Phillips was startled by William's angry gaze.
After a second of hesitation, he immediately shouted, "Understood, Mr. Devlinshire!" He then turned and loudly commanded the traders, "Sell short, quick! Sell futures, 3% margin, three-month futures, buy all 3.5 billion US dollars, immediately, right now!"
Everyone snapped back to attention and quickly responded, "Understood!" Ten traders immediately began operating on their keyboards.
"It's 5047 points! Someone just placed a sell order! God, the trading volume is picking up!" the ticker operator shouted.
William couldn't help but command loudly, "Sell short, quick!" He knew he wasn't the only one bearish on the market, and if he didn't enter now, he wouldn't be able to secure so many futures contracts.
William was excited; he knew his opportunity had arrived. Currently, 80% of the market believed the Nasdaq would continue to rise, but the Nasdaq had not risen above 5048 after reaching it.
While many in the market were still bullish, opening short-sell futures at this time would attract many people to bet against him. A futures trade is only successful if someone in the market takes the opposite bet. If you make money, it means someone else loses, especially with short-sell futures, where losses can be even more severe.
Trading futures during market frenzy is the best time. Otherwise, if individual investors, institutions, financial companies, and funds were cautious about the market, William wouldn't be able to sell such a large amount of futures.
By using a 3% margin, he meant that 3.5 billion divided by 0.03 equals 116.6 billion US dollars. He was using a 333x leverage with 3.5 billion US dollars to first sell 9,760 lots of 5048 index futures. One Nasdaq lot is 250 US dollars, so for every point it rose, he would lose 2.44 million US dollars, and for every point it fell, he would gain 2.44 million US dollars.
William was not afraid of the Nasdaq rising now, because with the 33 million US dollars he earned a few days ago, he now had 82 million US dollars in funds that could be used for additional margin. As long as the Nasdaq didn't rise by 40 points, he wouldn't be forcibly liquidated.
At this time in 2000, those who sold short had an advantage over those who bought long: the market no longer had money to prop it up. The likelihood of the stock market soaring within a few days, or even a few hours, was already low. And any slight disturbance in the market could shake the confidence of the vast majority of investors.
80% of the money was borrowed by individual investors. Even government agencies and funds were speculating. The market value of US stocks had already exceeded their actual value by three or four times. This market was artificially inflated, like a sandcastle that could collapse with a slight breeze.
"Deal! I've closed 500 lots, France!"
"Deal! 800 lots, England!"
"300 lots, America!"
"200 lots, America!"
In the National Bank's trading hall, the sounds of traders successfully selling futures were constantly heard. Institutions, financial companies from countries like America, France, and England were continuously buying the index futures William was selling, all betting that the Nasdaq would rise.
"How many buyers are there from Japan? Focus on Japanese buyers."
"Understood."
William suddenly realized something. He was planning to make his mark in Europe and America, and to do well, he couldn't cause too much loss in these regions. If these countries lost too much, they might directly cause him trouble. Japan, however, was different; he wouldn't be investing or doing business there in the future.
As long as William invested heavily in America and England after making his profit, these two countries wouldn't hold a grudge against him, and he wouldn't directly face suppression from their national powers. Perhaps, after the stock market crash, England might even support him due to his substantial investments.
"350 lots, Japan."
"900 lots, Japan."
"300," "720," "500," ""600."
"There's a 1000-lot from Japan! God, these guys are really rich!"
In less than 2 hours, William had sold 4,370 lots of futures in Japan.
"Continue, sell all to Japan."
"Understood."
Another hour passed, and after William sold nearly 2,000 more lots to Japan, he couldn't sell anymore. No one was foolish; it seemed some people had caught on. The sudden appearance of large sell orders in the market today made some hot-headed institutions begin to exercise caution.
"Can't sell anymore, Mr. Devlinshire! Japan isn't buying anymore! What do we do now?" the trader shouted.
William thought for a moment, still needing to sell 1,590 lots, and quickly said, "Sell freely! Now, whoever wants it, sell it to them!"
Finally, before 2:30 PM in America, all 9,760 lots of 5048-point index futures were sold. William looked at the trading records on the computer and burst into laughter. "Alright, guys, today's work is done. No need to watch the stock market anymore. Let's go celebrate!"
The others, unlike William, who was a reincarnaor, were not so confident. They all looked at William with worry. Phillips hesitated, wanting to remind William that it would be better to stay here and keep a close eye on things.
William noticed Phillips' concern and reassured him, "Alright, guys, the contracts are established. Now everything is up to God. Phillips, my luck has always been good, and I believe God will bless me."
Of course, William, the cheat, was confident. Looking at the contracts in his hand, William excitedly patted Phillips on the shoulder and laughed heartily.
William knew that unless Benjamin Arthur, the Grand Administrator of America, and Astor, the Grand Administrator of England, did not jointly announce, as they had in his previous life, that biotechnology companies should make cloning technology public, then William would not hesitate to close his position in three days, even if it meant a loss of eighty million US dollars. He wanted to preserve his principal of 3.5 billion US dollars.
Now, everything truly depended on God. William silently prayed, whether it would be a small fortune or an immense one would be decided in these next few days.
Sure enough, God was on his side. Three days later, on Friday, before the American stock market opened, Benjamin Arthur, the Grand Administrator of America, and Astor, the Grand Administrator of England, just as in his previous life, jointly announced their stance on the monopoly of cloning technology by biotechnology companies in both countries. They demanded that biotechnology companies in the market open up cloning technology, cooperate, and develop it together, while explicitly prohibiting human cloning.
This news immediately showed its power in the stock market. Biotechnology stocks in the market began to fluctuate.
As soon as the market opened, US biotech stocks began to fall. Although the drop wasn't significant today, over the next two days, Saturday the 11th and Sunday the 12th, there was extensive bearish sentiment towards the tech industry in the market and media. Many short sellers began to leverage the situation.
To be honest, biotechnology and internet technology companies actually have little connection, but who made current biotech companies all hype the concept of technology? Any biotech company that didn't add "tech" to its name would be too embarrassed to boast in the stock market.
In 1999 and 2000, any company related to technology was heavily speculated by investors. As soon as the US and UK governments jointly issued the ban, institutions, funds, and financial companies speculating on biotech stocks in the market immediately began selling their biotech shares.
As these large institutions moved, individual investors immediately followed suit. By Monday, March 13th, when the stock market opened, biotech stocks began to plummet, pulling down tech stocks across the entire market. The Nasdaq finally began to fall, just as William had seen in his previous life.