Chapter 34 Short Selling Begins

In the blink of an eye, another day had passed.

Today, Carter deliberately got up early. After hastily finishing breakfast, he arrived at Kedel Corporation by half-past eight. To Carter's surprise, Julian was already there, even earlier than himself.

Meeting in Julian's office, there was a moment of awkwardness between them.

"Morning. Why are you here so early?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that? I arrive at the office at eight every day, not just today."

Julian looked at Carter with a mixture of exasperation and amusement, guessing that Carter might come in early today, but didn't expect it to be this early.

"Are you really that nervous? We still have an hour before the market opens, and haven't we discussed our plan before?"

"Plans are plans, but when you're putting millions into it, how can you not be worried? Unlike you guys, who handle billions of funds every day. Us small-timers are risk-averse; if something goes wrong, it's irreparable."

"Heh, you're giving me too much credit. If I had control over billions of funds, would I still be here?"

"Oh? Are you thinking of changing jobs?"

"Strictly speaking, not changing jobs. Working for others is boring. I've been working for over twenty years; to say I don't want to be my own boss is nonsense. But that's all for the future; let's focus on the present. Don't worry; I'll keep an eye on the market for you."

After some small talk, they both got busy with their own tasks. Besides Carter, Julian had other clients to handle. Carter, on the other hand, found himself a bit bored, but luckily, Julian's office was well-stocked with financial books.

Regardless of how much he could understand, passing the time like this was a decent choice. So, they endured until the stock exchange opened, and the short selling operation against Vicks and a few other companies officially began.

Carter thought it would be a fierce financial battle, but it turned out that he had overestimated it. Ten minutes after the market opened, the first batch of 6,000 shares was sold out in less than half an hour.

At a low price of $3.42 per share, and with not many shares available, it was like throwing a stone into the sea, just as easy as when he borrowed the shares initially.

Half an hour later, the second batch of Vicks shares, another ten thousand shares, was sold out in half an hour again.

As time passed, the trading volume in the New York Stock Exchange increased rapidly. This ten thousand shares, just like the previous ones, caused barely a ripple. However, as the trading volume increased, the stock price was briefly pushed up a bit, albeit by a tiny 0.02 dollars.

"See that? Feeling more at ease now?"

When the first batch of sixteen thousand shares was sold, Julian looked at Carter with a smile. Sipping his coffee, he teased, "Today, we plan to sell about 40,000 to 60,000 shares, not too many at first. There shouldn't be any problem; you actually didn't need to come. Next week, when we've sold about half of the shares we hold, that's when we'll push harder to lower the stock price. At that time, the trading speed won't be too fast, and we need to watch for the right moment to strike."

After getting Carter's authorization, Julian immediately contacted the traders at the exchange and listed all the stocks in Carter's account for sale.

Since the stocks in the New York Stock Exchange were traded in lots of one hundred shares, the largest unit of trading was also one lot. So, the largest number of Vicks stocks, three hundred thousand shares, was only three thousand lots, which sounded like not much. But when these three thousand lots were listed, it immediately attracted the market's attention.

"Hey, Burke, something big's happened! Did you buy Vicks stocks the other day?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh my god, how much did you buy, buddy? Hurry up and come to the exchange; just now, three thousand lots of Vicks stocks were sold, and yours are probably going to drop!"

"What? Three thousand lots or three thousand shares?? Are you kidding me? Yesterday, it was still rising; I'll be there right away! Damn it, I just bought twenty lots!"

Similar conversations spread like wildfire within the exchange. Soon, both Vicks Company and individual investors noticed the anomaly in the stock market. Vicks Company's 2.2 million shares accounted for forty percent of the total equity. Now, someone had put five percent of the company's shares up for sale.

This was no small matter! Five percent of the shares, if acquired by other shareholders, could immediately change the power dynamic. Upon hearing the news, Vicks Company's chairman, Duba Vicks, was furious in his office and urgently summoned the company's finance team to calculate whether the company's cash reserves could turn the situation around.

As Vicks Company and retail investors were taken aback by this move, other financial institutions that had sensed something or had known that Kedel Corporation was up to something, began to smile meaningfully:

"Go! Add fuel to the fire and list our Vicks Company shares! No, wait, don't rush; let's wait an hour and see how things develop. From now on, keep an eye on the movement of Vicks stocks."