Section 81 Futures

The next day, Ashrufat arrived at Gray's office—in the Eurole Chamber of Commerce, of course.

The so-called chamber of commerce, in fact, has many ways to form it. If the Chamber of Commerce is compared to a state, then it can be said that some are loose alliances, some are kingdoms where royal power is supreme, and some are situations where royal power and princes coexist. The second type is the Orok Chamber of Commerce, which is a chamber of commerce that is completely decided by the shareholders and managed by the president.

In fact, this was not the first time he had been in the same room with Gray, but Ashrufat was keenly aware of Gray's change. If Grey had once treated him as a friend (or prey) as an equal, his attitude had changed completely, and his tone of voice had become very polite and respectful—though Ashrufat felt that his attitude had not changed at all.

But perhaps this is the practical characteristic of businessmen.

The pile of papers had been sent back by the relevant personnel, and now there were only two people in the office, Gray and him. It must be said that this place, both in size and decoration, is much better than Gray's original office.

"I've read all the documents yesterday, and I've read every single one of them carefully," Ashrufat decided to get to the point as quickly as possible. The part of his body that belongs to the military is a reminder of the crisis: if you don't know the enemy's layout before the war begins, then the battle is already lost. "If I'm not mistaken, the Orok Chamber of Commerce is a well-run, profitable, and promising chamber of commerce. ”

Gray's expression was visibly stunned. "You...... So much?"

"It took me the whole day. Ashrufat replied. He originally thought that this was not too difficult to do, but now from Gray's expression, it seemed to be a very difficult thing to read so many documents carefully in one day, at least not by ordinary people. "The point is not this, but what I just said...... This chamber of commerce is very well run. ”

"That's true. Gray agreed, he had already sensed the mystery of Ashrufat's words. "But...... Is there anything wrong with that? That's how it should be. ”

"Someone gave me a warning, he said that this Euroke Chamber of Commerce is a trap. Ashrufat said.

"This ......"

"Although the warning is a bit sudden," Ashoruphat replied. "But I can't ignore it either. After all, this matter has a lot to stake...... Because I have a guarantee relationship with the Chamber of Commerce. ”

"Hmm......" Gray was silent for a moment. "Sir, I'm afraid you're a little worried. Did you receive an anonymous letter? But that kind of thing is completely untrustworthy. Now that you've looked at all the archival records of the Chamber of Commerce, you'll understand that this is a cornucopia. ”

"That's right. Ashrufat said. "But one of my instincts told me...... Such a warning should not be ignored. He looked at Gray. "Just in case, I need to know more about the operation of the Chamber of Commerce. ”

"If that's the case. Gray replied. "I have to tell you the good news, this chamber is very well managed and everything is in order. ”

"Gray, I trust your experience in this area. "I want to ask a question. ”

"Just ask. ”

"Suppose someone has set a trap and wants to break my family......" Ashrufat thought about it carefully. "And this trap has to do with the Chamber of Commerce...... Of course, this is just a guess on my part, and a prudent person should think about the worst possible when doing things. ”

"If I had to answer," said Gray, "...... this chamber of commerce is in such a good state, it can't be a temporary fool...... And the liquidity and debt problems of the Chamber of Commerce are obvious and extremely difficult to fake, so the only possibility is futures. ”

"Futures?" said Ashrufat, interested in the word. He'd heard the term, but he had never looked into it.

"Well, at the end of the day, it's the 'cargo of the future'. A transaction at the agreed price at the agreed time...... In detail, it is a kind of buying and selling of the trading contract itself. It's a new invention in business......"

Gray tried to explain the futures to Ashrufat.

"What's the use of this?" asked Ashrufat, puzzled. "Why do you want futures?"

"It's a guarantee for doing business. Gray explained. "When a merchant embarks on a journey with his caravan, he will always encounter all sorts of unexpected difficulties, including too many manpower to resist. At this time, in order to reduce the risk, he must take measures to mitigate the risk of the trip. ”

"Isn't that what so-called 'insurance' is all about?"

"Insurance doesn't cover everything. Gray shouted. "A group of thieves that a man encounters on the road, and a ship sinks in a storm at sea, accidentally causing a fire, and this kind of thing can be solved by insurance. But there's more to it than that. What do you do when you arrive at your destination with goods from afar, and then find that they don't sell at a good price?"

"If it were me, I would have to consider myself unlucky. At the same time, I will tell myself that I must not make this mistake again next time, and get the price wrong with the goods. ”

"Ah, sir. In any market, the price of goods is always fluctuating. It can produce a price difference between high and low more than ten times, or even hundreds of times. Especially if you're squeezing things on the market, like some kind of fruit, grain, or something like that, you can't predict the price of tomorrow today. The difference in the price generated by the time of day often determines whether you can make money or not. ”

"But since these things are unpredictable, they can't be avoided. ”

"So we use futures to avoid this crisis. Sir when we started doing business, we were doing a futures trade at the same time. If our trading is more profitable than expected, then we will lose the extra money in futures trading, and if our trading is not as profitable as expected, then we can make money back in futures. In short, our benefits are certain. ”

"I see. Ashruphat muttered, "I understand, but what does this have to do with 'danger'?"

"Because one can buy and sell futures without any actual business. ”

"That is, if I lose money...... Can't make up for it from the original business?, dear Mr. Grey," said Ashrufat. "I don't have much interest in the details of these businesses, the terms and regulations of the business, the myriad of troubles, but you should hurry to the point and tell you what is dangerous and what is dangerous. ”

"To put it simply, futures are a ...... Quite casual buying and selling, for example, you only have ten dollars in your hand, but you can buy futures for one hundred yuan or two hundred yuan...... In this way, you can make ten times as much money, but in case of failure, you will lose ten times as much money. Gray said. "If it were up to me to set the trap, I would leave such a futures contract in the Eurolock Chamber of Commerce. Because it's not a debt, it doesn't seem to be noticeable for a short time, but when the time comes, and the price loses a lot of money......"

"The Chamber of Commerce has to lose money, because it can't be compensated, so I, as the guarantor, ......" Ashrufat immediately came back to his senses. "Do you have to pay until you go bankrupt?"

"Of course, this is theoretical. Gray replied. "Basically, no one can predict the price direction of futures, so most people can't be sure whether they are losing money or making money...... Unless ......"

"Unless?"

"Except in theory, if this person has a huge amount of money, there is enough money to hold up the entire market! A layman can intuitively imagine futures as gambling -- the so-called futures means that some people buy up, and some people buy down. When the number of bids exceeds the number of bids, the price will go up, conversely, if the number of buys goes down exceeds the number of bids that go up......"

"Then the price naturally went down. Ashrufat finally understood. "You mean that futures rely entirely on the amount of money to decide the winner? It's the same way you gamble with your cards? Whoever has the most money wins? What if no one bets?"

"There is no actual business in hand, and air-to-air futures trading is pretty much what it means. In the air-to-air situation, it is the big fish that eats the small fish, and whoever has more money wins. If no one calls, the trader who holds the futures trade will lock the market. As for the bankruptcy you just mentioned, there could also be a time lag in that. ”

"What do you mean by 'time difference'?"

"For example, if a chamber of commerce has to pay a debt of 100 gold olli today, if he has no cash - even if he has 10,000 gold oli tomorrow - he has to declare bankruptcy today. Of course, this is only an analogy, and in fact there may not be an example of such a disparity. But all in all, if there is no cash and others refuse to borrow, then tomorrow's money is meaningless. Once bankrupt...... Then it's all over. ”

When Ashrufat returned to the castle, it was already evening.

There were not many servants in the castle, and so far, only four servants had come, except for the porter who had been left behind by the knight of Dale. One was a caretaker of the horses and a charioteer, and was both a coachman and a horse boy, two were maids who cleaned, tidyed up, and cooked, and the last was a manservant. This was mainly because Ashrufat didn't want too many people—when he lived on the manor before, he knew the disadvantages of being too crowded. Because this way, it is easy for others to find an opportunity to buy a servant and thus see your every move. Besides, the basement was to be used as a magic laboratory for the two sisters, and until this work was done, the fewer people the better.

He jumped off his horse, threw the reins to the coachman and boy, and walked briskly to the place where his master lived in the castle. If he was not mistaken, the two sisters' cleaning was not yet complete.

Long before the castle was valued for sale, the castle's original owner, Knight Dale, had moved out, leaving only a guarded porter and a maid who came to clean every once in a while. Although this castle is only a small castle, its scale is by no means a single person who can clean all the tiny corners immaculately. Yesterday, when the two sisters started to clean up, they realized that there were many corners of the castle that had accumulated thick dust and cobwebs.

He walked to the front of the bedroom and saw Hoshimi there. She had taken off her usual attire and changed into the kind of dirt-resistant clothes worn by maids, and wrapped her hair in a towel.