Chapter 5: Take Profits
In a flash, the stock price shot up to 124.58 RMB, hitting the upper limit and getting locked in.
The buy orders surged, with 1.25 million shares queued up to buy, a reassuring figure.
“Brother Liang, that’s incredible. I underestimated you.” Zhao Haisheng couldn’t help but give him a thumbs up, clearly astonished.
It was safe to say that the funds they’d provided for Lu Liang’s margin account had already skyrocketed to 830,000 RMB.
“Oh, come on, it’s just luck,” Lu Liang said, patting Zhao on the shoulder. “I’ll leave you to your work.”
Over the next four trading days, Baofeng Technology solidified its title as the “demon king” stock. While it didn’t close with perfectly uniform price limits, it gained between 7-10% daily.
Soon, a new week began, and Baofeng Technology’s share price reached 224.4 RMB.
“The stock’s likely switching players at these high levels,” Lu Liang murmured, sipping his coffee. Each day, he tracked the market to observe movements and gain experience.
There, he sold 6,600 shares all at once.
In the frenzied market, selling 40,000 shares was like dropping a pebble into the ocean—not even a ripple.
“Personal account: 10.54 million RMB. Margin account: 2.046 million RMB. After miscellaneous fees and including principal, my balance is 12.066 million.”
Lu Liang felt a bit dazed. Two months ago, he’d sold his house with barely over a hundred thousand in liquid funds; even with maxed-out credit, he’d only managed to pull together about 600,000 RMB.
Now, he was a multimillionaire.
Taking a deep breath, he fought back excitement and called Zhao Haisheng. “Haisheng, can you close out my margin account?”
Zhao was stunned, and after checking the system, saw that Lu Liang had indeed sold everything. “Brother Liang, we’ll still have to charge you for the full month’s fees, even if it hasn’t been a month.”
“Not a problem. Go ahead and deduct it.”
“Then, Brother Liang, if you’re free this afternoon, come by the office to sign the settlement agreement.”
At 2:00 p.m., Lu Liang returned to the Guotai office. It was bustling as always, with a constant stream of people opening accounts.
That morning, the index had broken through 4,500 points, sparking a nationwide stock market craze. Older investors nostalgically recalled the early ’90s, with trading fever reaching a peak.
Investing had become a new trend.
Lu Liang was shown to the VIP room, where he observed the fervent crowd below, a strange glint in his eyes.
He had been trying to view things from the perspective of a “player,” realizing that the people below were like lush fields of “chives” waiting to be harvested.
“It’s close to the peak, I think,” he mused. Finance was not the backbone of China’s economy—real estate was.
As Zhao printed out the agreement, he smiled and asked, “Brother Liang, did you get a tip?”
“What tip would I get? It’s just that market sentiment is too intense. I don’t want to get caught in it,” Lu Liang joked.
“Yeah, maybe it’s time for people to cool off a bit.”
Zhao politely refrained from probing further.
Glancing at the market chart on the wall, he noted that Baofeng Technology was up 7.55% and seemed on track for another upper limit.
Unable to hide his own smile, Zhao, a seasoned market player, wasn’t about to miss out on this opportunity.
To him, Lu Liang’s caution seemed overly conservative. With the index heading toward 5,000, it was hard to imagine stocks would drop.
Then again, Lu Liang had already made enough, so cashing out wasn’t unusual.
“D*mn it, I sold too early,” Lu Liang muttered with a look of regret.
Zhao tried to console him. “Brother Liang, locking in profits early isn’t a bad thing.”
Lu Liang sighed. “Who wouldn’t want more money?”
Zhao only smiled, pulling out the agreement. “Here’s the final balance—1.536 million RMB.”
Lu Liang reviewed it carefully and signed his name.
Zhao added, “Your funds will be in your account within two hours. Please check it later.”
“We recently launched a mixed fund. It’s up 25% over the past month—interested in learning more?”
Zhao didn’t know exactly how much Lu Liang had made with his 68 slots, but conservatively estimated it to be over 6 million RMB.
That meant Lu Liang now had at least 7.5 million RMB in liquid funds. If he invested just a million, Zhao would get a 15,000 RMB commission.