”

The potential returns from this figure sent a shock through everyone’s hearts! ℴℴ𝘮

”Because the size of the funds was too large, to avoid alerting the market during the accumulation phase, our process of establishing positions lasted nearly two weeks and involved six independent funds from three different countries.”

”Even so, the final average holding price was pushed up to about 35 US Dollars.

He continued: ”The process of clearing positions was equally difficult. When Lin’s order was issued, the stock price was at a high of 480 US Dollars. I had our team in Switzerland initiate the highest level of clearance protocol.”

”Before the server shutdown, we successfully sold about 80% of our positions, with an average selling price of around 560 US Dollars, successfully cashing out over 1.9 billion US Dollars.”

1.9 billion US Dollars! Scoot and Matty’s breath stopped at that moment.

Brian’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly, ”But just as we were preparing to clear the last 20% of our positions, disaster struck.”

Scoot couldn’t help but interject, a hint of confusion in his voice: ”But Brian, Robin Hood pulled the plug! How did you guys...?”

Brian’s lips curled into a cold smile and he slowly said, ”Scoot, you must understand one thing. What Robin Hood disconnected was the water pipe to the slum. Our mansions are connected to an independent main water pipe.”

”The so-called server shutdown targets only those retail investors using zero-commission apps. Their trading channels are fragile, crowded, and very easily cut off.”

”As for our orders,” his voice carried a touch of inherent arrogance, ”they were executed through the main broker channels of UBS and Morgan Stanley.”

”These are directly connected to the core servers of the exchange and can facilitate block trades in the dark pool with other institutional players. That’s another world, a battlefield that retail investors can never see or touch.”

”So when Robin Hood’s users were raging at the grayed-out sell button, my trading team was in the dark pool, selling our shares to those eager to cover short positions or attempting to profit from a rebound during the collapse.”

These words starkly revealed the class truths of the world of capital, sending a shiver through Scoot and Matty.

Brian’s tone shifted, the previous arrogance of controlling everything disappeared, replaced by a rare sense of exhaustion, ”But even the main water pipe is on the verge of bursting when a tsunami hits because of the overwhelming pressure.”

”At that moment, all institutions were frantically selling, and no one wanted to step in. Our trading team was like trying to push an elephant through a crowded fire escape in a burning cinema.”

”They spent an hour using the network I’ve built on Wall Street over the last thirty years through UBS’s market-making department to forcibly liquidate 10% of the positions. But the average selling price for this part was a dismal 250 US Dollars.”

”And the last 10%,” he slowly shook his head, ”about 420,000 shares, are now locked in there, completely immobile. They are now just like those in Scoot’s hands, worthless paper.”

The battle report was concluded. Brian, the Hollywood magnate, could not escape the merciless slaughter that flipped the table on Wall Street without a hitch.

The conference room plunged into silence once again.

Brian’s gaze, which was once filled with the calm of controlling everything, now turned into a reflection filled with complex emotions.

”But to be honest, even I didn’t anticipate the ultimate outcome would be this insane.”

”My initial expectation was that Lin’s information would allow us to achieve a return of three to five times. That would already have been a great victory. I prepared 150 million US Dollars to ensure we would have enough say in this game.”

”But I never imagined, not even in my wildest dreams, that we weren’t just playing cards.”

”We were printing money!”

His voice was not loud, but it was powerful: ”Invested 150 million, finally cashed out over 2 billion US Dollars, although there’s still more than 250 million US Dollars’ worth of assets stuck at its peak value.”

He looked at Lin Yu’an and said, ”Lin, I have lived for almost seventy years, gone through the internet bubble, survived the subprime crisis, and thought I had seen everything in the world of capital. But you and your friends have taught me another lesson.”

He slightly nodded towards the screen showing Lin Yu’an—a gesture of rare equality: ”For this victory, I thank you.”

The battle report was concluded.

Scoot & Justin: Total investment of 35 million, net profit of over 484 million US Dollars.

Matty: Investment of 5 million, net profit of 180 million US Dollars.

Brian: Invested 150 million, total cash-out of approximately 2 billion US Dollars.

This was a truly, madly insane feast of wealth!

”Well then, how about you, Lin?” Scoot couldn’t help but ask.