Chapter 11
Translator: Dreamscribe
“Oh my~. Jin-ho ssi. You're here? Aren’t you coming in too early? You could start a bit later. You're not a junior anymore, you're a senior now, right?”
Deputy Manager Yang Mi-joo.
It's kind of overwhelming.
The person who used to snap at me and Deputy Manager Lee first thing in the morning is suddenly flashing a big smile.
Well, maybe she hit the jackpot with some stock.
“That’s true. I guess I just got into the habit.”
“Hoho. How long has it even been since you started coming to work, and it's already a habit. You're really diligent and nice. Hm? And I heard your return rate yesterday was the best among all departments? Thanks to you, I feel very reassured.”
“.......”
From her gaze to her behavior, it was all very overwhelming, so I just gave a quick greeting and hurried to my desk.
‘Still not used to this.’
Originally, my desk was small with just a single monitor.
But now, I had six monitors, a keyboard with added functions, and other equipment all set up in a slick manner.
They say everything new is better.
It certainly looked a lot more modern and neat compared to other traders’ setups.
‘But I have nothing to do until the market opens.’
Normally, I’d be running around with Lee Hye-rin sunbae gathering data and handing it out, getting ready for meetings, but that life ended as of yesterday.
Two newly assigned juniors to our team were now handling that work.
“Um, Senior Staff. Here is the material from the Research Department for today.”
"Ah, yes. Thank you."
I was always the one distributing the materials, but now I was the one receiving them from juniors.
Well, I could look up data on the computer too, but for meetings, it’s necessary to have printed copies, so on days with lots of data, I’d be standing in front of the copier all day.
‘Those people probably have more experience than me. I feel kind of bad.’
But I heard in finance companies, especially, performance is valued more than seniority.
In fact, in securities firms, there's a contract with each individual, and if a trader doesn’t achieve a certain score in the monthly evaluations, the contract is automatically terminated.
It was a scary place.
Someone you saw today could suddenly disappear the day after the evaluation.
“Jin-ho ssi. As expected, you were here early.”
“Ah, yes. Deputy Manager. You’re here? But your complexion.......”
“Ugh. Don’t even mention it. I was so worried yesterday I couldn’t sleep. I’m a senior now too. That means I’ll be evaluated on my performance. I was so anxious thinking, what if I keep staying in the red like this and end up getting my contract terminated.”
That’s why traders get so sensitive.
Deputy Manager Lee Hye-rin also had dark circles hanging low on her face.
“Still, it’s a relief that you made a good profit yesterday. I heard that while individual performance is important, if the team performance is good, you get extra points for that too. You’re totally a savior, Jin-ho ssi.”
“It’s only been a day though.”
“Ah! By the way, Jin-ho ssi, how many trades do you usually make?”
Yesterday, I made exactly three trades.
Three buys, so three trades.
Come to think of it, I didn’t make any sells.
I hope the price doesn’t drop today when I try to sell.
“I made 150 trades just yesterday. My fingers hurt and my eyes were killing me. Plus, I had the settings wrong so I lost money unnecessarily too.”
“......150 times?”
“150 is below average. Usually, a Prop Trader does hundreds. That’s why everyone skips lunch and just spams clicks like crazy. They set up their program based on a pre-written strategy before the market opens too.”
I knew that Prop Traders did a high volume of trades per day, but I didn’t realize it was in the hundreds per person.
“So when buying and selling stocks with high liquidity, they also configure risk management settings in the program so that when they buy a certain stock, a portion of the funds automatically go into a short position, or they buy ETFs to turn a profit through the system.”
So that's why traders rushed to their computers after meetings to input various things.
The market hadn't even opened yet, but I wondered why they moved so busily, and it was all for that reason.
They were setting up the buy and sell ratios according to today’s investment strategy and automating the process.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t do that, Jin-ho ssi?”
“I only made exactly three trades yesterday.......”
“What? Only three?! You weren’t doing short-term trading? I kind of felt it even during the mock trading, but Jin-ho ssi, your style was swing trading, wasn’t it? You really have the heart of a beast, Jin-ho ssi. How could you hold without selling? The graph must have been fluctuating all over the place instead of steadily rising.”
Trader styles are generally divided into four categories.
High-frequency trading, which involves thousands or tens of thousands of trades in a day.
That’s almost 100% done by programs, so let’s leave that out.
Next is short-term trading, which is what most people here do, and then there’s position trading, where people hold positions over several months or even years.
Lastly, there is swing trading, which involves making fewer than ten trades per day.
‘I seriously don’t understand what kind of beastly heart it takes to do short-term trading.’
Even though there’s risk management, constantly repeating buy and sell orders makes your eyes feel like they’re going to explode.
On top of that, I wasn’t sure if my instinct would even work for short-term trading.
I’d get a strong feeling when I needed to buy, but I had never had a clear instinct for when to sell.
‘Maybe it’s just because I haven’t tried short-term trading yet.’
Until now, when I got a feeling, I’d just click buy mindlessly and be done with it, so maybe that’s why.
Come to think of it, swing trading might actually be more stable for me than short-term trading.
“There’s no meeting today. Everyone, review the research materials and build your own strategy.”
The Team Leader left that comment and went inside.
Oh no. No meeting?
What I needed was data.
Rather than just looking at the research materials, I found it much more helpful and easier to understand when I listened to the conversations shared among team members.
Then there’s only one place I can turn for help.
“Um...... Deputy Manager?”
“Yes? What is it, Jin-ho ssi?”
“There’s no meeting today.”
“Ah. When it looks like the market overall will be in a bear market, he often does that. He’s basically leaving it up to us to decide whether to go short and pull in profits, or just do nothing.”
So that’s the reason.
“Then what if we hold a meeting ourselves based on the research material?”
“Ah. No way, Jin-ho ssi.......”
Lee Hye-rin sunbae said that with a face full of emotion.
“Is it because you’re worried about me? That I might not get a good return? So you’re trying to help me?”
“.......”
Far from helping, I was actually the one receiving help.
“Okay. Brainstorming together is definitely more efficient. Let’s see. Interest rates went up a little recently. Because of that, the ones who benefit are banks. If you look here, it says NIM (Net Interest Margin) is expected to rise.”
When interest rates rise, it naturally benefits banks.
Especially when household debt is high, it’s even better for banks.
That’s because the interest they collect from loans increases.
On top of that, 80% of a bank’s revenue comes from interest margin between deposits and loans.
If the loan interest rate rises, a bank’s profit increases naturally.
“Of course, there’s risk due to bond valuation losses or potential loan defaults, but on average, it’s still profitable.”
“But here, it says not to invest in bank stocks at all?”
“Bank stocks are practically fixed in price. Especially in Korea, where there are a lot of regulations on the financial sector, bank stocks are in a tough spot to rise. Dividends are average, too.”
Just looking at the PBR of Korean banks, there’s up to a fivefold difference. (TL Note: PBR = Price-to-Book Ratio)
In other words, the current stock price is being undervalued by as much as five times.
Even so, stock prices still don't rise.
That’s due to the stagnation caused by Korean financial regulations.
Also, there’s a lack of innovation in the sector.
And with dividends only once a year, there’s not much appeal.
So that must be why they say not to invest in bank stocks.
“There’s just one thing we need to pay attention to. KK Bank. I’m debating whether or not I should get into this too. You could say this is the beginning of the full-scale fintech era, right?”
Fintech.
Simply put, it’s financial services done through smartphones.
Now we live in an era where we transfer money through apps, but to actually handle proper financial tasks, you still need to visit the bank.
But the new KK Bank has no branches.
It’s a 100% internet-based bank.
What’s more, the banking sector had been stagnant for ages.
Aren’t the banks founded back in the 1800s still representing Korea, just under different names?
In other words, there has been no real innovation or competition, and that’s why bank stocks have remained stagnant.
Now, a new company is trying to flip the table in such an environment.
Whether it will succeed or be crushed by the existing banks remains a matter of debate.
But for short-term traders like us, we don’t need a distant future.
What matters is what happens to the stock price today.
“That’s why I’m torn, too. Should I get in or not? Since this is its first IPO, investors will rush in like crazy. But the maximum single-day rise is capped at 15%, so all it’ll probably do is draw a ‘Gi-yeong graph’.” (TL Note: IPO = Initial public offering and you can read more about it here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_public_offering)
There’s something called a Gi-yeong graph.
It got the name because it looks like the hairstyle of Gi-yeong from “Black Rubber Shoes”, where the graph goes up and down repeatedly due to a flood of investors rushing in when a stock first lists.
(TL Note: First of all Black Rubber Shoes is a animated tv show for children based on a manhwa. And as explained above Gi-yeong graph is based on the hairstyle of Lee Gi-yeong. You can read more about the tv show here -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Rubber_Shoes As for the graph its talking about I am adding example images of it below.)
“Jin-ho ssi, don’t tell me you’re thinking of getting into KK Bank?”
“Ah, I......”
The research material also advised against getting into bank stocks, so I was planning to follow that.
But just as I was about to turn the page.
A powerful feeling surged from my fingertips through my entire body.
“Jin-ho ssi?”
“......I’m thinking of going in.”
“Wow. As expected, you’ve got nerves of steel. For IPO stocks like this, you’ve got to be really good at getting in and out. Buy at the low point and sell at the high. You’ve got to keep repeating that. You sure you can handle it?”
“If it really feels wrong, I’ll just cut my losses and get out.”
But right now, my instincts are telling me.
That I need to go in on this one.
“Hm. Should I go in too? Ah, the market’s about to open soon. Go get ready, Jin-ho ssi.”
“Ah, yes. Let’s do our best today.”
“Fighting!”
I returned to my seat and waited for the market to open while checking my capital.
If I sell off all the stocks that are scheduled to be sold once the market opens, I’d have just a bit over 1.1 billion won... huh?
‘What is this? A bug?’
But there was an extra 4 billion won added to my capital.
I went straight to the Team Leader.
I didn’t want to get in trouble for mishandling money that wasn’t mine.
“Um, Team Leader. I think there’s a glitch in my program. The deposit amount showing on my screen is 4 bil-”
“If you’re talking about your capital, that number is correct.”
“Sorry?”
“Starting today, Senior Staff Jung, you will be trading with a total capital of 5 billion won. So keep that in mind, get back to your seat, and focus. The market’s about to open.”
Wait. From 1 billion to suddenly 5 billion?
Sure, I had good returns yesterday, but is it really okay to pump it up this much?
‘Wait a second. The market really is about to open.’
But there was no time to be flustered.
Just like the Team Leader said, the market was about to open.
I quickly sat down and immediately pulled up KK Bank as soon as the market opened.
‘Right. Deputy Manager Lee Hye-rin said diversification is essential for risk management.’
I don't know.
If I was going to do that, I should’ve planned it before the market opened.
The moment I entered KK Bank, my body started trembling wildly from the intuition.
Click-click-.
I kept pressing the buy button.
I couldn’t stop myself.
I even put in all of yesterday’s investment amount, which had been sold off the moment the market opened at the preset price.
After completely emptying everything like that, I felt a sense of relief.
‘Does that mean I’m done for today?’
Well, just like yesterday buy everything today, sell tomorrow, and done.
Easier than I thought.
But that thought didn’t last long.
“......Hm?”
Right after going full buy and feeling calm, the sensation suddenly started to stir again.
Was this telling me to buy more?
‘I already used up all my bullets.’
But it wasn’t a buy signal.
When I moved the mouse toward the buy side, everything was calm, but the moment I moved it toward the sell side, a surge of electricity tingled up through my fingertips.
‘It’s telling me to sell!’
Deputy Manager also said it.
Here, in & out is what matters.
Buy at the low point, exit at the high.
That’s what an IPO stock is.
I hurriedly clicked the mouse like crazy and went full sell again.
“Whew. If I had been just a little late, I’d have been in trouble.”
Just as I sold, the graph that had been climbing to break the high point suddenly plunged back down toward the bottom like crazy.
Thankfully, I took profits.
“If it’s like this, then I should look at other stocks.......”
I closed the KK Bank window and tried to look at other stocks.
But before I could even lower the window, a sharp intuition blared an emergency alert straight into my head.
‘W-What is it now? You’re telling me to buy again?’
Just now it was the sell button, but this time, the moment I hovered the mouse over the buy button, the signals came in like crazy.
I reflexively spammed the buy button.
Tadadak!
This time for sure it’s the end, right? Right?
No. Not even close.
“Again?!”
Now the signal flipped to the sell button side in just a few seconds.
As those intense feelings kept crashing into me several times within minutes, my temples throbbed tightly, like an engine overheating and catching fire.
Tadadadadak-!
Even so, I couldn’t stop my fingers from reacting to that electrifying signal.
‘S-Save me.’
*****
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