usatvline Chapter 552 552: CH553
Chapter 552 552: CH553
New York, Manhattan — Eldorado Fund Headquarters
In the spacious office lounge, Landon, Andrew, the CIO, and senior investment chief Dan Baradan sat facing one another on opposite sofas.
"Are we really going through with the sale?"
At Dan's question, Landon—one leg crossed over the other—gave a nod.
"The boss said to proceed exactly as planned."
Dan frowned slightly and leaned forward in his seat.
"You've seen how all three major indices rebounded after the OECD report. The Nasdaq broke back above the 4,000 level. Even the investors who froze after the last crash are jumping in again, and the upward momentum is extremely strong. Selling the positions we bought here feels way too premature."
His calm but pointed reasoning made Landon feel a flicker of doubt, but he pushed it aside and answered firmly.
"The market looks like it's shifting back to a bull phase, but the boss believes it's nothing more than a dead cat bounce."
Dan's brows knit even tighter.
"But the market's bounced more than twenty percent from the bottom. How can anyone call that a temporary rebound?"
"To be fair, that's a big jump to label as a dead cat bounce."
Andrew, with his hair slicked neatly back and suspenders clipped in place as usual, chimed in with a mild tone that almost sounded like support.
Dan turned back to Landon with a look that said, See what I mean?
"We're still holding short positions. If the market really has boarded the recovery train and we get off too early, we'll be throwing away our best chance to hedge the risk."
"I told him the same thing."
"And what did he say?"
Landon lifted his shoulders in a small shrug, looking at the two pairs of eyes fixed on him.
"He said the trades were never meant to hedge risk in the first place. The whole idea was to ride the waves in the index and make money off the volatility."
"Hah."
Andrew, seated beside Dan, suddenly let out a laugh.
"And he did tell us from the start to sell as soon as returns passed twenty percent, so he wasn't wrong."
"You really think this is funny right now?"
Dan frowned and snapped at him.
Andrew looked back at him with a faint smile.
"The bounce is big, sure. But considering how far the market climbed during the dot-com frenzy, it's not surprising if a dead cat bounce turns out unusually large too."
"That may be true, but still…"
Seeing Dan's lingering concern, Andrew continued in a calm tone.
"I know very well there's a wave of optimism saying the market won't just recover the previous high, but that the Nasdaq could finally break past five thousand. So I get why you'd want to keep the long positions as insurance."
"Exactly. Since we bought heavily at the bottom, I think shifting into a long-short strategy wouldn't be a bad idea."
Dan nodded firmly.
"In normal circumstances, sure. That would be the sensible way to minimize risk. But doing that also eats away at returns."
Dan glanced at him.
"So you really think the boss is right? That the dot-com bubble going to burst?"
Andrew leaned back into the sofa, laced his fingers, and rested his hands on his knees.
"To be honest, I don't know."
"?"
Dan frowned, and Andrew chuckled softly.
"But one thing is clear. That last crash shattered the blind faith people had in dot-com companies. Investors have started questioning whether they can actually make money."
"..."
"And if you think about how much future expectations get priced in ahead of time, that shift alone is huge."
In reality, the stock market was rising, but the blind euphoria that once surrounded dot-com companies had been replaced by something else—a quiet, persistent unease that could be felt everywhere.
"To me, it looks like everyone's shouting that a new bull market has begun, but the whole thing feels like thin ice. One strong shock and it could collapse without resistance."
"You think that shock will come from the upcoming earnings reports?"
Dan asked with a stiff expression. Andrew gave a small nod.
"I think that's exactly what the boss had in mind when he gave those orders."
A hint of admiration appeared on Andrew's face as his eyes lit up.
"The moment the market showed signs of rebounding, he already saw this far ahead and even nailed down the sell point. It's incredible, isn't it?"
Dan slowly replayed the conversation in his mind.
It sounded almost impossible… but the more he pieced together Seok-won's previous orders—each one fitting perfectly into place—the more a chill crept up his arms.
As Dan fell silent, unable to raise further objections, Landon spoke.
"Our boss is the one who built today's Eldorado Fund by pulling off every bet that others called reckless or insane—without a single failure. All we need to do is trust him and carry out his instructions."
His voice held unwavering confidence.
Dan still felt uneasy about the enormous risk, but he knew very well that the final say belonged to Seok-won. He exhaled softly, accepting the inevitable.
"…Alright. We'll sell everything we bought."
"As always, the boss will make this bet succeed spectacularly."
"I hope so too."
***
A few days later.
The Lehman Brothers trading floor, usually packed with hundreds of traders, was tense from early morning. Everyone was on edge ahead of Amazon's quarterly earnings announcement.
It was the first major IT earnings release since the market had finally pulled itself out of the massive crash that began in February and returned to an upward trend. All of Wall Street was holding its breath. If Amazon's results fell short of expectations, disappointed investors would dump their shares, and the fragile rebound could collapse in an instant.
Veteran senior trader Rackman was just as anxious as everyone else.
Sitting in his chair, he clicked the pen in his hand over and over again—click, click, click—while staring fixedly at the Bloomberg terminal on his desk.
He tried to look calm, but his dry lips and jittery movements gave him away.
Next to him, Charlie Dietz was shaking one leg nonstop, unable to stay still.
Chewing his gum hard, Charlie finally spoke in a strained voice.
"Still nothing?"
Without taking his eyes off the screen, Rackman exhaled slowly and answered in a clipped tone.
"Not yet."
It was short, but the tension in his voice was obvious.
Trying to ease his own nerves, Charlie spoke again.
"It's not… going to be bad, right?"
Rackman didn't respond. He couldn't predict the results either.
His silence—neither agreeing nor disagreeing—made Charlie even more uneasy. He scratched his head in frustration and muttered under his breath, regretting he'd ever entered the position.
"I should've sold at least half the position before the earnings came out."
"And if the results turn out strong and tech stocks take off, you'd be kicking yourself."
"…Yeah, that's true."
Charlie smacked his lips in frustration.
Before the massive crash in February, the market had been climbing nonstop every single day. Most Wall Street traders were terrified of selling too early and watching the rally leave them behind, so nobody dared to unload their positions lightly.
Then Charlie suddenly remembered something.
"Did you hear? Eldorado Fund dumped all the shares they bought at the bottom."
"I heard."
Rackman answered with a heavy nod.
"If the index keeps rising from here, they'll start losing money. But the fact that they're holding their short positions as they are… they must be convinced the market's going to fall again and the bubble's really going to burst."
"…Yeah. Otherwise, they wouldn't dare act like that."
"They're risking billions. Betting against the market alone at a time like this. It's reckless, but the confidence is unreal."
Charlie tossed another piece of gum into his mouth and shook his head.
A lot of traders on Wall Street were laughing at Seok-won's bet, saying he'd end up taking massive losses for fighting the trend. But Rackman knew the truth—they were laughing to hide their own anxiety, terrified that they might be the ones who were wrong.
"If he really pulls it off and wins with a counter-bet… then Park Seok-won becomes a legend on Wall Street all over again. But… no way it'll come to that, right?"
"Won't be long before we find out which side was right."
"…Yeah."
Charlie closed his mouth and nodded slowly, his expression heavy.
Everyone on the trading floor held their breath as they waited for Amazon's earnings release.
Then, at last, a breaking-news alert flashed across the Bloomberg terminal.
And at the same moment, the index in the pre-market began to swing wildly.
[
The moment the bold text popped up on the Bloomberg screen, Rackman froze.
The pen he had been clicking nonstop stopped mid-motion, and his fingers clenched around it until the knuckles turned white.
Charlie, who had been watching with him, contorted his face the instant he saw the numbers.
"Damn it. You've got to be kidding me!"
Like most tech companies, Amazon had been burning through massive amounts of cash to fuel its growth. Everyone knew they'd post a loss—especially given their aggressive expansion strategy.
But this was the problem: the market was already nervous about dot-com companies' profitability, and Amazon's loss was far worse than anyone expected.
Rackman whipped his head toward the Amazon price chart on his monitor.
Just as he feared, the moment the results were released, the stock plunged more than 15 percent in the pre-market.
"Damn!"
The worst-case scenario had hit, and the entire trading floor erupted with shouts and curses.
"Good God. What is this!"
"A loss over 300 million? This is bad—this is really bad."
"No… I knew it. I should've closed my position before earnings."
"Sell before it drops further! Hurry!"
The trading floor descended into chaos as the shock rippled through the room. Team head Lieford shouted over the noise, ordering an immediate sell-off.
Traders didn't even wait for him to finish the sentence. Instinct took over. Everyone dumped their positions at once, and the vast floor turned into pure pandemonium.
Amazon wasn't the only one collapsing. Dot-com stocks across the board were crashing together. On the monitors, charts bled red. Some traders clutched their heads. Others screamed into phones, desperate to unload shares.
After firing off a sell order and dropping his handset, Rackman looked up at the sea of collapsing tech stocks and let out a low, bitter murmur.
"Looks like the gates of hell just reopened."
TL/n -
A dead cat bounce is a short-term jump in stock prices during a much bigger downtrend.
The price rises briefly, giving the illusion of recovery, then falls even lower.
Investors think, "Maybe the worst is over," buy in, and then get hit again as the decline continues.
+++
Here are the most important exact losses of the era:
Amazon (2000): −$1.4B
Webvan (2000): −$525M
Pets.com (2000): −$147M
eToys (2000): −$241M
Cisco (2001): −$2.69B
Sun Microsystems (2001): −$628M
Yahoo (2001): −$92.8M
AOL Time Warner (2002): −$99B (bubble aftermath shock)