"Someone is planning to make a run for it!" was the immediate thought of all the financial elites who saw this transaction order.
This $1 billion deal was actually sold through over 200 different accounts, with varying amounts sold from each.
Some accounts sold only tens of thousands of dollars, while others sold tens of millions of dollars. They appeared unrelated, making every effort to mimic the actions of ordinary retail investors. However, these petty moves were no match for the eyes of these financial elites.
The deliberate differences made them stand out too much. Especially when these elites discovered that the selling records from each account were precisely spaced about 23.75 seconds apart, they knew it was a move by a peer, and moreover, a German peer. Because only Germans would precisely calculate 23.75 seconds as the least suspicious time interval, and then conscientiously follow this interval for their placements, as if they were desperately afraid people wouldn't realize it was a German's move.
Of course, the most important reason was that selling $1 billion worth of stocks in a short period was highly unscientific. After all, the entire Wall Street had nominally formed a united front, vowing not to sell their holdings until the Western Mustang Fund conceded.
As for the retail investors, with the continuous surge in mobile phone stocks and the widespread knowledge that the Western Mustang Fund would definitely step in to buy, acquiring large quantities of stocks, they were all eager to buy more shares to earn greater profits. Who would be selling $1 billion worth of stocks in such a short time?
Seeing this $1 billion, they understood that it was controlled by peers behind the scenes, and furthermore, peers who were operating with them on the Western Mustang Fund.
Some might wonder: since it was confirmed to be the Germans, it shouldn't have anything to do with Wall Street, right? It should be the work of financial institutions in Europe. How could it be peers who were operating the Western Mustang Fund together?
That's naturally because this time Wall Street intended to keep all the profits for themselves and hadn't invited their European counterparts to share a piece of the pie. After all, the more people involved, the higher the chance of collapse. They had directly blocked this information from their European peers.
So, there was only one answer: it was a Wall Street peer selling, deliberately using their European fronts to make the move, to avoid exposing their true identities.
After all, the entire Wall Street had reached a consensus: if any institution were to make a run for it first, they would face sanctions from the entire industry. Unless they were brain-dead, no one would voluntarily expose their identity to act. Thus, they had to use some European front companies to carry out the actions, which was all very normal.
If a Wall Street institution were to act brazenly, that would be truly abnormal!
Then, the numerous institutions and elites on Wall Street began to curse in their hearts, denouncing the person selling in secret as a greedy, foolish wolf who wanted to ruin the entire situation for their own benefit.
Although the stock prices were currently rising, all institutions knew that prices were bound to fall in the future. It was only because the Western Mustang Fund was providing a safety net that everyone dared to enter the fray and play this game of reaping the rewards.
But the problem was, this Western Mustang Fund, like a leek, seemed to prefer crying itself to death in the ground rather than being reaped. They were already feeling uneasy, worrying about not being able to escape, and wanting to flee in advance.
And now, this scoundrel had indeed fled in advance.
Because retail investors were very optimistic about mobile phone stocks, the $1 billion dumped onto the market was quickly absorbed and did not cause too much impact on the stock price, only falling by a few dozen cents. It seemed like there wasn't a big problem.
But this only made the institutions even more enraged. It meant that this despicable person who fled in advance had successfully escaped and cashed out, making a good few hundred million dollars, but leaving the risk for themselves who were still in the market.
More importantly, many intelligent elites felt a surge of fear from deep within.
Because another thought arose in their minds: since others had already fled and cashed out safely, could they also follow suit and sell their stocks to escape now?
After all, as long as they clicked the sell button now, the stocks in their hands would immediately turn into cash in their bank accounts, without any losses.
But if they continued to stay in the stock market, who knew what would happen in a few days.
Because the stock prices of these few mobile phone stocks were being maintained by the large holdings of various institutions.
A $1 billion outflow was not a big deal, but if everyone started having the thought of fleeing in advance and cashing out safely, then collapse would be inevitable.
It was like a solid dike. Suddenly, a piece of soil fell off. This might not seem like a big deal, but this small change represented that the entire dike was already loose inside.
As soon as a piece of soil fell, large amounts of soil would follow in a short period, leading to the destruction of the dike and the demise of the people.
Knowing this, these elites, despite wanting to flee immediately, dared not actually do so. Otherwise, if the momentum collapsed, no one would be able to escape!
Just as many elites were feeling uneasy seeing this scene, suddenly, someone in horror discovered that another huge batch of stocks was being dumped, totaling about $2 billion.
"This is bad! Someone finally couldn't resist and is running away with them!" The elites' hands and feet turned cold. They remembered October 24, 1929.
The day before that, October 23rd, the US stock market was still experiencing a surge. All commodity prices were rising, and the entire Wall Street was immersed in an atmosphere of overnight riches, feasting every night.
But in just one day, at 11:03 AM on October 24th, a sell order for $12 million suddenly appeared on the market, wanting to sell all their holdings.
It's worth noting that $12 million in 1929 was equivalent to about $500 million today.
Of course, even $500 million wasn't a lot for the US stock market.
But right after this sell order was executed, within just 10 minutes, over $1 billion worth of stocks were dumped, and the entire trading market's stock index plummeted, causing the ticker counter to spin so fast that it couldn't keep up with the rate of decline.
It was from this day that the Great Depression, which enveloped the United States for 10 years, began.
"Let's run too!" Someone couldn't resist. He felt something was wrong and decided to flee.
But just at this moment, the leader suddenly appeared in the office, forcibly pulling everyone into a meeting, and the first thing he said was, "Everyone needs to remain calm. $3 billion in short selling orders cannot change anything, not even $30 billion in short selling orders. What you need is to stabilize your emotions, form a unified consensus, and absolutely do not sell your holdings. Don't be led astray by some rule-breaking scoundrels!"
"We need to unite to reap the benefits!" This leader first spoke at length about the importance of unity, and then announced that the higher-ups had ordered an investigation into these two orders. Once they identified who was responsible, they would immediately impose industry sanctions, causing the people behind these two orders to go to hell and be left with nothing, to spend the rest of their lives on park benches!
Thanks to this carrot-and-stick approach, these financial elites were at least slightly calmed down and regained some confidence.
However, when they returned to their computers and looked at the stock market again, their expressions instantly changed.
It was unknown whether Wall Street could catch the two guys who sold $3 billion worth of stocks. During the half hour they were called to the office for a meeting, an additional $6 billion in mobile phone stocks had been sold off sequentially.
Such a large trading volume scared many retail investors, making them afraid to continue buying, causing the prices of these stocks to fall by about 2%.
"Everyone, don't panic. We will definitely deal with these scoundrels. We will send them to hell!" The leaders continued to rally everyone in the office, but many financial elites who had bought a large number of mobile phone stocks were trembling all over.
They wanted to sell, but they dared not. After all, this was an office, and they were using company computers. If they were discovered, it would be themselves who went to hell.
So, they could only watch helplessly as stocks were sold off one by one from the market.
And the speed was becoming increasingly outrageous. By the end of the day, over $20 billion worth of mobile phone stocks had been sold in one day. This shocked all the elites, because it was no longer a matter of a few institutions. It likely represented a significant number of institutions also starting to flee, and the entire industry was on the verge of collapse.
However, they didn't have to worry about this problem for long, because the stock market had closed, and they couldn't sell even if they wanted to.
Many elites returned home in a daze, not even bothering to eat, and immediately went to their computers to find more relevant information.
Then they discovered a lot of additional news. For example, the relevant regulatory authorities announced that the Western Mustang Fund was a key observation unit and that all fund flows of the Western Mustang Fund would be monitored to ensure no outflow of funds and to protect the property safety of investors.
There was also a public statement from Little Swift saying that all rumors about him fleeing to Russia were false. He would not flee and would stay in the United States, not going anywhere.
Well, this seemed like good news, but it made many elites' hands and feet turn cold. Didn't this mean that the Western Mustang Fund actually had intentions of fleeing?