84: Chapter 84 The Wall Street Hunt for the Ruble

The next morning.

As soon as Chen Mo entered his top-floor office in the Tianxing Building, Li Yue followed him in, holding a file folder.

"Mr. Chen, all the registration documents for the medical equipment company have been submitted. I've arranged dedicated personnel to handle the follow-ups with the Administration for Industry and Commerce, the Drug Administration, and the Tax Bureau. We expect to receive all the permits and licenses within seven working days, allowing us to officially commence operations."

Chen Mo sat behind his desk and said:

"What's the situation with Lu Yong?"

"Mr. Chen, from what I've learned, Lu Yong himself is a cml patient. Because the price of the official anti-cancer drug domestically is exorbitantly high and ordinary patients simply can't afford it, he began helping over a thousand fellow patients across the country purchase generic Indian gleevec. He didn't make a single cent in profit throughout the entire process; it was purely an act of mutual aid."

Li Yue continued her report:

"Currently, public interest lawyers and patient groups have jointly filed appeals on his behalf. The materials have been received by the Procuratorate. According to our information, the application for bail pending trial will be formally approved within a week."

In his previous life, the Lu Yong case had been a focal point of public opinion. The outcome was inevitable: not only was bail pending trial successfully obtained, but he was also not prosecuted according to law and was acquitted and released. This was the destined result. There was no need to intervene now; observing quietly was the best course of action.

"Understood. Just keep an eye on it. Don't take any proactive steps to intervene. Let everything follow the official procedures. Report any new developments to me immediately."

"Yes, sir."

Li Yue nodded in reply and turned to leave the office.

That day, Chen Mo once again gathered the financial team in the top-floor trading room of the Tianxing Building.

The situation in Crimea had escalated comprehensively. Western nations jointly announced financial sanctions against Russia, freezing its overseas assets and restricting U.S. dollar settlements. Overnight, the global financial markets were rocked by a massive earthquake.

The large trading room on the top floor of the Tianxing Building was activated once more. After the last financial battle, it had undergone another renovation. The trading room was now divided into two sections: one was the traders' room;

the other was the financial command center. On one side of the command center, an entire wall had been replaced with an 8K ultra-high-definition electronic screen, displaying real-time fluctuations in global foreign exchange, futures, and index markets.

Chen Mo stood in the center of the command room, with Zhao Yuan, the head of the financial trading team, beside him.

All twenty senior traders, whose numbers had been increased, were in position in the trading room. Everyone was awaiting instructions.

Zhao Yuan looked at the main screen, his expression grave, and began to speak:

"Mr. Chen, the Wall Street capital giants have entered the fray. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup—they've joined forces with hedge funds to collectively short the ruble and go long on the U.S. dollar. They're aggressively selling off, leveraging the sanction news. The ruble has already plummeted 12% against the dollar in a single day. If it falls further, the foreign exchange reserves of the Russian Central Bank probably won't hold out for long."

The data on the screen kept refreshing in real-time:

The USD/RUB exchange rate shot up in a straight line, skyrocketing from 33.5 all the way to 37.2;

The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), favored by safe-haven funds, surged violently to a high of 80.55, hitting a nearly six-month peak;

The entire market was unanimously bearish on the ruble and bullish on the dollar, with panic sentiment spreading throughout the international foreign exchange market.

Chen Mo's gaze swept over all the time-split charts, K-line charts, and capital flow data. He spoke in a calm tone:

"They are artificially creating panic, deliberately misleading the flow of global safe-haven capital. The U.S. Dollar Index is now severely overvalued. The euro and the Swiss franc, the two traditional safe-haven currencies, are being wrongly sold off. This is a capital harvesting scheme targeting Russia while simultaneously reaping gains from the entire globe."

Zhao Yuan nodded and asked:

"Mr. Chen, should we follow the lead and go long on the dollar, or should we wait and observe for now?"

Chen Mo looked at the large screen and directly issued three core trading instructions:

"First, open short positions on the U.S. Dollar Index DXY main contract, using the ICE Intercontinental Exchange platform. Position size should be 25% of the total trading capital. Entry range: 80.40–80.60. Set a strict stop-loss at 80.75. First profit-taking target: the lower edge of the 79.80 oscillation center. Second target: 79.20."

"Second, simultaneously and conversely go long on EUR/USD and USD/CHF. Execute the capital allocation ratio for the currency pairs strictly at 1:1.2. We're capturing the mispricing due to the dislocation of safe-haven sentiment. Wall Street is currently mindlessly dumping euros and Swiss francs, which completely contradicts safe-haven logic. This part constitutes risk-free arbitrage."

"Third, take small, contrarian long positions on the ruble. Only trade spot forex, don't use high leverage, enter with light positions to test the waters. Before the exchange rate collapses, the Russian Central Bank will definitely resort to extreme interest rate hikes to stabilize the exchange rate, curb inflation, and resist capital outflows."

Upon hearing the third instruction, Zhao Yuan instantly drew a sharp breath:

"Mr. Chen! Right now, hundreds of institutions across the entire market are jointly shorting the ruble. For us to go long against the trend is equivalent to hedging against the entire Wall Street! If the Russian Central Bank doesn't intervene to rescue the market, our positions in this part will be liquidated immediately! The risk is completely uncontrollable!"

Chen Mo glanced at him, a relaxed smile in his tone as he said:

"The harsher the sanctions, the more extreme the Russian Central Bank's counterattack will be. The current benchmark interest rate is only 5.5%, which is completely insufficient to stem capital outflows. They have no other path but a one-time, violent rate hike to stabilize the ruble's exchange rate. What we're capitalizing on is simply the policy rebound after the panic."

Zhao Yuan hesitated no longer. He immediately picked up his headset and addressed the trading team:

"All personnel, listen up! Announcing Mr. Chen's instructions now! Execute strictly according to Mr. Chen's orders! Short the U.S. Dollar Index DXY! Go long on the EUR/USD and USD/CHF currency pairs! Enter light long positions on the ruble! Place synchronized orders, execute immediately!"

In an instant, the sound of keyboard tapping rose and fell in the trading room. Large orders were precisely thrown into the international foreign exchange market one after another. The capital of Tianxing Capital had officially entered the market against the trend.

Chen Mo watched the market screen and said calmly:

"Monitor the offshore Chinese yuan (CNH) market. Today, the official Central Bank will proactively guide the yuan to depreciate in stages. The onshore yuan will break through the key 6.18 level during the session. Western speculative hot money is all piled into long arbitrage positions on the offshore yuan. The yuan will appreciate rapidly in the short term."

"We will directly link our onshore positions and go all-in shorting the offshore yuan spot exchange rate and NDF non-deliverable forward contracts. Focus on breaking through the three support levels at 6.12, 6.14, and 6.16. After breaking through, chase the shorts directly, giving the opposing positions no chance to close out and escape. We'll swallow all this Western hot money in one gulp."

Zhao Yuan's eyes lit up, thinking to himself:

As expected of Mr. Chen, his connections reach the heavens!

He even receives news from the Central Bank!

"Understood! Leverage the Central Bank's policy window to reverse-squeeze the foreign speculative positions!"

He then issued the command to the trading room.

From the daytime of February 28th deep into the night, Wall Street's force in shorting the ruble showed no sign of abating. The U.S. Dollar Index remained oscillating at high levels above 80.5, and the ruble exchange rate continued to dip slightly lower. Everyone outside believed that Tianxing Capital's contrarian move this time was doomed to result in massive losses.

Zhao Yuan checked the market screen every ten minutes. Though his mind was in turmoil, when he turned to look at Chen Mo and saw him sitting as steady as a mountain, he stopped worrying. Mr. Chen was the God of Finance; nothing would go wrong this time either.

Time ticked by, minute by minute. Midnight passed, and they entered the early hours of March 3rd.

Suddenly, Zhao Yuan reported:

"Mr. Chen! The Russian Central Bank's official website has issued an emergency announcement! The benchmark interest rate has been raised by 150 basis points in one go, from 5.5% directly to 7%! Simultaneously, they announced they will use foreign exchange reserves to intervene in the market, selling dollars and buying rubles!"

Chen Mo had specifically stayed up for this moment because he knew the timing.

On the main screen, the ruble-to-dollar exchange rate shot up in a straight line, surging from 36.8 all the way to 33.1 in one breath—a single-day rebound of over 10%!

The long ruble positions Chen Mo had set up were now showing floating profits off the charts, with profits soaring wildly by billions!

Immediately after, an alert came from one of the screens:

"U.S. Dollar Index DXY is plunging! It has directly broken below the 80.0 level! Our short positions are all triggering profit-taking!"

"The euro and Swiss franc are surging violently in sync! We've captured all the dislocation arbitrage from the safe-haven shift! Profits exceed expectations!"

"The offshore yuan long arbitrage positions are being liquidated en masse! The Western hot money has been caught in our net, not a single one escaped!"

The entire wall of screens was awash in green (profitable), with profit figures jumping wildly. Astronomical-level profits were laid out before everyone's eyes.

Zhao Yuan, standing to the side, reported:

"Mr. Chen, Wall Street's shorting funds are being trapped on a large scale. The positions of Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are already seeing stampede-like liquidations!"

Chen Mo's gaze fell on the data showing the losses of the Wall Street institutions. He nodded with satisfaction.