After Ding Jing arrived, they discussed matters in the office. Yi Anguo told her about his plan to test the waters of the US oil futures market.

Because two hundred million yuan had been withdrawn, the plan to open a venture capital firm was temporarily put on hold.

Yi Anguo intended to hold the Penguin stock he bought as a long-term investment, so it didn't require frequent trading.

The stock they actively day-traded was still primarily Guojui shares. Its price had been on an upward trajectory since the end of last year. After it broke the 50-yuan mark on April 5th, Yi Anguo began instructing his traders to sell.

Their strategy was to reduce their holdings as long as the share price didn't drop below 48 yuan. If it fell below 48 yuan, they would wait and see. If it dipped below 46 yuan, they would buy.

By now, they should have sold more than half of their holdings, so funding their test of the US crude oil futures market wasn't an issue.

"Trading international crude oil futures in the United States carries significant risk," Ding Jing said, her expression serious. "A single, sudden event can cause violent price fluctuations. Many people get rich overnight, but just as many go bankrupt overnight, losing all their capital. They go from being millionaires and billionaires to beggars."

"One moment, they're dressed to the nines, living a life of glamor, frequenting luxurious hotels with beautiful women on their arms. A quarter of an hour later, they've lost everything and jump off a roof, just like my father."

Yi Anguo nodded. "I'm fully aware of the risks you're describing. But rest assured, I won't gamble everything I have. I don't want to lose you."

"That's why I just want to test the waters. As long as we don't invest too much, it won't matter if we lose it all. It's a loss I can completely withstand."

Seeing that Yi Anguo had made up his mind, Ding Jing knew that further persuasion was futile.

Moreover, the root cause of many people losing all their assets and jumping from rooftops was greed.

Many of them not only gambled away their own assets but also borrowed money from loan sharks. They only had two possible outcomes: win and get rich overnight, or lose and be left with nothing.

As long as you aren't greedy, it's manageable. In essence, it's not that different from trading stocks, although futures trading is riskier.

This is because futures trading uses high leverage. You only need to pay a small margin to control a position up to 100 times larger in value.

For example, suppose the price of crude oil futures is $50 per barrel. One lot is 1,000 barrels, valued at $50,000. You only need a margin of $500 to buy one lot.

For every one-cent increase in the price, you earn $10. Conversely, for every one-cent drop, you lose $10.

A one-cent fluctuation is considered one point. Every ten-point move, up or down, results in a $100 gain or loss. If you only have a $500 margin, a drop of more than 50 points will trigger a margin call, liquidating your position and wiping out your entire $500.

Of course, you can also add more margin to prevent a forced liquidation. If you're lucky and bet correctly, the price of international crude oil futures could suddenly rise by one or two hundred points, and you'd make a huge profit.

You can either go long, betting the price will rise, or go short, betting it will fall. As long as you bet in the right direction, you can make money whether the price goes up or down.

Moreover, when trading international crude oil futures, you must keep an eye on current events. For instance, if the International Petroleum Organization holds a meeting and announces an increase in production to control rapid price growth, the futures price is very likely to drop.

For instance, a major strike by oil workers in an oil-producing country could lead to reduced oil output, which could cause a sudden spike in crude oil futures prices.

If you don't pay attention to these current events and go long when you should be short, or vice versa, then if you don't lose money, who will?

"However, trading international crude oil futures requires foreign exchange," Ding Jing noted. "Besides, the market only has a one-hour break each day, so it needs someone monitoring it constantly."

Trading hours for US international crude oil futures are from 6:00 AM to 5:00 AM the next day during Daylight Saving Time, and from 7:00 AM to 6:00 AM the next day during standard time.

Trading is continuous for 23 hours a day. US crude oil futures trading is not only available for extended hours, but it's also flexible. You can conduct two-way trades, profiting from both rising and falling prices, as long as you choose the right direction.

You can buy and sell at any time, entering a position one second and exiting the next, with no limit on the number of trades per day. You can participate day or night.

There are no price fluctuation limits, which increases the trading range. The average daily trading volume is high, and with no market makers or manipulators, the market is considered fair and impartial.

It's also accessible to traders with small capital. You can start with as little as $100 to trade 0.01 lots, allowing you to learn the rules and processes with minimal risk.

US crude oil futures trading uses 100x leverage. Trading one lot requires a margin of only one percent of its total value. A market fluctuation of one dollar per barrel equates to a $1,000 change in the contract's value.

You can enter the market with a minimum of $100 and trade as little as 0.1 lots without any restrictions.

"Right now, we're just testing the waters," Yi Anguo said to Ding Jing with a nod. "We won't use too much capital, and we don't need someone watching the market around the clock. I'm not planning on day trading; I intend to hold for the long term. I'll just need to check the price fluctuations daily."

"We can get the capital by selling over a hundred thousand shares of the Penguin company. One hundred thousand US dollars should be enough."

Yi Anguo didn't want to overcomplicate things. The most convenient method was to sell a portion of their Penguin stock and exchange the Hong Kong dollars for US dollars. It was a simple process with no currency exchange limits.

The margin for one lot of international crude oil futures was $500, so $100,000 was enough to buy two hundred lots.

However, Yi Anguo only planned to buy one hundred lots, which equated to one hundred thousand barrels. A price fluctuation of just one dollar against their position would wipe out their entire $100,000.

With everything in place, it was now Monday, May 16th. The price of international crude oil futures was $49.73 per barrel. Yi Anguo sat beside Ding Jing and instructed her to buy twenty short contracts to test the waters.

"Are you sure you want to short?" Ding Jing asked with a slight frown.

"Yes, we're shorting. Is there a problem?"

"This price is already a new low for the year," Ding Jing analyzed. "Many people are bullish, thinking it's bottomed out and is about to rebound. Going short now is very risky; it would be easy to lose money."

"If some people are bearish, there will definitely be others who are bullish. Isn't this perfectly normal?" Yi Anguo said.

"You're only seeing the people on the forums who are bullish and expecting a rebound," he said. "But you're overlooking the fact that there are just as many who are bearish, believing it will keep falling and still hasn't hit bottom."

"Look, it's already jumped 13 points in just this short time. Do you still think it's going to fall?" Ding Jing said, pointing at the screen, which now showed the price at $49.86.

Yi Anguo had, of course, noticed the price fluctuation on the screen, and he felt his face flush with embarrassment.

"Look, it jumped another five points. Now it's at $49.91. It'll soon pass the $50 mark."

Sure enough, in less than a minute, the price jumped to $50.01.

In less than five minutes, the price had soared 28 points. The crude oil futures market was certainly volatile. The risks were formidable.

If they had shorted twenty lots at $49.73, they would have lost $5,600 in just those few minutes.

$5,600 was equivalent to 45,000 yuan—the combined annual income of three average Chinese workers, lost in minutes.

Nevertheless, Yi Anguo insisted on shorting. He decisively instructed Ding Jing to buy fifty short contracts. By now, the price had risen to $50.10. The bulls and bears were locked in a fierce battle, neither side willing to give an inch.

The price surged as high as $50.15 but was quickly pushed back down to $49.95, then $49.90, then $49.85. The bulls and bears were in a tug-of-war, with the price hovering around the $50 mark.

Ding Jing had no choice, knowing she couldn't change Yi Anguo's decision. When the price surged again to $50.10 per barrel, she bought fifty short contracts.

It's only $100,000 at most, anyway, she thought. If he loses it all, we'll see what he has to say for himself then.

In truth, Yi Anguo was quite nervous. He insisted on shorting the international crude oil futures because he was, in fact, gambling.

The only thing he was certain of was that in three days, on May 19th, the futures price would fall to its lowest point of $47 per barrel and then begin to rebound.

He also knew that until the end of June, the price would rise steadily, breaking the $60 per barrel mark and setting a new all-time high.

But today was only the 16th. The uncertainty in between was significant. What would happen in the next three days? Even Yi Anguo wasn't sure. He didn't have much confidence.

"Set a stop-loss," Yi Anguo said after a moment of thought. "If the price rises to $50.50 a barrel, close out the position immediately."

Ding Jing was relieved that Yi Anguo had finally compromised. This way, at least their losses would be capped. If they lost $40,000 of their $100,000, they would still have another chance to trade.

Half an hour later, the price had climbed again, reaching $50.28 a barrel.

"Am I really going to lose $40,000 on my very first trade?" Yi Anguo couldn't help but mutter.

"We could just close the position now and lose twenty thousand dollars less," Ding Jing suggested with a faint smile.

"No! If it has the guts to hit $50.50 right now, I'll admit defeat. Otherwise, I'm holding on. I refuse to believe it won't drop," Yi Anguo said, refusing to concede.

The words had barely left his mouth when the price on the screen jumped again to $50.32 a barrel. It continued to climb, creeping ever closer to their stop-loss price of $50.50.

"See? I told you to listen to me," Ding Jing couldn't help but say, watching the price jump to $50.38 on the screen. "If you had just listened earlier, we wouldn't have lost so much money!"

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