01x02 - Rebarejji aru kara daijôbu

[bunniefuu]

M-My money!

Climb.

Climb!

I'm home.

Kurumi?

Oh, welcome home.

You're still up?

Yeah, there's a test tomorrow.

Okay. Don't push yourself too hard.

Sure. Good night.

Yes, good night.

Global Economics

It rose.

I'm safe.

Mom...

That twenty million yen.

I...

I swear.

I will get it back.

Forex is a form of investing where you
trade international currencies for profit.

It's been about three months since
I started playing this money game.

I suffered some losses at the start,

but right now
I'm on a big winning streak!

I've made a total profit
of over 500,000 yen.

The process is simple.

First, predict how your target
currency values will fluctuate.

Most of your decisions are based on
a real-time chart that displays prices.

If you think it'll rise, you buy.

If you think it'll drop, you sell.

Thus, once you take
one position or the other...

...all that's left to do is square up.

You repeat this series of actions, and
go on extracting money from the market.

Another day of zero opportunities?

Good morning.

Morning.

And accordingly, that's the way it is,

but we're unable to say it
will always be this outcome.

It's therefore necessary to predict
the outcome over a long timespan.

- Or that's the generally accepted
view, but I happen to disagree.

- 'Sup?

Mochiko, you oversleep today?

No, I was watching the market.

What about you? Turning a profit?

This month's been a bust.

The price hasn't been moving,
so I'm just watching.

It is a shitty market, yeah.

I've been doing the same.

What if things stay this way all year?

Sadly, that's entirely possible.

I'd like to make twenty
million yen this year.

Honestly, a stable market
is a trader's worst enemy.

Then again, there's a way to make
money even in a stagnant market.

It's high risk, but
you trade multiple lots.

You put in more money, setting it up so
you can profit even from small movements.

Oh hey, I found a currency pair
that looks good.

Oh, really?

Right here, AUD/JPY.

The Australian dollar.

That's the currency Mom
used for most of her trades!

Back in her time,

the Australian dollar depreciated
from a level of 90 yen to 50 yen...

but now it's back up to where
it was, as if nothing happened.

That does look good
for short-term trades.

Right?

The price fluctuations are
relatively big. Let's buy like crazy!

Well, I don't know about "like crazy."

And I suspect we're late to this party.

But there's a chance it'll
make it up to a hundred yen.

It's at 95 now, so if we buy a
hundred lots, and it goes up five yen,

we'll earn five million yen!

N-Nah, too rich for my blood.

But you can buy that much if you're
using a foreign account, can't you?

Sure, I could, but the financial risk...

Aw...

Look.

- This blogger is buying into it.

- I might have had a prophetic dream... This morning, I dreamed about AUD, and the
rising chart seemed vividly real. I figured maybe this was a message from God,

- so I boldly bought a bunch of
AUD first thing this morning!

- AUD/JPY.

[I'm so happy! Might get my first win in a while!] The truth is, I've been thinking of doing this for a while, and I've
done my homework... But I won't write about that... I don't want to get hammered in the comments if I'm wrong again...

That might just be
a conversation starter, anyway.

How about this, then?

Let me loan you three million yen,
then you use that to buy in.

What are you saying?
I'm not going to borrow money.

Didn't think so.

Besides, what if it doesn't work,
and I lose it all?

Wouldn't you be in a tight spot, Mochiko?

Maybe, maybe not.

I mean, I'm sure you'd pay me back.

Don't make it sound so casual.

Oh, sorry. Gotta take this.

Hi, Mebuki-chan. What's up?

Mochiko's an investing friend
I met in our first year of college.

She's been playing the stock
market since high school,

and she has more investing
experience than me.

She has at least
ten million yen in total assets.

I wonder if her family's rich.

It's a big world out there.

Huh? You don't know
how to open an account?

How does that even happen?

AUD/JPY...

I know what Mochiko said, but it seems
like a long way to go to one hundred yen.

Even if it rises,
maybe it'll top out at 96 yen.

Then again, I'm not seeing
any reason for it to drop soon.

So, maybe I will buy?

If anything, I should
aim to sell at 96 yen.

If I buy fifty lots, I can
see myself earning 200,000 yen.

It's high risk, but I've got to take
some chances if I want to reach my goal!

The timing isn't bad, either.

- Go! Long fifty lots, fire!

- Market Execution

- Stop Loss Take Profit Slippage

If it climbs to one hundred yen,
that's 2.5 million yen.

Maybe it will? Maybe it won't?

Huh? No way. You actually bought some?

Eh?

No, I think it's a good call.
It'll probably climb.

See you, Mochiko!

The truth is, my move
would be to wait and see.

It is not the time to rush in and trade.

I don't see the point of
buying a large volume right now.

But then, I was the one
who was all bullish.

Thank you very much!

I'll be in the back for a bit.

Okay, thanks.

I want to check the markets!

There's nobody back here.

Just a little.

Balance: Equity: Margin: Free
Margin: Margin Level [%]:

L-Look at it go!

If I liquidate and take the profits,
I'll be close to a million yen!

Getting ready to hit that seventh digit!

W-Wow.

That's fast.

If some weird customer
turns up right now,

I'll repel them with
my millionaire power!

Fifty lots = 500,000 in currency.

It's Kurumi's long position in AUD/JPY.

- Attention!

- This is calculated based on
the purchase price.

Yen

Purchase Price Volume Yen

- And it equals roughly 47,800,000 yen.

- Purchase Price Volume Yen

- That's about 59 times her
current funds of 810,000 yen.

How is this trade possible?

That's due to...

leverage.

In forex,

there's a way to put more money
to work than you actually have.

It's then possible
to generate a large return.

In order to protect investors,
Japanese forex brokers

are limited in terms of maximum leverage.

But the foreign broker Kurumi's using can
put ultra-high sums of money into play.

See you next time!

Have a good one.

However, a factor of x59 would typically
be considered super-high leverage.

To put it plainly, what
she's doing is, in essence...

just gambling.

It's up to 100,000 in unrealized gains,

but I'd sure like to realize it
when it's over 200,000.

Right?

H-Huh?

Where'd my gains go?!

Kurumi's room

My position...

AUD/JPY...

Going down?!

Huh? 95.4 yen?!

But I just checked it a little while ago.

U-Uh oh... It's...

I-I messed up.

I got way too greedy!

I was on cloud nine.

Morning [school commute]
Yen

A.M. [in class]
Yen

Noon [at lunch]
Yen

- Market check Night [now] Yen

- Damn.

That time... That's
when it was at its peak.

It was fifty lots that I bought.

- Purchase price
Yen

- Each time the price drops by 0.1 yen,
the loss increases by 50,000 yen.

- -50,000

- 0.1 yen change

- -50,000

This is big.

Is this a serious slump?

Maybe the trend's shifting?

If it is, maybe I should...

go by the book and cut my losses.

"Cutting one's losses" means to liquidate
one's position and lock in losses.

The biggest benefit to doing so is
preventing losses from getting worse.

This concept exists outside
the world of investing.

For example, when a publisher
cancels an unpopular story

- serialized in a manga magazine.

- Print shop

- Repeated postponements

- This can be considered
a type of loss cutting.

- Serialization costs

Loss cutting is a must
for surviving the market.

The decision must be made swiftly.

Decide swiftly...

The next time it moves...

And it must be made calmly.

C-Calmly... Calmly...

But...

How simple the market would be,
if only that could be done.

Hold up! I'm not cutting losses!

I mean, my position... AUD/JPY...

It's about to get interesting!
That's what my gut says!

Sure, it's down now.

But if you take the long view,
this is a good drop.

I'm sure it's getting ready to jump.

It's crouching down, tensing itself up!

So it can jump that much higher!

- Yen

- Yes, so it can clear 96 yen!

- Yen

In other words, what
I should do is leave it be.

I'll meet this challenge
by holding my position.

This sucks.

I totally missed the chance to go short.

It stalled out before
it ever got to 96 yen.

With it inching down like this,

it's tough to jump in
with a new short position.

Well, I guess that beats Kurumi,
who's waiting out her long.

Hey, Mochiko.

Doesn't it usually drop
before it shoots up?

That sort of thing does happen a lot.

What they call a "bear trap"?

I-I bet AUD/JPY is
in the middle of a bear trap,

and it's getting ready
to go up over 96 yen.

Don't you think?

Yeah, I hope so.

I have no idea.

Crap! It started dropping again!

You could just cut your losses.
Do you suck at this?

No! No! No!

What do I do if this keeps...

Hey, you think they'll hit you
with a forced liquidation?

N-No need to worry!

I-I'll cut my losses before
that happens. Naturally!

Oh yeah?

Th-The price has dropped about
one yen from the purchase price.

B-But according to my analysis,

there'll be a strong pressure
to go long around 94 yen!

I can see that steel plate!

Now's the time for patience.

My unrealized losses are horrible, but
so long as I don't cut those losses...

Oh no.

Ninety-four yen...

My forced-liquidation line!

I won't be able to hold on!

"Forced liquidation" is one of the
automated position-liquidation systems.

I can't watch the market
because I'm taking a test!

I'll watch it for you automatically, pos.

A-Eye is watching, pos!

Even if a trader is unable
to liquidate manually,

each forex broker has their own criteria

for forcing a liquidation
and cutting losses.

Any lower would be dangerous, pos!

I'll cut your losses for you, pos!

Because losses can exceed expectations,

this is in the name
of protecting investors.

Bullshit!

With forced liquidation, just a brief
touch of the limit knocks you out.

They hunt you down, and ask no questions.

In my case, if I'm force-liquidated,
I'll lose my entire balance.

I'll be dead as an investor.

N-No.

No way...

No way!

No, no!

No! No! No!

I-I don't want to die!

Mom.

I don't want to lose.

I can't let both mother and daughter lose.

Money...

If only I had... money.

Let me loan you three million yen,
then you use that to buy in.

Okay, I'm headed out.

Sure, see you later.

I have to do it!

There's no need to borrow from Mochiko.

Because I know!

After Mom died, at the end of each month,

Dad's been stashing money away!

The ultimate move—a loan!

I'll add it to my forex account balance,

and lower the forced-liquidation line!

I know it's a dangerous bridge to cross.

But I'll choose a 50% chance of survival
over a 90% chance of death!

Found it.

We lost everything that day
five years ago,

and I'm sure this three million yen is
a sign of the Fukuga family's comeback.

I was never supposed to touch this money.

If I fail, we're completely done for.

But... as long as I have this...

There's no way I'll lose!

Nobody likes a meddler.

I'm not a child anymore.

I'll make my own choices, thanks.

You got that, mister loss cutter?

Don't go cutting my losses for me!

And don't cut my family ties, either!