On the last day of June, I received a notice from the University of Florida about a meeting for new students at their faculty on Monday, the 2nd of August.
It was still a month away, but this got me thinking about the fact that I needed to secure a place at the dormitory.
Without wasting any time, I found the contact information for the university's housing office and made the call.
The phone rang a few times before a friendly voice answered, "University of Florida Housing Office, how can I help you?"
"Good morning; my name is Jack. I'm a new student. I wanted to know what kinds of dorm rooms are you offering," I explained.
"Have you filled out the housing application yet?"
"I haven't."
"Right now, the demand is high, so you need to be fast," she informed me.
"Are there any single rooms available?" I quickly asked.
"No, we don't have any rooms like that," she replied. "There is only an option at Jennings Hall to pay for a double but live alone. Would you like to reserve it?"
"Yes, that sounds perfect."
I really wanted to live in a dorm again, but I wanted to live alone for a multitude of reasons.
"Consider it done. Could you give me your email? I'll send you the form, and you can send it back to me," she instructed.
I provided her with the email. "Thank you so much for your help," I said, genuinely appreciative.
"No problem at all, Jack. Welcome to the University of Florida. We look forward to seeing you soon," she replied before we hung up.
As soon as the call ended, I received the email with the housing form attached. I opened it and quickly filled out the required information.
The cost of the double room was listed at $11,000 for the full academic year. Normally, this cost would be split between two.
Within my skin, I could feel my worth going down.
[Bank Of America]
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[Account Owner: Jack Somnus]
[Account Balance: $44,188.09]
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I proceeded to transfer $42,000 to my margin brokerage account.
For the next few months, every move, every trade would be made on this account.
I knew that this account would lead me to millionaire status.
[AMERITRADE]
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[Account Name: Jack Somnus]
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[Total Balance: $55,121.70]
[Available Balance: $42,000.00]
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[Market Value of Holdings: $23,121.70]
[Margin Borrowed: $10,000.00]
[Buying Power: $84,000.00]
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Portfolio:
[NetEase Inc ($NTES)] [$1.19] {[ 19,430 shares ]}
[% Gain Over Last Month: +15%]
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If I sold the shares now and repaid the margin, I'd have over $55,000 in total!
The NetEase shares I bought just after my birthday were already trading 15% higher, but this was just the beginning of something that would become known as one of the biggest runs in the history of NASDAQ.
NetEase was a Chinese game studio and service provider that, back in 2001, faced accusations of being a scam after failing to file their quarterly financial reports.
However, they came back to the market, and in a few days, they would report a 200% increase in earnings.
Now, if you asked anyone to explain the reason for the astronomical rise of the stock that's to come, it would be like asking a kangaroo to solve calculus equations while juggling chainsaws.
Fundamentals didn't matter for stocks that small.
What mattered was the demand.
NetEase will release their new MMORPG, Westward Journey, at the end of August.
It will become immensely popular and investors will kill to get their hands on a few shares of the company.
By the end of the year, this stock will have climbed Mount Everest, gaining over 2000%.
But there was no way I was going to limit myself to being the climber scaling the mountain.
No.
I wouldn't be the climber.
I will be the one waiting at the summit, the peak.
I will be the one taking all the praise for their hard work, raking at their hands till they fall and scraping every last bit of their profit for myself.
I stretched my fingers in front of me and went to work.
I needed to approach this like the seasoned trader that I was.
Buying far-out-of-the-money calls in large quantities could be time-consuming due to the current interest in the stock being very low.
Worse yet, going all-in at once could attract suspicion and irrational short sellers, potentially keeping the stock down regardless of its potential.
I needed to act slowly.
I began carefully examining the available call options with end-of-year expirations.
I decided to purchase 42,000 call options for the stock to reach $10 before year-end, priced at $0.16 per option, and 21,000 call options for the stock to reach $12 before year-end, priced at $0.10 per option.
While it seemed like a substantial amount, the total cost was only $8,820, with a fee of $106.50 for opening the positions.
I wasn't able to use margin for option purchases, leaving me with $66,147 in buying power.
I set aside $5,000 in cash and over the next week, leveraging $56,147 of buying power, I purchased 43,851 shares of NetEase at an average price of $1.28 per share.
The reason for spreading out the purchases over a week was the fact that I was starting to have an influence on the market.
With such a substantial acquisition, buying all at once would cause an unnecessary surge in the stock price.
The final part of my plan was to gradually sell some of the shares during August and September and exchange them for more options.
I wanted to avoid getting accused of market manipulation.
I wanted them to think, "He could not have messed with the stock if all he did was sell shares."
[AMERITRADE]
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[Total Balance: $56,745.18]
[Available Balance: $5,000.00]
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[Market Value of Holdings: $89,819.68]*
[Margin: $38,074.50]
[Buying Power: $10,000.00]
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Portfolio:
[NetEase Inc ($NTES)] [$1.28] {[ 63 281 shares ]}
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Recent Transactions:
[Fee: $17.50 (Trade Fee)]
[Fee: $106.50 (Options Fee)]
[Options Buy-Order: NTES Call Option ($10), Cost $0.16, Quantity: 42000, Volume: 11100]
[Options Buy-Order: NTES Call Option ($12), Cost $0.1, Quantity: 21000, Volume: 6900]
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It had been a week, and only a quarter of my calls had been filled, but I anticipated higher volume later in the month to build an even stronger position.
With that done, I closed the brokerage account.
It was the 7th of July, and I went to McDonald's to meet up with Ashley.
When she told me that she was going to attend Rollins College in Orlando to pursue an Associate's Degree in Law Enforcement and that she wanted to be a police officer, I was completely blown off my feet.
I asked her if she was going to arrest herself for smoking weed.
...
It seemed like I blinked, and three weeks were gone, filled with a few meet-ups with friends.
I was going out for a run in the morning when I bumped into Chloe with a sponge in her hand bending over her parent' red Ford F-150 in her white shorts.
It seemed to be her way of paying for her education.
Well, there are worse ways...
I walked up to her, and she smiled as she straightened up. "Morning, Jack."
"Morning." I replied and was about to leave when I thought of something. "Oh! Chloe... Are you planning to go to the student's meeting on the 2nd?" I asked.
"Yeah, my dad agreed to let me borrow the car for the day," she said, placing her hand on the Ford.
"I could take you with me if you want to," I offered.
She stared at me for a moment, then glanced behind me at my car, now nicely cleaned and waxed, shining like new.
She smiled. "I'll talk with my folks, but I'm down."
"Sure. See you then," I said as I continued on for my run.
...
August 2nd came quickly, and I was already packing a few things for my new dormitory room into my car with my parents helping me out.
I was wearing business casual clothes, more on the casual side.
Chloe finally decided on going with me.
She was dressed in a white skirt that reached her knees, a jean jacket, and round shades. She looked very professional with her golden brown hair pulled back and a white handbag in hand.
I opened the passenger door for her, and she got in, adjusting her skirt.
I waved to my parents and got in the car.
The meeting would not last long, so I still intended to return to Wahneta.
Maybe take my parents and sister somewhere for a short holiday over the weekend before departing for the remainder of the year.
I drove out of the town of Wahneta onto the expressway, heading towards Gainesville, Florida.