Chapter Fifty First comes good paper then comes gold coins

  The good days of high-frequency trading won't last for many years.

  But in 2003, high-frequency traders were still in the stage of making a fortune quietly.

  This can be seen as a game for smart people.

  The companies of Wall Street spend tens of millions of dollars a year on mathematicians who are doing just that, in return to their shareholders.

  It can be said that high-frequency trading is the first time in stock history, futures trading history, and financial derivatives trading history to truly make money without losing money.

  If the market is likened to a casino, then high-frequency trading is an unbeatable gambler.

  Its profit-making methods are numerous, but in general, it is to take advantage of price differences. The time for this price difference is calculated in thousandths or ten-thousandths of a second, and the profit amount is often only 1 cent.

  However, the existence of price differences makes supercomputers that run hundreds of millions of times per second excited like a monkey in heat.

  The same stock may have price differences at a certain moment within an exchange, thus making money.

  The same futures contract may have price differences between different exchanges, making a profit.

  At the moment when an order is split into smaller ones, there will be a price difference. So they make money.

  The smartest people in the world, 50 years after the invention of computers, have finally turned it into a money-making machine, turning it into a super printing press.

  Of course, any moneymae has its expiration date. In 2003, it still had infinite vitality and even had some praise.

  For the government, a large number of transactions increases market vitality and economic liquidity; for exchanges, high-frequency trading strengthens their competition with other exchanges; for other traders, high-frequency trading makes up for the price difference between the two parties and reduces cost expenditure; for high-frequency traders, making money is not hard work.

  To attract high-frequency traders to their exchanges, major stock exchanges including the NYSE give them rebates - in terms of timing, it was the exchanges' rebates that gave birth to high-frequency traders, who in turn prompted the former to offer more and more rebates.

  As the world's largest exchange, NYSE's rebate is 13 cents per 100 shares, while CBSX (Chicago Board Options Exchange Stock Exchange) has a rebate of as much as 19 cents.

  Before the government crackdown, large traders like Getco, which traded 1.5 billion shares a day, would make more than $10 million in rebates alone, even if they didn't make a dime from trading in the market.

  Even software companies and computer companies have joined the ranks of high-frequency traders, widely promoting their products to major banks and funds.

  So, Chen Yi simply searched online and found dozens of service providers offering corresponding software outsourcing services. He selected a few well-known ones to contact, and immediately received enthusiastic reception, with two or three companies even wanting to send engineers to his doorstep for service.

  Beyond surprise, Chen Yi couldn't help but consider more thoroughly.

  He first asked his mother for a subordinate fund's signboard - just a name - and then followed the question of having a French branch.

  Large-scale software outsourcing is highly profitable, and the enthusiasm of various companies naturally increases with it. Chen Yi first telephoned several companies and finally tentatively selected Xinbiyou, which has many branches.

  This is a larger US software service outsourcing company, why they are valued, in addition to their ability to complete supercomputer software modification tasks, also lies in their acceptance of relatively harsh conditions - such as absolute confidentiality clauses and longer-term installment payments.

  Although many European and Asian companies can also provide similar terms, considering the degree of compliance with contracts, Chen Yi's choice naturally has a bias.

  After a phone call, they also made an appointment to meet in Paris. Chen Yi continued to deal with the college entrance examination and other matters, while chatting with old classmates.

  The main thing is to make sure Luo Xiaoshan is safe and sound.

  All these done, it was already three days later.

  Chen Yi lazily got up early at around 12 o'clock, ate a fragrant breakfast at 2 pm, and then went shopping with money.

  His main target was perfumes and natural plant essences, which were expensive but light in weight. Although the value for money was inferior to paper, they had an advantage in terms of time efficiency.

  Chen Yi bought a whole suitcase of bottles and jars, and left the house under the envious eyes of a group of girls, heading to the paper products supermarket in the suburbs.

  Mr. He, the supermarket owner, was already familiar with this young man from the Chen family and smiled as he said: "This time do you want something fresh or the same thing again?"

  "This time I want you to study it carefully," Chen Yi said, taking out a small notebook.

  He records the paper purchased and its final grading every time he goes to the Kingdom of Saint Qiao. After such a long period of recording, he has also explored some rules for himself. However, these rules are relatively superficial and not definitive principles. As his consumption of scrolls and potions increases, he wants not only to improve the purchasing power of paper but also to enhance the strength of the Kingdom of Saint Qiao.

  As Timothy said, the Kingdom of Sanqiao was not the strongest country on that magical continent. They had enemies, their trade was limited, and their borders were blocked.

  If you want to get skill duplication scrolls like that again, apart from waiting for good luck, increasing their war potential is a good choice.

  "Let me take a look." Old He was used to Chen Yi's various strange requests and flipped through the small notebook as if it were a heavenly book.

  "In the front is the purchase time, followed by the name, and then its rating. The rating was set by me, you take a look to see if you can find any rules or principles."

  He Lao Ban listened to him say this, Xiao Ben was enlightened, but he completely didn't understand what he meant.

  He frowned and said: "Mr. Chen, aren't you trying to create your own paper grading system?"

  "Anyway, just go with this, you see what price is needed and how long it will take to get it done?" Chen Yi didn't explain at all. There are many strange people in the world. Even if he gave his boss 10 brains, he wouldn't think of a cult organization as an extreme case.

  "I heard there's money to be made... Mr. He gritted his teeth and said, 'Considering you're an old customer, I'll help you create a new level for 10,000 yuan.'"

  Chen Yi directly handed him a stack of cash and then took out another stack for himself, saying: "Get it done before dinner, and I'll add another stack."

  "Just a moment while I look up something." The boss's profit for one day was absolutely less than 10,000 yuan, and now there was no more hesitation.

  After a while, Mr. He moved out several books and spread them on the counter, copying one by one to compare.

  Although he is somewhat greedy for wealth, this boss himself has some real talent and learning, and understands a lot of things about paper.

  Chen Yi brought the records here and also valued the several devices he bought - in business people, being able to spend money on this is not easy.

  Suburban paper supermarket, doing wholesale business, the number of people coming is far less than that of ordinary supermarkets. In the space of hundreds of square meters, only the rustling sound of turning pages can be heard.

  Chen Yi wandered around inside, fiddling with this and that, his mind a jumble of thoughts: if Timothy and the others came here, who knows what kind of nonsense they'd spout.

  He Lao Ban suddenly let out an "eh".

  "What's wrong?" Chen Yi was like a rat with its tail on fire and ran swiftly to the counter.

  He Lao saw this and licked his lips, saying: "This classification of yours is actually quite interesting."

  "Want to try saying it?"

  "First, you marked as 0, those are all inferior papers, with a lot of chemical additives and so on, and it's not certain what kind of pulp they're made of, wood pulp, bamboo pulp, grass pulp, all mixed up." Old He said, tapping the table, "You classified as 1 to 3, the chemical raw materials are less, generally single pulp, either bamboo pulp or wood pulp, grass pulp is relatively rare. For 4 to 6, you need to look it up in a book."

  "Uh-huh, you're right." Chen Yi said sincerely, as if in worship.

  "There are fewer of them from 4 to 6, I took a closer look and found that the wood fiber is actually pure."

  "What does it mean?"

  "It's made of the same kind of wood, and the craftsmanship is pretty good."

  Chen Yi said in a puzzled tone: "Shouldn't all paper's 'wood pulp fiber' be the same? It's just wood pulp, after all."

  "Of course, it won't be the same." Mr. He shook his head slightly and said: "The factory's pulp, whether it's purchased or self-made, is a mixture of many types of trees. If small workshops buy raw materials randomly in the market or use leftover materials for processing, it's not surprising that the origin can range from Canada to Indonesia. Moreover, you should note that when we talk about broadleaf wood pulp and coniferous wood pulp, they include countless subcategories, such as oak, fir, birch, etc., each of which can be further classified. Your papers with 456 marks are almost all single species, for example, all birch."

  "What about 7th grade?"

  "Maybe it's made of the same tree?" Mr. He said, seeing Chen Yi's serious expression, couldn't help but wave his hand and say: "I'm just kidding. I think, after all, wood for making paper is better."

  The concept of good paper is really too broad, Chen Yi widened his eyes and asked again.

  He Lao Ban spoke clearly as if he were teaching students, repeating it carefully once more.

  It's actually simple once you understand it. In the raw materials for making paper, those with shorter growth years are naturally cheaper. For example, grass pulp is cheaper than bamboo pulp, which in turn is cheaper than wood pulp.

  In pulpwood, broad-leaved trees grow faster and the density of fibers is inferior to coniferous forests. However, in most raw material factories, limited by resource distribution, they will not waste time sorting out the same tree and throwing it into the machine, but rather throw them all in at once.

  He Lao Ban's procurement channels are relatively wide, some of which come from small factories, and the raw materials are easier to prepare, relatively purer.

  Those papers that can be made into scrolls are first relatively pure paper, and secondly paper with more woody fibers - in simple terms, it is paper with a single growth year that is longer.

  Once he understood this point, Chen Yi found that European beech, black cherry, and larch or pine sounded much more pleasant.

  "While fiddling with the paper, Chen Yi said: 'Boss He, would you mind preparing some more of that high-quality paper for me? I'll take it all.'"

  "Master Chen." Old He's chubby face twisted, half-jokingly saying: "The paper produced by small factories is also divided into three, six and nine grades. I really don't know what materials they use. The numbers you label aren't all that great either... sometimes a few sheets of paper are lucky and the raw materials come together..."

  When producing paper, the raw material wood pulp is often imported in units of ships. Who can guarantee that every sheet of paper uses the same materials, or even pure wood pulp? In fact, slightly cheaper paper may not use wood pulp at all, and adding various chemicals is a common practice.

  Chen Yi tilted his head and thought for a moment, seemingly indeed so.

  But he has a new solution, and immediately smiles: "He Lao Ban, use the equipment in your backyard to help me filter all these papers. The good ones will be separated from the bad ones. I'll buy them at 10 times the normal price. Also, discuss with the factory that supplies you to produce a special batch."

  He Lao's bitter smile suddenly froze, his head shaking as if for three years, saying: "Mr. Chen, this is really impossible, not to mention wasting equipment, just the time can't be afforded, a batch of goods makes you wait half a year, what do you do?"

  "That's a batch of goods, each knife must have 4-6." Chen Yi raised four fingers: "Four times the price."

  "Alright." Considering the price, Mr. He still smiled after finishing speaking.

  ……

  Zhi Niao Tun: Today's second update, a solid 3,500 words.

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