madnovel Chapter 2 | The Market Starts to Listen to Him
Chapter 2 | The Market Starts to Listen to Him
Faraday held steady around 300 for two days.
The following morning, Faraday Future opened slightly higher.
The magnitude wasn't large, but it was enough to give the bulls a sigh of relief.
Familiar phrases are starting to appear on financial programs:
"A technical rebound."
"Short covering."
"Short-term emotional recovery."
Ethan stared at the betting odds, watching quietly.
He wasn't in a hurry to draw conclusions; instead, he mentally broke down the backlash into several issues:
—Is the quantity enough?
—Who is buying during this price surge?
—Who is taking over during the pullback?
At 9:50, the first wave of price increases ended.
Prices failed to hold steady.
At 10:05, the second attempt was even weaker.
Trading volume was nearly 30% lower than the previous day.
He wrote a line in his trading log:
"Lack of confidence in a rebound."
Then, he did nothing.
At 10:30, my phone vibrated.
It was sent by that senior PM.
What's your take on this rebound?
Ethan glanced at the screen but didn't answer immediately.
He knew this was not a casual question.
This is a test.
A few minutes later, he only replied with one sentence:
"If it were a real rebound, there wouldn't be such a rush."
The other party replied quickly:
"What do you mean?"
Ethan waited a few more minutes.
"A genuine rebound usually starts with people being skeptical."
"Only a fake rebound can make them rush to prove themselves."
In the afternoon, Faraday Future weakened again.
This time, the decline was not rapid, but it was decisive.
It's like someone has finally stopped pretending.
Ethan opened the trading system and brought up that familiar structure again:
Current Stocks: Small Short Position
Put: Short-term + medium-term combination
Risk control line: Slightly looser than the first short position.
It's not because of confidence.
Rather, it was because he knew someone would follow him.
This time, he didn't monitor the market the entire time.
I just glance at it every twenty minutes to make sure the rhythm is still going.
At 2:15 PM, Faraday Future fell below its morning low.
At that moment, he added a second stroke.
The position is small, but clear enough.
The change happened "where he didn't see it".
First, it happened within the fund.
People started sharing his words in the group.
This is not the original quote, but a modified version:
"Ethan said this rebound is not real."
Later, it became:
"Ethan is bearish on a rebound."
Later, the term "bearish" was simply omitted altogether:
"Ethan said it."
When he first saw these reposts, he was stunned for two seconds.
That feeling was strange.
It's like you say something, but someone else interprets it as a signal.
The rebound failed completely the next day.
Faraday has fallen back below 300.
This time, the decline was much smoother.
Panic hasn't arrived yet, but hesitation has already begun to spread.
Ethan closed out some of his puts during the trading session.
It's not because my judgment has changed.
Rather, it's because—prices have already started to work for him.
After the market closed that day, he pulled up his account balance and took a look.
The numbers are not exaggerated.
Hundreds of thousands of US dollars.
But at that moment, he sat in the chair and didn't move for a long time.
It's not because of money.
Rather, it's because—
This was the first time he clearly felt that "fame was making him money."
That evening, he had dinner at a very ordinary restaurant.
The steak was well-done, and the wine was just average.
The people at the next table are talking loudly about cryptocurrency.
He ate while scrolling through his phone.
A financial news flash popped up:
"Some traders believe that the recent rebound may be a 'false recovery'."
It has no name.
But in the comments section, someone left a message:
"Who said that?"
Soon, someone replied:
"Go and see who's been the first to get free lately."
Ethan put down his phone and looked out the window.
The New York night view is as stunning as ever.
No one applauded for him, and no one celebrated for him.
But he knew that a small group of people were already "waiting for him to speak".
On the third day, the phone rang.
But they weren't colleagues.
He is one of the fund's partners.
"Ethan, a lot of people outside have been talking about you lately."
Ethan raised an eyebrow but didn't deny it: "I know."
"It's not a bad thing," the other person said. "It's just... everyone's been paying close attention to your recent judgments."
The subtext of this statement is quite clear.
Attention means amplification.
"If there's a further backlash," the other person paused, "what would you do?"
Ethan thought for a moment and said:
"I will watch it again."
"Watch what again?"
"Let's take another look; is the market just putting on a show?"
There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone.
"If you were to leave the room open again," the other party continued, "are you confident?"
Ethan did not answer immediately.
This is a very dangerous problem.
He finally said:
"I'm confident in the process, not the outcome."
After hanging up the phone, he sat in the living room for a long time.
Night falls outside the window, and a computer sits on the table.
The earnings in the account are still there, quiet, concrete, and real.
Hundreds of thousands of US dollars.
It's nothing.
But it's enough to create a misconception:
Perhaps, this time we can be a little bolder.
He did not act immediately.
I just glanced at the leverage column a couple more times.
By the end of that week, Faraday Future had dipped again.
It's not a new low, but it's enough to keep the short sellers comfortable.
Ethan made a little more money.
Not many, but very smooth.
He recorded this gain in his log, and wrote a sentence in the remarks:
"The market started to follow my lead."
After he finished writing, he stared at the line of text for a long time.
Then, I crossed out the word "I" and changed it to:
"The market is starting to listen to me."
The real change doesn't happen in the trading system itself.
It happened in a very short email.
That morning, Ethan Chow had just sat down, his computer was still booting up, when a new message popped up in his email.
From: Managing Partner
The title consists of only one sentence:
"Come to my office at 3 p.m.
No reason given, no attachments provided.
Ethan stared at the line of text for two seconds, then put his coffee aside.
He knew this wasn't routine communication.
The office was bathed in sunlight in the afternoon.
The partner stood by the window, his back to him, looking at the street scene.
When Ethan entered, the other person didn't turn around immediately, but simply said:
"sit."
This is a very subtle stance.
This is not an order from a superior to a subordinate.
It's more like a pause before negotiations.
"We've all seen your recent performance with Faraday Dynamics," the partner finally spoke.
"It's not just about the result."
He turned around and looked at Ethan. "It's all about the process."
This sentence is crucial.
Ethan did not respond.
"You didn't chase the highs, didn't add to your positions emotionally, and didn't say anything unnecessary in the media."
The partner smiled and said, "This is quite rare among young people these days."
Ethan nodded: "I'm just following the procedure."
"The process is rigid."
The partner said, "But people aren't."
After saying this, he opened a drawer, took out a document, and pushed it to the center of the table.
"We plan to give you more room to maneuver."
Ethan glanced down.
This is an internal authorization statement.
The maximum amount of funds available has been increased to ten times the original amount.
This has far exceeded his original authority.
His finger paused on the edge of the paper, then flicked it lightly.
"This is temporary."
The partner added, "We'll see how you use it."
Ethan looked up: "Risk exposure?"
"The risk control line will follow you."
The other party said it very lightly, "As long as you stay within the framework."
The true meaning of this sentence is:
A framework allows for discussion of morality.
The office was silent for a few seconds.
Ethan did not agree immediately.
He knew that this moment, which seemed like a reward,
But in essence, it's about betting.
"I will not change my strategy."
He said.
The partner nodded: "We don't want you to change."
"We just hope—"
He paused, as if searching for the right word, "—You can make better use of what you see."
That's a very well said statement.
It is also very dangerous.
The hallway was quieter than usual when Ethan left the office.
Someone looked up at him, then quickly looked down again.
That wasn't curiosity; it was to confirm his location.
Back at his workstation, he first opened the risk control page, where the new data had already been synchronized.
Higher available margin.
Wider tolerance for drawdowns.
Larger leverage options.
Each one seems to be saying the same thing:
You can do more now.
That afternoon, Faraday rebounded again.
The amplitude wasn't large, but the rhythm was very familiar.
Ethan looked at the betting odds and suddenly realized something—
This time, he was no longer just judging whether the rebound was real or fake.
He began to think subconsciously:
If I move now,
Will anyone follow suit?
The moment the thought crossed his mind, he stopped immediately.
He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes briefly.
This is an idea that shouldn't exist.
He forced himself back to the process:
Look at the quantity first.
Let's look at options.
Next, let's look at the replenishment speed.
After confirming, he made the first payment.
It's bigger than before.
It's not the kind of huge that's out of control.
But enough to give the profit and loss curve "weight".
The price quickly dropped a little.
The fluctuations in account profits are noticeably different now.
Ethan stared at the number, his throat tightening.
It's not fear.
Instead, it was excitement.
He closed out a small portion of his positions before the market closed.
It was just to confirm that I could "quit at any time".
The result was straightforward.
He made a profit.
Not many, but faster than any before.
The feeling is like when you step on the gas pedal and suddenly find that the car is lighter than you expected.
When he got home that evening, he didn't turn off the computer as usual.
Instead, he opened the authorization document again and read it through.
Numbers are cold.
But the underlying meaning is very profound.
This is trust.
Too--
Shifting of responsibility.
He realized clearly for the first time:
If the next judgment is wrong
The cost is no longer simply written in his account.
The phone lit up briefly.
It was a short message from a partner:
"You did a good job today."
No specific stroke was mentioned.
There were no words of praise.
But Ethan understood.
This is the default.
He sat on the sofa, looking at the lights outside the window.
The New York night remains unchanged.
The small amount of profit in the account is not excessive.
A few hundred thousand US dollars is not much in the context of the entire fund.
But what it brings has already begun to change.
It's no longer just money.
It began to become—
Proof of power.
Ethan placed his phone face down on the table and stood up to get some water.
The sound of flowing water was very loud.
He suddenly remembered something a professor had said long ago in a university classroom:
The real danger isn't when you're losing money.
This is the first time you've been allowed to...
Using other people's money to validate one's own judgment.
He didn't pay much attention to it at the time.
Now, he finally understood.
When a trader is empowered
The market will take a back seat.
The first one,
He became himself.