It's just that they're harder to buy, and you're lucky if you can make a trade of one or two million in a day.

After all, those queuing to buy at the daily limit are mostly the big funds with their own trading seats, leaving retail investors way behind in line.

Time-wise, it's too late.

Therefore, Han Lie planned to look for catch-up opportunities within the same theme.

Around 2018, a new concept gradually became widely known—the catch-up leader.

What does that mean?

It's essentially the situation at hand: real leading speculative stocks continuously hit their daily limit, making them normally impossible to buy into, yet the market's attention is focused there. As a result, most institutional investors, hot money, and retail investors can only look for other opportunities within the same sector. Once the funds converge, they drive another stock within the same sector to catch up. This attracts market popularity and continuously pushes up the stock price in a relay fashion. It's then very possible for the catch-up stock to match or even exceed the gains of the real leader, even surpassing the leader's stock that had hit its daily limit. This is known as the catch-up leader.

In fact, such maneuvers have always existed, but it took a while before they were truly formalized and commonly acknowledged by the vast number of retail investors.

Why must retail investors acknowledge it?

Without the relay participation of retail investors continuously distributing shares, averaging out the stock price, and raising the cost basis for profit, it's hard for the catch-up leader to rise to a relatively high position. Mere speculation by hot money, trying to force the market, simply won't go far. Who will take over when it's time to sell? Right. Only when retail investor groups like the "Lhasa Heaven Group" truly begin to chase the price en masse, falling in love with the thrill of snatching chestnuts out of the fire, do many of these later schemes have a chance to come to fruition.

Now, Han Lie was eyeing such an opportunity.

Because of the unfavorable environment and timing, the potential for growth wouldn't be very high, and there were some risks as well. However, overall, it was worth a try.

Han Lie began to carefully observe two target stocks. Both had already seen catch-up gains of about 15%, though neither had hit the daily limit yet. Therefore, it was difficult to determine which had more of an "Emperor's disposition."

After the market opened, both stocks showed signs of increased turnover, and their share prices fluctuated upward.

Why must one be selected?

Because the current market environment wasn't good enough and there was too little capital outside the market, it could only support one leader. If you chose the wrong one, when the real leader rose, other stocks in the same sector would only see very weak gains, and it might be quite difficult for big money to get out once it was in.

Fifteen minutes after the opening, at 9:45 AM, activity levels for both targets began to climb. This meant Han Lie's judgment was correct—the market was indeed brewing a catch-up leader.

Both stocks continued to fluctuate upward, from 1% all the way to 5%, yet Han Lie didn't move an inch.

The most important quality of a hunter is patience.

Some eager investors can't resist when they see a stock rising, constantly regretting why they didn't buy it at 1%, why they didn't buy it at 2%...

It's really unnecessary. A master might even wait to buy at 9%. They'd rather buy 8% higher than buy into a 1% dip. Doesn't that seem counterintuitive, illogical? The core logic is just one word—certainty. Sometimes, to wait for strong enough certainty, true short-term masters might buy on the third or fourth daily limit, just to confirm it's the true leader. On the contrary, even if some naive investors luckily got in at 1% on the first day, they couldn't withstand the fluctuations on the third day. This is the gap in cognition, the core reason why the naive remain naive.

Han Lie patiently waited until the two stocks sorted out a winner. Then, just as Wei Hua fluctuated at a high of 8% for two minutes before surging again, he decisively ignited the trade.

Twenty million, all swept in at the limit-up price.

In an instant, the intraday chart sprouted a steep straight line, with Wei Hua directly sealed at the limit-up price. The number of buy orders at the limit rapidly increased: ten thousand, twenty thousand, fifty thousand...

The other stock followed with a surge to 9.5%, then lost momentum and fell back to 7%, beginning to oscillate.

The winner was clear.

Han Lie was 80% sure that the other stock would continue to fall the next day, then slowly and lifelessly climb up. The chance of losing money wasn't substantial, but big money would face difficulty exiting once in. That's the market for you—unable to accommodate several stocks surging at once. However, the probability of rotating catch-up moves was quite high. So, after finishing with Wei Hua, if there were no other hotspots, Han Lie was likely to have another opportunity.

At the noon closing, Wei Hua's buy orders at the limit-up price were still heavily stacked.

Han Lie opened his account and saw that out of 20 million, only a little over 14 million had actually traded. The remaining nearly 6 million was still on the order book, ranked near the top. After careful consideration, Han Lie canceled the remaining order. He was now holding a 70% position, which was sufficient.

Despite today's sharp trading, risk management is still necessary.

He hung around until the market closed in the afternoon. When the Dragon-Tiger List was released, Brother Lie slapped his thigh in sheer joy.

Topping the buying list was none other than Panzi's brokerage, with a transaction amount that matched perfectly—14.27 million.

The second buyer was a bit unfamiliar; he wasn't sure which bigwig's backup seat it was, but the amount was substantial—13.96 million.

The third buyer was an acquaintance: Guotai Junan Dapu Road, 80% likely the Head Honcho, with 10.22 million.

The fourth buyer was also someone he knew: Xiangcai Magic Capital Lujiazui, Brother Zhao's backup seat, with 9.5 million.

The fifth was an institutional seat.

Interestingly, on the sell list, he also spotted the Head Honcho's seat: Galaxy Securities Jiefang Road, selling 5.3 million.

What kind of play is this? Using the classic seat at his mother's brokerage to sell, pretending to be bearish, while using Zexi's backup seats to buy, pretending it was a company operation?

Truly unpredictable…

Nowadays, ordinary retail investors only know that Jiefang South Road is the Head Honcho's turf; hardly anyone knows those seats under Zexi also belong to him. So, the plan was to slip in quietly, attracting no attention?

Sorted! This stock is secure! A stock favored by both Brother Zhao and the Head Honcho—it should be good for at least five consecutive limit-ups, right?

Now I'm a big player in the speculative funds scene too, HAHAHA...

Overwhelmed with excitement, Han Lie felt he had accomplished something tremendous.

Although the rally phase involved everyone's effort, and it was obvious those bigwigs hadn't gone all out, in the end, it was I who sealed the limit-up!

Han Lie felt an intense joy, as if he had made a historical breakthrough, as though he had transformed. The montage of his past life as a leek intertwined with his current metamorphosis: a forlorn figure slowly receded into the shadows, while in the sunshine, everyone raised their hands, applauding towards a platform...

Han Lie knew he was still far from taking the throne, but subconsciously, he felt it was his spot.

In fact, today wasn't the time to be overly happy. The possibility of a flash crash tomorrow still existed. But... who cares! At least there was nothing wrong with this operational approach! At least I've proven I can handle a "mere" 20 million in capital!

Han Lie sat there for a long while, motionless, until the ringtone on his cell phone jolted him awake.

He picked it up. Ho, it was Panzi.

"Hello?" Brother Lie drawled lazily.

Panzi's tone carried obvious shock. "Little Han, some people were asking about me just now... My friend at the securities company said it wasn't just one group, but several, and they're all well-known speculators in the financial circle... What... did you do?"

"Nothing much, just said hello to them." Han Lie couldn't help but show off a little to Pan Shengwu.

Cool, calm, and effortless—looking sharp.

Pan Shengwu was silent for a while, his expression unknown, then replied as casually as possible, "Alright, as long as you know what you're doing, keep up the good work."

After hanging up, Panzi frowned for a moment, then laughed helplessly.

Meanwhile, Han Lie stroked his chin, quickly figuring out why they were inquiring about him.

Clearly, the group on the list wasn't necessarily prepared in advance, but at least there was a tacit understanding among them. And my entry was peculiarly timely; I actually cut in and disrupted (or partially disrupted) the plans of those big speculators.

So, would there be any drawbacks? I bought the stock with my own abilities; I don't care who they are! Speculators are never a harmonious bunch, but when the time is right, all forces align. The market's attention is already focused here—who can do anything to me? My chance to make a name for myself is today!

*****

I've been getting sick repeatedly. At first, I could manage, but now my body is riddled with inflammation, and antibiotics aren't working anymore. So unlucky.

Rest assured, I will persevere. I've already recovered most of my strength.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

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