1855 United States Tycoon

Chapter 14 Shorting

“Marathon, can you believe it? Someone signed a contract with me. They borrowed a full 100 tons of wheat from me and agreed to return one hundred and ten tons of wheat to me in three months! This is the situation now. , Some people dare to be short. I dare say that three months later, the price of wheat will be ascending, and some will go bankrupt!” In the crowded Chicago grain futures market, a short Fatty in a gray suit was shouting. Said to another tall and thin guy. Such a short, fat and slender combination, and considering the short and fatty rosacea and the tall man’s sunken eyes, it’s really good to play Sancho and Don Quixote in the theater.

“Be short? There are people who dare to be short now?” The thin and tall man said, his voice was like a duck, “Don’t they know how many silly shorts have played with them in the past few years? Last year… Oh, it was the year before last year-no one dared to be short last year. Since four fools committed suicide by bankruptcy the year before, there has been no such foolishness. Let’s talk about it, who has become a fool this year?”

“You know, guess who it is?” Short Fatty sold it off.

The thin and tall guy thought for a while, and then snapped his own thigh: “Tommy, it must be Tommy! Among the people I know, he is probably the stupidest person. Right?”

“No, Tommy is not flexible, but he is a coward. Do you think a coward like Tommy dares to make such a decision?” Short Fatty shook his head.

“Sell less, I can’t guess it. Say it!”

“Well, it’s boring… Let me tell you, it’s Delano, Warren Delano!”

“Volendrano?” The thin man opened his eyes wide. “How is this possible? He’s not that kind of idiot… Didn’t he get any inside information? Well, the weather this year is very good, and the food will probably be good. A good harvest, the price may be really…”

“Don’t scare yourself. There was no good harvest last year? There was no good harvest the year before last?” Short Fatty asked, “Don’t forget Europe! Europe has been failing harvests during this period. And, you know, there are more Europeans and fewer places. They Growing food there is not a profitable thing. So, look at the British, they have long since stopped farming. Don’t worry, it’s okay… Besides, you probably don’t know why that guy made such a decision. .”

“How did you make such a decision?”

“He was persuaded by two young children—well, one was just 18 years old, barely an adult, and the other was even only 13 years old—and he became dizzy with them and went short wheat! God! , There must be something wrong with his head!”

“How can this be?!”

“Look, Warren Delano is here. Well, behind him are the two little kids.”

“Quick, let’s go up and say hello to this fool!”

Volendrano is walking on the Chicago Grain Futures Exchange, which is the largest food market in America and the first futures market in the world.

“Hey, Warren, I heard that you are going to be short? Would you like to sign a futures contract with me? 8 dollars per ton cheaper than the current price is enough!”

“Hey, Warren, I heard…”

People kept beckoning at him, and Warren Delano saw their faces full of smiles, as if they had seen a lot of gold. He knew that these people regarded him as a fool, expecting to wait for him to fall, and then clean his body like a group of hyenas, not even letting go of the smallest bone. The smiles they showed to him were nothing but the smiles of the beasts towards the food. Behind this smile were sharp claws and sharp teeth.

After meeting Warren Delano, Scrooge and Rockefeller only regarded this as a chance encounter, and did not intend to bring him in. However, after that, a habit of Rockefeller caught the attention of the adventurer-Rockefeller took out his notebook and began to record the prices of various transactions today, as well as the estimated output of the various farms he had learned.

In Rockefeller’s notebook, one side is what he learned about last year. Now, he skillfully fills in the relevant data of today to the corresponding position. This busyness caught the attention of Volendrano, who was standing next to him. Volendrano’s eyesight is particularly good, and every time he goes out hunting, he can always spot the target at a greater distance. It is the same now. Although standing a few steps away from Rockefeller, he can still see the contents of Rockefeller’s book clearly.

Warren Delano once had some business dealings with Tuttle-Hewitt. In the process, he got to know Rockefeller, and he saw the cleverness of this young man. However, he did. There is no plan to dig the wall, because in Rockefeller’s diligence, he saw his uneasiness in the status quo. “This person will not work for others for a long time.” This is the conclusion of Warren Delano. At that time, he noticed that Rockefeller had such a small book, and the serious spirit embodied in this small book left a deep impression on him. Now, seeing that Rockefeller took out a small book again, um, in fact, Rockefeller didn’t care about it, his own shoulder and back blocked most of the angles. However, Warren Delano’s height is too high, which allows him to still see Rockefeller’s small books. Warren Delano also looked up there curiously. The conscience of heaven and earth, he really didn’t intend to look at other people’s business secrets, because Warren Delano really didn’t think the above things could inspire his own business. If you knew that the content inside was so important, then you would definitely take a look at it a few more times in advance.

But these few glances are enough. On this page, Warren Delano saw the wheat and corn planting area, estimated output and price comparison with the previous two years in some places near Chicago. Volendrano knows that the planting area and expected output in these areas have increased greatly, but he has never seriously studied how big this increase is. Now I glanced at the number I saw on Rockefeller’s notebook, and was almost taken aback by that number.

As long as the supply of any commodity exceeds the demand, its price will definitely fall. Such a simple truth, Volendrano is naturally clear. Only before that, rising prices made Volendrano unconsciously ignore the increase in supply. However, Volendrano does not know the situation in other regions, so he still feels uncertain about the future price fluctuations.

“It would be great if we could understand the situation in other regions, and it would be better to include the situation in Europe.” Volendrano thought so, “Or, talk to them directly, spend some money, and directly from them. I bought the news.”

Warren Delano is an extremely mobile man. Since he had such an idea, he directly offered Rockefeller and the others a price.

“I just saw in your notebook there is a comparison table of the planting area, yield and price of nearby areas in recent years.” Volendrano said directly to Rockefeller, “This information is very useful to me. Important, so I hope to be able to buy it from you at a reasonable price. You know, since I have noticed this problem, even if you don’t sell it to me, I can investigate these numbers by own means. However, This requires a certain amount of cost, so I still hope to sell this information directly from you, which is more convenient.”Rockefeller was taken aback and raised his head to look at Warren Delano. He found that he could not see any embarrassment on the loyal-looking face of the big brown bear.

“My eyes are very good, much better than most people.” Warren Delano seemed to be a little proud. “Well, John, you didn’t be careful enough. You have to learn this lesson.”

Rockefeller and Scrooge glanced at each other, and Warren Delano was surprised to see this. Scrooge noticed that Warren Delano was a full five or six meters away from them just now, and Rockefeller’s writing was too small in order to save paper. The eyesight of this brown bear was really surprising.

Now that the own intention has been discovered by others, it really doesn’t make much sense to keep it secret. Scrooge believed that Warren Delano could indeed collect this information himself. Maybe it’s better to just pull this big brown bear with not wanting face and work together. At the same time, Scrooge felt that based on Warren Delano’s experience, he must be very interested in short-selling in this situation, which seems risky and exciting. Moreover, this guy is also very rich, plus he is experienced in speculative business, and if he is brought in, he can make more profits.

“Mr. Warren Delano, your proposal is very interesting, but in fact, in addition to these data, we can also sell you some analysis of these numbers, these may be more valuable. I think we can find a place to detail Talk in detail…” Finally, Scrooge said.

So Warren Delano took them to a tavern, found a private room, and started negotiations. In the beginning, Warren Delano only planned to pay one hundred dollars to buy the little books in Rockefeller’s hands. After seeing that Scrooge analyzed the information contained in the content of the page he saw for him, he admitted that Scrooge’s analysis of information is more valuable. Moreover, the faint intentions of Scrooge and the others attracted his attention even more.

“Or let’s stop talking about money, just let’s work together! We can make more money!” Warren Delano said.

“Before this, we have made a lot of preparations. Your partnership with us means that you can share this, which is of course beneficial to you. But for us, if you sell this information directly to you, we can still get Hundreds of dollars, partnering with you, may not be able to score so much in the end. Then why should we partner with you?” Scrooge asked.

“I am going to invest 50,000 to 100,000 US dollars in food. Once it is profitable, I can give you one percent of my income.” Volendrano offered his offer.