Reborn in America, I am a legendary short seller on Wall Street.

Chapter 94 Mr. Potter's Promotion (4.6k words, single update today)

The last day of January was an unforgettable Sunday for Mr. Andrew, the general manager of Colt Corporation, and Mr. Wallace of Paine Weber Securities.

All misunderstandings have been cleared up, and Colt's financing plan can proceed as scheduled.

Furthermore, Mr. Morgan pledged that his banks would invest heavily in Colt Firearms' private placement of shares and issuance of corporate bonds, with the total amount potentially exceeding $1000 million.

This is equivalent to Mr. Morgan taking on half of the financing project by himself.

This level of support is simply too generous, and with Mr. Morgan leading the subscription, the bond project will not lack followers from other banks and consortia. Therefore, Colt Firearms' financing plan is destined to be oversubscribed.

Mr. Andrew was very satisfied, and even his usually calm eyes showed faint tear tracks.

He had previously worried that Mr. Morgan might try to buy the company or not support Colt, which would greatly hinder the company's expansion plans.

Fortunately, everything turned out for the best.

Mr. Andrew will no longer worry about disappointing Mr. Colt's spirit in heaven!
At the joint dinner that evening, Mr. Andrew paid high tribute to the six-person team from Paine Webber Securities and presented them with Colt Corporation's honorary badges.

Larry was already wearing the pony badge given to him by Mr. Andrew, and now he hung the honor badge next to the pony badge, making it even more dazzling.

During the dinner, Mr. Anderson subtly suggested that if anyone encountered trouble in the future, mentioning Colt's name would be enough to get the military to speak on their behalf.

However, since the financing project is still in progress, Mr. Andrew plans to give a substantial reward to the six people from Paine Webber Securities after the project is completed.
.
Monday, October 2.

At eight o'clock in the morning, Mr. Wallace suddenly received an urgent telegram, delivered personally by the head of the telegraph office of Colt Company.

After reading the telegram, Mr. Wallace's face was grave. He then went to Larry.
“Larry, we have to go back to Boston. Mr. Porter has been transferred to headquarters as general manager, and I will be acting as general manager of the Boston branch.”

Larry was taken aback, not expecting Mr. Potter's appointment to come so quickly.

"But Mr. Wallace, what about the bond projects here at Colt Company?"

Mr. Wallace gave a cruel smile and muttered, "They lost a lot of money this time. If they don't want to go back to poverty, they'll naturally do their best to complete this project."

The two bid farewell to Mr. Andrew and took a carriage to Hartford train station.

The earliest train was at 11:30 a.m., and the two of them stopped by the Reading Company's stock exchange, arriving there at 9:40 a.m.

The two sat on the customer's bench, staring at the still empty price list.

Mr. Wallace was in a good mood. He took out $20 and said to Larry with a smile, "Let's make a bet. I think the stock price will open 5 or 10 points higher, reaching $35. Do you believe me?"

Larry smiled and looked at Mr. Wallace's $20. "Are you so confident that the stock price will rise?"

Mr. Wallace chuckled and said in a low voice, "On Sundays, the four of them took turns sending telegrams from the telegraph room. Those rats are still unwilling to accept defeat... But this time, it's the rats' turn to lift us onto the throne."

Larry smiled and said, "Then it will definitely be more than just an opening price of $35, at least $40 or more!"

Mr. Wallace raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you're even more optimistic than I am! Well then, let's wait and see."

Meanwhile, at the New York Stock Exchange.

With 15 minutes until the market opened, a floor trader in a striped suit walked slowly toward the manufacturing and arms counter in the southwest corner of the trading hall, his face grave.

The man in the striped suit had already cursed his partner a thousand times over—1.2 shares of Colt stock!

They encountered strong competitors while collecting chips, and spent over $20 in total during the chip collection process, which was the maximum amount of cash this small group of manipulators could raise.

But on Saturday morning, that damned partner, for some unknown reason, insisted that Morgan had canceled Colt's financing plans.

The striped suit company took emergency measures to cut its losses, selling a total of 1.17 shares at an average price of less than $29.

In this one go, they lost nearly $14, and now the small group only has $6 in cash and... 300 shares of Colt stock left.

These damn guys claimed they were making a fortune by running a scam, but they almost went bankrupt!

However, the striped suit wearer knew that complaining about his partner at this point would be useless. If he wanted to make back the money he had lost, he had to act immediately and buy back in before the market reacted.

Colt stock is sure to skyrocket.

The man in the striped suit was a shrewd old trader. He knew that the more urgent the situation, the less he should show his eagerness to buy Colt. Otherwise, those who wanted to sell Colt stock would notice and raise the opening price.

The man in the striped suit casually walked to the counter, silently took out a small pouch of snuff, and stuffed it into each of his nostrils.

"Achoo!!" The man in the striped suit sneezed loudly and lazily glanced at the traders around him.

With about ten minutes left before the market opened, the traders were organizing their order books. The trader who looked familiar with the one in the striped suit saw him and came over to greet him.

"Hey! My brother, did you sell any Colts today? Did you get rid of all those last few shares yesterday?"

The man in the striped suit frowned, his voice filled with exasperation as he exclaimed, "Of course we have to sell! This damn stock is likely to keep falling..."

After saying this, the man in the striped suit suddenly lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "...I heard there's bad news about Colt, maybe insider trading or accounting fraud...the stock might fall below $10, selling now is the wise thing to do."

The familiar trader frowned deeply; he had a sell order for Colt today, with the client's order price no lower than $28.

The familiar trader carefully inquired through various channels over the weekend and had not heard of any negative news regarding Colt. He had originally planned to place a pre-market sell order at $32, but the striped suit's words made him uneasy. He thought to himself that he might as well just place an order at $28, otherwise he wouldn't be able to sell if someone else offered a lower price.

Hesitating, the familiar trader placed Colt's order at the top of his own stack of orders.

The man in the striped suit had noticed the transaction slip in his friend's hand, which bore the stock abbreviation "COLT" for Colt, but he hadn't seen the exact number of shares written in cursive at the end.

However, this is enough. The margin for striped suits has been greatly reduced, and due to the temporary contraction of margin for two-way trading, the maximum number of Colt shares that can be purchased at this time is 6000.

The striped suit man planned to take advantage of everyone's confusion at the opening of the auction to snatch up all the Colt sell orders in one go.

Only in this way can we minimize our losses.

What's a little deception of your friends if it's all for money?

Seeing his friend place Colt's deal on top, the man in the striped suit frowned and muttered, "Don't offer too low a price. I have a lot more to sell... Don't let me be unable to sell them."

The familiar trader nodded and gave his friend a knowing smile.

The man in the striped suit glanced furtively at the clock on the wall; it was 9:52 a.m. He figured he'd buy it as soon as his friend made an offer…

But just then, a few unfamiliar faces entered the manufacturing and arms counters with a lot of noise. The name tags on their chests belonged to unknown small brokerage firms, and their beards were sparser than their eyebrows.

One of the young on-site agents went to the counter and shouted to those around him, "Does anyone have Colts? I want to buy a lot!"

The striped suit trader's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He thought to himself, "Where did this newbie come from? He's not going to get a good price like this!"

The floor traders at the counter all turned around abruptly. Someone recognized the young man and loudly questioned, "Didn't you just sell 4000 shares yesterday? Why are you buying them back today?"

The young trader, looking distressed, said, "Who knows what's wrong with the clients? They sold yesterday and want to buy again today. Hey, does anyone have any? I'll buy 2000 shares!" The floor trader who seemed familiar with the man in the striped suit's eyes lit up, and he quickly asked, "How much are you offering?"

The young trader frowned, glanced at it, and casually said, "Client, this is a pre-market order. Please submit your quote first!"

"34 and a quarter dollars!" A familiar trader quoted a deceptive price, waiting for the other party to counter-offer.

The young trader raised his right hand and said, "Okay! I'll take it!"

The young trader's words elicited sighs from traders around the manufacturing and arms counters. Colt's closing price yesterday was $26.5, and today it opened nearly $10 higher, a gain of almost 40%.

The man in the striped suit clenched his teeth. He understood. The young trader who bought Colt stock wasn't stupid, but rather lacked professional ethics. He wasn't trying to get a very good price for his client; he just wanted to buy the 2000 shares his client had ordered as quickly as possible.

This damn scumbag!
You'll ruin my buying plan!
Before the man in the striped suit could say anything more, someone else raised the price, shouting, "I'll offer $35.1, sell it to me!"

Another person hurriedly shouted, "I was here first, I can pay $36... Give it to me!"

"36.1 USD!"

"37 USD!"

"$37.1!!"

……

Several guys eager to get Colt stock before the market opened started fighting amongst themselves, bidding high prices in an attempt to get the number of shares they wanted before the stock price soared.

These were all pre-market orders. These floor traders knew that this matter couldn't be delayed. They knew that raising prices was bad for everyone, but at this point, they could only compete to submit higher prices.

As is customary, familiar traders can wait until the market opens and then choose the one with the highest bid to execute their trade, so he intentionally stopped talking and just quietly watched these people announce their prices.

The other traders around were already secretly checking their pockets for Colt price quotes...

Some traders even had the idea to buy some stocks for themselves, hoping to make a quick profit from this seemingly sure-fire short-term gain!

Floor traders at the New York Stock Exchange can place orders for themselves, which is why they often deliberately drive up prices. They only earn commissions by trading for clients, but they can earn the price difference by trading for themselves. Moreover, they are on the front line of trading, and they can often make a small fortune by occasionally doing short-term trading.

The man in the striped suit was getting increasingly panicked. He glanced at the clock on the wall, bit his lower lip, and suddenly roared.
"You sons of bitches, get out of my way! I'll pay 39 yuan!"

Everyone was taken aback and looked at the striped suit.

The young trader snorted and turned to the trader he knew, shouting, "I'll offer 40! Give it to me now!"

Seeing that the brokers who wanted to buy Colt were about to speak, the man in the striped suit shouted and roughly pushed aside the young men who were gathered around the familiar trader.

"Damn it! Vance! We've known each other for over a decade. If you don't sell it to me today, we're done! I'll offer $42!"

The man in the striped suit roared, eliciting a moment of silence from the traders at the counter. The familiar traders were momentarily stunned, but seeing the man in the striped suit's ferocious expression, they pointed a finger at him and said...

"$42! I sold it to him!"

The traders who had just been bidding fell silent. Traders on both sides of the transaction were free to choose their buying and selling targets. If the trader selling the Colt chose the striped suit, then there was nothing anyone else could do about it.

The man in the striped suit confirmed his deal, arrogantly surveying the people around him before writing a buy order for 6000 shares and slapping it on the hand of a trader he knew named Vance.

Vance froze. He removed his thumb from the transaction slip and wrote down the number of shares he held—500 shares—after the abbreviation for "COLT."

“I…I only have 500 shares, which you sold to me yesterday. I don’t have 6000 shares…Are you in such a hurry to buy so many?” Vance muttered.

The man in the striped suit stomped his foot heavily on the ground.

Damn it, I was so focused on the bidding that I didn't notice the other party didn't actually have that many shares...

This is the worst situation in floor trading, because everyone has already guessed each other's hand and knows that they are eager to buy 6000 shares of Colt. So the floor traders around them are like sharks smelling blood, and they raise prices recklessly.

However, it was all too late...

The exchange clerk behind the counter had already filled in the opening price of $42 on wax paper with a stylus, and this price had been transmitted throughout the United States via the direct telegraph line.

The striped-suit-clad man noticed the way the other traders on the floor were looking at him, as if they were prey walking into a trap.

A trader stepped forward, his face indifferent, and asked, "$43, I have 500 shares here, do you want them?"

The striped suit jacket clenched its teeth and said, "I'll take it!"

The trader smiled, wrote out a 500-share order, slapped it into the striped suit jacket's lap, and said casually, "$45. I have 500 shares left. Do you want them?"

Before the man in the striped suit could even speak, several unfamiliar traders standing to the side had already started to actively raise the price.

“Give me these 500 shares at $45.25 each…”

"I'll pay $45.5!"

……

At the manufacturing and arms trading counters, the other traders who had remained silent until now could tell that these few people were determined to buy Colt's stock today, and their faces gleamed with excitement and greed...

Meanwhile, in the trading floor of Hartford Reading Company.

Mr. Wallace saw Colt's opening price, which was a whopping $42!

He stood up excitedly, clenching his right fist!
My 1500 shares were traded at $26.5, which means that the actual trading time was less than 15 minutes, and I had already made $2.3.

Larry smiled. He had expected this long ago. From the moment he started this scheme, Larry knew what would happen to these greedy and indecisive insiders!
Those who are greedy and selfish will inevitably perish because of their own nature.

Unfortunately, game theory doesn't exist these days, otherwise those insider traders would never know why they met such a tragic end.

But whatever, there's nothing new on Wall Street!
Did they know that greed and selfishness would bring misfortune, and therefore they wouldn't have acted this way?

Serves you right!!
Larry jumped to his feet and said to Mr. Wallace, “Come on, sir, we should catch the train!”

Mr. Wallace turned to Larry and handed him $20. "This is what I owe you. The opening price was indeed above $40!"

Larry smiled, didn't refuse, and put the $20 into his pocket.

But Mr. Wallace didn't move. Instead, he looked at Larry seriously, his smile fading, and said solemnly,
"At my alma mater, MIT, we would put pens in the jacket pockets of people we admired..."

As he spoke, Mr. Wallace took a pen from his pocket, slipped it into Larry's jacket pocket, looked Larry into the eyes, and said sincerely,

“You have earned my respect, Mr. Larry Livingston!”

(End of this chapter)