After Divorce, I Can Hear the Future-Chapter 628: Quantitative Trading (A Good Start)

Li Manli said nothing, suddenly hugging Lu Liang’s arm, acting cute, "Liang, I’m going broke. I’ve emptied my little stash to renovate my new place recently."

She also knew that whether he was willing or not, Lu Liang probably wouldn’t care about her thoughts, at most he’d feel a bit guilty.

Three years was enough to turn the once headstrong young girl into a thoughtful little woman.

Li Manli didn’t want Lu Liang to feel guilty, so she used asking for pocket money as a way to ease the slight sadness from their separation.

"How much more do you need for the house renovation?" Lu Liang smiled knowingly, gently rubbing Li Manli’s cheek with his thumb.

"The more, the better, of course~" Li Manli’s eyes curved into crescent moons, like a cat devoted to its owner, she reached out her pink tongue, licking his thumb.

Lu Liang laughed, slipping his thumb into her mouth, feeling the softness and slipperiness inside.

With his other hand, he took out his phone, dialing the private bank manager to raise the monthly limit on the supplementary card from 2 million to 5 million.

He had a personal credit card at ICBC, though he had never stored a penny on it, it had a monthly credit limit of 30 million RMB.

This card later became Lu Liang’s fund for dating, with three supplementary cards as of now, given to Su Wanyu, Wang Chuting, and Li Manli, each with a monthly limit of two million.

Li Manli was so well-behaved, she deserved special treatment.

After all, for Lu Liang, any problem solvable with money wasn’t a problem at all.

As soon as the call ended, Li Manli wrapped her arms around Lu Liang’s neck, giving him a fierce kiss that lasted until the lipstick mark had faded.

"Alright, let’s not cook tonight, let’s eat out."

Smelling the residue of lipstick on his face, Lu Liang patted Li Manli’s head, getting up to go to the bathroom.

"Mm~" Li Manli smirked mischievously as she saw Lu Liang enter the bathroom, waddling in like a little duck.

Even though she had already bathed, another one wouldn’t hurt.

Besides, water can provide buoyancy and can also act as a lubricant; it’s a delightful experience for both men and women, otherwise she wouldn’t have specifically ordered a large 3x3 bathtub.

After a night of indulgence, the next day Lu Liang returned to Modu.

As soon as he arrived on the 32nd floor of the New International Building, he saw a young man in a suit at the company’s entrance.

In his early thirties, not very tall, with black-framed glasses perched on his nose and a heavy fringe, he had the look of a tech guy.

Upon seeing Lu Liang, he couldn’t hide his delight and quickly presented his business card, introducing himself, "Mr. Lu, hello, I am Liang Wenhu, general manager of Huanfang Quantitative Fund."

"Quantitative fund?" Lu Liang raised an eyebrow, smiling and nodding, "Hello, Mr. Liang."

Quantitative trading was born in the 1970s when some mathematicians and physicists began trying to use mathematical models and computer programs to predict securities market behavior, marking the beginning of quantitative trading.

But what truly brought quantitative trading into the public eye was the 1987 US stock crash, also known as the birth of Black Monday.

Quantitative trading, also known as high-frequency trading mode, even the world’s greatest trading ace can only make a few trades in a second, but quantitative trading can execute more than 200 trades per second.

Even if each trade only earns a penny, 200 trades would make two dollars.

Accumulating small gains is one aspect, the other is the ability to avoid risks or seize opportunities at the first moment.

So once the high-frequency trading mode was born, it was eagerly adopted by major institutions, each establishing quantitative trading departments.

By 1987, at least 60% of all US stock trades in a day were contributed by the quantitative trading model.

However, quantitative trading is a ruthless machine, showing the extreme of following trends and cutting losses.

Any market ripple won’t consider any external factors, it always takes the most extreme actions at the first moment.

Coincidentally, in October 1987, a rumor started circulating on Wall Street that tax benefits for corporate mergers and acquisitions would be canceled.

This meant that relevant companies would no longer enjoy tax breaks, which would have a certain impact on their financial situation and market competitiveness.

For example, if Ali were to no longer enjoy a 10% tax benefit, next year’s profit would decrease by 11 billion RMB. Such a change directly impacts a company’s profitability, causing a ripple effect throughout the entire system.

The rapid spread of that rumor caused already anxious investors, who were worried about Middle East tensions and US dollar depreciation expectations, to sell off their shares and leave.

Thus, quantitative funds began a non-human-triggered crazy sell-off, with funds selling, indexes dropping, retail investors panicking, following the trend to sell, triggering quantitative fund risk assessments over and over, creating an endless death loop that directly led to Black Monday.

Since then, quantitative funds became infamous, but while there are those willing to take risky trades, nobody does trades that lose money.

Quantitative can bring massive and stable returns to institutions; though retail investors oppose it, the market is dominated by institutions.

Since then, quantitative trading has not been limited, but has instead grown, now accounting for over 80% of daily trading volume.

In recent years, the quantitative model has also started to make inroads into Big A.

There are four leading quantitative funds in the country: Jiukun, Lingjun, Ming Hong, and Huanfang founded by Liang Wenhu, not large in scale, all tens of billions at most.

Lu Liang had heard of them but wasn’t interested.

After all, Big A has over 4000 listed companies, few of which are profitable, each surviving by financing from the market.

The waters here run too deep; it’s easy to make little money and end up in trouble, so he only tends to the new energy index in the domestic market.

Just then, Tang Caide arrived late, apologetically saying, "Mr. Lu, I went to Beijing yesterday to attend Medicine God’s launch event, so I’m late today."

She saw Liang Wenhu and slightly frowned, a trace of displeasure flashing through her eyes, "Mr. Liang, why are you here again?"

Whether Tianxing Private Equity or Tianxing Public Offering, both are powerful and financially strong, making them desirable partners.

But both, even if the public fund appears disconnected, are personally controlled by Lu Liang.

Sun Yutao and Zhang Jing usually close their doors to visitors, so many seeking cooperation turn to Tianxing Investment.

Liang Wenhu was one such individual; Huanfang Quantitative currently has a capital management scale of 3 billion.

To take it even further, they can only seek the intervention of large institutions for protection.

Domestically notable large institutions are mostly state-owned, but those people always eat you alive, usually leaving you working for free for them.

Thus, Liang Wenhu thought of Tianxing Investment, which transcends both the worldly domains and spiritual realms.

Apart from DiDi, Boss Lu’s reputation in the industry is quite strong; he only provides money and never intervenes.

But Lu Liang had already told Tang Caide long ago to decline any partnership invitations from domestic financial companies.

Liang Wenhu had already faced rejection twice, and Tang Caide didn’t expect he’d try again.

"Mr. Tang, I’m really sorry to come by without notice, it’s really presumptuous of me."

Liang Wenhu smiled awkwardly and said hastily, "I went back and thought about it carefully over the past few days, maybe we can cooperate in a different market?"

The two previous rejections made him examine things thoroughly; perhaps Lu Liang wasn’t uninterested in quantitative trading per se, just uninterested in Big A’s quantitative trading.

After all, although Lu Liang was famous, in recent years, apart from the new energy industry, he had hardly engaged in financial investments in other sectors domestically.

Thus, Liang Wenhu had a bold idea, what’s the point of harvesting investments here? It’s better to cut the overseas crops and earn US dollars; that’s what a real man does. After all, Lu Liang’s alleged foreign connections are supposedly excellent.

Hence, the third visit was born.

Perhaps the heavens heard his aspiration, and this time’s visit coincidentally happened when Lu Liang was present.

Hearing about changing markets, Lu Liang’s interest was also piqued, and he smiled invitingly, "Mr. Liang, why don’t we go to my office for a cup of tea?"

Quantitative trading is a good model; otherwise, it wouldn’t dominate over 80% of the trading volume in US stocks.

Moreover, they’re going to go long on gold and short on US dollars and other international currencies next, perhaps there’ll be places to use this.

Liang Wenhu was overjoyed, nodding repeatedly, only to see Lu Liang approach Tang Caide, whisper a few words, then smile and say, "Mr. Liang, this way, please."

"Mr. Lu, after you."

The two walked into the office, one after the other, where Lu Liang brewed tea and chatted with Liang Wenhu about everyday life.

Born in ’85, from West Guangdong, graduated from Zhejiang University, holding a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Information and Electronic Engineering.

"Mr. Liang, truly young and promising." Lu Liang marveled, completely ignoring the fact that he was also born in ’85.

"Mr. Lu, you flatter me." Liang Wenhu’s expression turned peculiar, evidently aware that Lu Liang was the same age as him.

Yet Lu Liang said so, because he had the right to, but he couldn’t say that Lu Liang was also young and promising, as it was a phrase elders used to praise the younger generation.

After drinking two cups of tea, still not discussing the main topic, Liang Wenhu couldn’t help but become a little anxious, "Mr. Lu, why don’t we talk about the cooperation?"

"Alright, why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind?"

Lu Liang chuckled, suddenly picking up the tablet, having just received an email from Tang Caide.

He’d heard of quantitative trading and Huanfang Quantitative but didn’t particularly remember Liang Wenhu.

Chatting aimlessly was merely a ploy to buy time for Tang Caide to gather information on Liang Wenhu and set up a data file.

After all, even hiring employees requires a background check, let alone potential company partners, which needs even more thorough investigation.