After dinner, Li He didn't go upstairs. After sunset, when the lanterns were first lit, he wanted to walk around. The night lights, the crowds, and the endless stream of cars.
Narrow streets, jingling cars, and double-decker buses. The lights overlapped with each other. It was a perfect match for a Friday night.
Walking along the flyover would lead to the pier. Along the way, one could meet three or four street singers and a medium-sized Ferris wheel. The fluorescent blue lights marked the Central District of Hong Kong. Every building was filled with the city's elites working overtime. The lights, high-rise buildings, and bars formed a unique lifestyle. Different busyness, the same sorrow and joy.
He stood at the ferry. Behind him were the high-rise buildings. The singing of the street singers gradually dissipated in the sparkling water. The slightly salty sea breeze was blowing, and the bright lights were always like an old movie in slow motion, with a little bit of rhythm and feelings.
Li He suddenly asked Pinsong, who was standing next to him. "Have you ever thought of staying in Shenzhen?"
"If I stay in Shenzhen, you won't be able to handle everything alone, right?" Pinsong was used to the liveliness in Beijing. Although Shenzhen was also full of vitality, he was not willing to be as heartless as Su Ming.
"The south will be our base camp in the future. In the future, our focus will be in Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Now, Shenzhen has opened up land auctions. Don't you want to build a shopping mall? This is a good opportunity. Our land in Shekou is still empty. "
The top 500 state-owned companies looked at the capital, the top 500 foreign companies looked at Pujiang, and the top 500 private companies looked at Shenzhen. Due to the early development of the market economy, the price mechanism played a decisive role in the allocation of goods and element resources. The fair, open, and just characteristics of the market were fully reflected here. In a purely competitive market environment, Shenzhen had become a paradise for private entrepreneurs. Therefore, from this point of view, Shenzhen's investment environment was suitable for the development of private economy. If Li He wanted to make a difference in the private economy, there was no better place than Shenzhen.
If it was in his hometown, even if Li He wanted to contribute, he would not be able to. There were too many uncertainties and too many difficult people. Sooner or later, he would be exhausted. Some realities, he had to admit.
Li He valued Pinsong more. Sometimes, he was smarter than Su Ming. Otherwise, he wouldn't have talked so much with him.
"Brother, I just got married. "Pinsong is still not very willing. In fact, he may not have much hope. He now has a car, a house, and a status in the capital. Coming to the south is just looking for trouble. It's not realistic for him to hope for plums to quench his thirst.
"Then I'll arrange for someone else." Li He was thinking about who to find to take over the property.
Pinsong said, "Brother, if you really want me to stay in Shenzhen, I'm willing."
"Forget it." Li He saw that Pinsong was unwilling and didn't want to force it.
Pinsong still wanted to say something, but Li He waved his hand to stop him.
As soon as the two of them arrived at the hotel, they ran into Huang Bingxin, who was running around downstairs.
"Mr. Li, I was so worried. Fortunately, you are back."
Pinsong looked at Huang Bingxin and went upstairs. He never asked what he shouldn't know.
"What's the matter?"
"Mr. Li, I've recalculated. Our operation method is completely not feasible."
Huang Bingxin was more anxious than Li He.
There were people coming and going at the door. Li He signaled Huang Bingxin to make way, and the two of them leaned against the corner.
"Tell me why?"
"Mr. Li, Goldman Sachs suggested that we go short! They don't have that many shares to lend us! "
Li He scolded. "Sure enough, all the crows in the world are black."
No wonder Goldman Sachs dared to promise to lend him as much as he could!
Short selling was easy to understand. When an investor in short selling believed that the price of a stock, bond, or futures would fall in the future, he would pay a portion of the margin, borrow a certain stock through a securities broker, and sell it first. When the price falls to a certain level, he would buy back the stock and return it to the lender. The investor would make a profit during the transaction. This practice was called short selling.
In a mature stock market, the short seller's stock was borrowed from the long seller. The securities company was willing to lend the stock to them so that they could collect rent. The stock was lent out without the knowledge of the holder of the stock, and there was no need for the long seller's permission.
"Naked short selling" was an investment method where the investor did not borrow the stock but directly sold a non-existent stock on the market. When the stock price fell further, he would buy back the stock to make a profit. The trader who carried out "naked short selling" only needed to buy the stock before the settlement date, and the transaction would be successful.
To put it bluntly, naked short selling did not need to borrow the stock at all. It could be directly recorded as short selling, as long as the stock was bought before the settlement date. The advantage of this practice was to increase market liquidity, but the disadvantage was that it could be maliciously used to short.
Because "naked short selling" sold a non-existent stock, the amount could be very large, and it would have a severe impact on the stock price.
The "naked short selling" system was a third party system created by the exchange. It allowed the short seller to sell directly without borrowing the bond from the third party, and within a certain time limit, buy the short bond to make up the difference. In fact, it was equivalent to allowing short-term short selling without restrictions on the target.
During the 2008 financial crisis, many famous large companies died because of this, including the famous Lehman Brothers. Therefore, the United States recognized the danger and implemented a strict naked short selling restriction in 2009.
If a dabbler like Li He really played naked short, if he was lucky, he might make a profit. If he was unlucky, not only would he become a pauper, but he might also be in debt. Huang He could run away with his sister-in-law, so he could only learn from Ding Xie and jump off the highest building to see if there was a chance for him to be reborn.
He also could not be at the level of Einhorn, who had the guts to publicly short Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and make a big profit.
In the 19th century, there was a railroad company in Harlem. Its head was the first richest man in the United States, Vanderbilt, known as the "Captain." He was the largest ship owner and the largest railroad head in the United States at that time. His wealth was estimated to be one percent of the United States' GDP at that time.
Bad news came from the Harlem Railroad, and the speculators thought they had the opportunity to use the Hudson River Railroad stock to make a big deal. Just as the Harlem stock price reached its peak, they launched a short-selling attack on the Hudson River stock. They short-sold the Hudson River stock, forcing their opponents to increase the margin, creating panic, and forcing the stock price to fall further. They tried to close their positions at a low price to make a big profit.
Vanderbilt immediately counterattacked. He asked his broker to buy out all the "seller's options" in the market.
Vanderbilt and his companions were rich!
They didn't care! They bought them all!
In the first half of July 1863, Vanderbilt closed the net. When the contract expired, the short-selling speculators went to the market to buy the Hudson River Railroad stock, only to find that there were no sellers in the market, because all the Hudson River stock was in Vanderbilt's hands. When the stock price soared from $112 to $180 almost overnight, Vanderbilt began to demand that the speculators fulfill the contract and pay him for the stock.
Then, the short-sellers would have to pay back the stock, right? Who would buy the stock at this time? Vanderbilt.
These poor unlucky people found that there was only one seller in the market, and that was Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt was generous by nature. He did not insist that the short-selling speculators, who were trapped in his trap, immediately fulfill the contract. Instead, he was willing to lend them the stock they needed at this time, but at a daily interest of up to 5%.
In fact, the most important thing in this case was that Vanderbilt really had a lot of money …
So this was Li He's dilemma. If he met an opponent like Vanderbilt, he would die a very ugly death. Shorting was not terrible, but naked shorting was terrible.
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