By the time Li Jingwei finished processing the email, it was already eight o'clock in the evening.

Usually, Li Jingwei works on emails in the school's research lab. At home in the evenings, it is to read books, read newspapers and play the piano. Then just go to sleep. His routine has always been very regular.

However, what happened today disrupted the rhythm of his life.

He flipped through the Wall Street Journal on his desk, and the eye-catching headline immediately caught his attention: Will the S&P 500 rise to 3,000?

It turns out that the bulls have pushed the three-month S&P 500 futures above 3,200 points. That's about 15 percent higher than the current spot market.

This made Li Jingwei a little surprised. Because, since the beginning of the year, the three major indexes of the U.S. stock market, including the S&P 500, have all adjusted to a certain extent. Just yesterday, the S&P 500 lost almost one percent.

Although the index has risen today, the transaction situation of the entire market is very light. How can anyone hold such an optimistic view under such circumstances?

In Li Jingwei's view, the U.S. stock market should fall sharply next, and the global stock market will follow suit. This kind of speculation is going to be unsustainable.

Moreover, from the point of view of the article, it is believed that the adjustment of the spot market is temporary and will eventually follow the rise of the futures market. According to the authors, the stock index futures market reflects investors' optimistic expectations for the future.

Perhaps, only when the tide goes out will you know who is swimming naked.

Seeing this, two words appeared in Li Jingwei's mind: opportunity. Now is the perfect time to short stock index futures.

Since the decline of the spot market is inevitable, the decline of the stock index futures market is also inevitable, and the two cannot continue to diverge. Even if the bulls can hold out for a while, they will definitely be defeated by the bears.

Now it seems that the possibility cannot be ruled out that the article was published by the bulls in order to influence the public's investment sentiment.

In the past, Li Jingwei rarely asked about investment, and Zhao Yici was taking care of it. The last time he returned to China, he advised Zhao Yici to dump stocks and invest in bonds. As a result, Zhao Yici spent most of his funds on bonds from countries such as China and the United States.

Later, because Zhao Yici's father, Zhao Weimin, is likely to reach the top in the upcoming general election. This period before this was a very sensitive period, so Zhao Yici handed over Li Jingwei's account to him to take care of himself.

Not long ago, Li Jingwei invested $500 million in the chip company to which Tenglong International belongs. Now there are just over $48 million left in the account. If you add up the more than 3 million yuan returned by Puhai Middle School, you can make up more than 51 million US dollars.

Don't miss the opportunity, and never miss it.

Li Jingwei instantly made up his mind to use the money to invest in stock index futures and short S&P 500 stock index futures.

When he picked up the phone, he wanted to call Zhao Yici and ask her to participate in the investment. However, it immediately occurred to her that she was indeed not suitable to participate in shorting the stock market during the current sensitive period.

If the stock market fell, Zhao Yici made money by shorting the stock market. As Zhao Weimin's daughter, I am afraid that she will be raised to the political level by people with a heart and become a political issue.

Li Jingwei shook his head and put the phone down again.

Since Zhao Yici is not suitable for such an investment now, let's do it alone. For such an investment opportunity, Li Jingwei does not want to let go.

Scholars have been using their knowledge to invest in money, in fact, since ancient times.

The ancient Greek philosopher Thales, known as the "father of philosophy", had a successful options trade.

Thales was born in a merchant state in ancient Greece, where commerce flourished. Since the locals advocate doing business to make money, they think that only those who are not capable of it will study philosophy. As a result, Thales was ridiculed by some people.

Later, Thales did something that proved to people that it was not that he didn't make money, but that he didn't bother to make money.

Based on his knowledge of astronomy, he predicted that an olives harvest would likely be bumper the following year. So, he bought the right to use the olive oil press for the following year.

As a result, the following year there was a bumper harvest of olives in the area, and olive oil presses were in high demand. Businessmen, who were anxious to press olive oil, had to pay a high price for the right to use the olive oil press from Thales.

This successful deal made Thales one of the richest men in Greece at the time.

In addition, the great scientist Newton also once invested in stocks. Unfortunately, his investment failed, leading to his own bankruptcy. Later, the British royal family recognized his outstanding scientific contributions and gave Newton a fat difference, making him the director of the Royal Mint.

Out of prudence, Li Jingwei checked the relevant data again.

The number of home sales in the United States has fallen for six consecutive months, especially in the most recent month, which fell by 8.4%. At the same time, mortgage defaults continue to rise, and the number of households evicted because they cannot pay their mortgages has also increased.

U.S. household debt continues to climb and has reached 133% of disposable income. Consumer spending has fallen and consumer confidence has continued to fall as debt has risen to the limit. This means that consumption, which is the main driver of the US economy, has also gone into trouble.

The number of SME closures has continued to increase, and the unemployment rate has also begun to rise, rising to 4.5% in the latest month.

The U.S. New Century Financial Corporation announced that it was on the verge of bankruptcy. In addition, a number of regional banks have entered bankruptcy liquidation proceedings.

And from the perspective of the stock market, the original high speculative sentiment has also begun to deplete.

In addition, the situation is not optimistic for European and Asia-Pacific stock markets.

There are signs that the U.S. stock market has reached an inflection point of a sharp decline.

The reason why Li Jingwei decided to short stock index futures is because this kind of trading is carried out 24 hours a day, and leverage can be used at the same time. Taking Li Jingwei's current $50 million in hand as an example, if he leverages ten times, it is equivalent to $500 million.

Moreover, stock index futures are easy to hedge. Now sell S&P 500 futures, wait until it falls to a certain point, and then buy backhand and close the position.

This is the first time that Li Jingwei has traded as a trader himself. Prior to this, he proposed some general directions for investment, which were operated by Zhao Yici. Therefore, he was also extremely cautious and read the rules of trading repeatedly.

At this moment, the mobile phone on the table rang, it was an unfamiliar number. Li Jingwei hesitated, but still connected the call.

"Hello Mr. Li, I'm Roman Redding, VIP Account Manager at UBS, and I'm sorry to call in the evening. The person on the other end of the line said respectfully.

"Hello, Mr. Redding. Li Jingwei was very strange, why did the other party call at night, it was not working time.

"Yes, one of our bank's VIP customers is in urgent need of cash turnover. He was willing to pay 30% per annum interest on the loan for three days. I noticed that you have more than $51 million in your wealth management account, and if you are willing to lend it to him for three days, you will receive about $123,000 in interest income. Reading said with some eagerness.

An annualized rate of return of 30% is indeed a high level of return. However, high returns often also mean high risks.

Li Jingwei did not directly answer whether to borrow or not, he was very curious that the other party called at this time. It can also be seen that customers are very eager for funds. So, he asked, "What is he borrowing money for, and what is he using to provide security?"

"This client is optimistic about the future development of the U.S. stock market and has a large number of stocks in his hands. Because he uses leverage, he uses the shares he holds to mortgage to securities companies for financing, and then use them for investment. The recent short-term correction in the stock market has led to a lack of margin and is now at risk of the stock being liquidated. Therefore, in urgent need of funds, we entrusted our bank to help raise funds. Reading said.

He continued: "Because this customer is an important customer of our bank and we have a long-term relationship, I think he is a very trustworthy person. And you have the funds here, and if you lend them to him, you can also get a high return. So, I think, it's a win-win outcome. ”

Li Jingwei did not know who this customer was, and he was not interested in learning more.

This person is now an important customer of the bank, and it is estimated that in a few days, he may be swept away by the bank. In the current situation, he is still betting that the US stock market will rise, which is tantamount to looking for death.

Li Jingwei is sure that if he lends himself to him, he will definitely lose all his money. Even if the stock market does not fall after three days, he will definitely not return himself to himself, and will definitely find various reasons to shirk it. At that time, even if you can file a lawsuit, you will be dragged down by the lengthy litigation process.

Moreover, Reading has never answered his question positively, that is, what the other party uses as collateral. If there is no collateral, even if the lawsuit is won, you may not be able to recover any principal.

In addition, Reading only said that he thinks the customer is trustworthy. This is only his personal opinion and is not an official guarantee from a Swiss bank. In the future, if the other party cannot repay, I can neither go to him nor go to the Swiss bank. At best, they play the role of a middleman.

"Then what if the stock market continues to fall?" Li Jingwei deliberately asked, "what funds will he use to repay me?" Will your bank provide me with a written guarantee?"

"Our client is very confident in the future trend of the stock market, and believes that the stock market will soon go on the offensive after the early adjustment. Therefore, the rise of the stock market is expected. Reading just talked about him left and right, and did not answer the core question that Li Jingwei was concerned about.

And, in answering questions, Reading was simply describing this client's views on the stock market. However, the rise or fall of the stock market is not something that this client can control, and it will not go in the direction he expects.

"Then is your bank willing to provide me with a written guarantee?" Li Jingwei continued to ask.

In answering the question earlier, Reading was clearly deliberately avoiding the question.

"Sorry! Our bank will not guarantee this. We're just a matchmaker for both of you. It's entirely up to you whether or not you can make a deal with each other. Redding was forced to answer Li Jingwei's question.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Reading. With this fund, I already have a direction to invest in. When Li Jingwei heard this, he directly refused to lend out his funds.

After saying a few more innocuous reasons, he found that Li Jingwei was resolute, and Reading had no choice but to hang up the phone.

Redding's phone call further strengthened Li Jingwei's confidence in shorting stock index futures.

It is conceivable that to be able to get an account manager like Reading to look around for funds means that it must be a big customer of a Swiss bank. Such large customers are already facing the problem of insufficient funds, which shows that the pressure on the bulls has reached the limit.

Next, the sharp decline in the stock market is already unstoppable. At the same time, this decline, unlike the previous correction, must have been drastic. Therefore, many speculators will lose in this decline.

Reading's phone call made Li Jingwei give up the idea of leveraged financing. First of all, the cost of borrowing can be high when the market is relatively tight. Secondly, leverage will also magnify the risk, which is not conducive to risk control.

In addition, Li Jingwei initially planned to divide the funds into 20%, 30%, 40% and 10%, and invest them in four times. Now, he has changed his mind and decided to invest 80% in one go, and then add the remaining 20% if there is a floating profit.

The first 80 percent of the funding totals $40 million. According to the current point, the S&P 500 stock index futures are about 3,200 points, and according to the 3% margin, Li Jingwei invested 40 million US dollars, and a total of more than 800 lots can be sold.

After Li Jingwei's gradual transaction was completed, he simply turned off the computer and stopped thinking about these things. In the stock index futures trading market, the trading point fluctuates at any time, and if you keep staring, you may lose your position because of temporary fluctuations.