Chapter 135: Chapter 135: Two-Step Verification
Silas’s hand was still shaking slightly as he held the phone to his ear, listening to the steady ringing over the faded chatter of his celebrating trading floor. On the main wall screen, the massive V-shaped reversal was still drawing its aggressive green path upward from the exact 2,329.65 floor.
The line clicked.
"Mr. Rivers," Silas said, his voice dropping into its polished, professional register, though he couldn’t quite mask the slight breathlessness in his chest. "The session is officially closed. We hit your exact exit target at 2,329.65. The execution was flawless."
On the other end of the line, Jake’s voice was remarkably calm, almost casual, contrasting sharply with the high-voltage energy still bouncing around the Sterling International bank vault. "Good. What’s the damage, Silas?"
"The net return on the block is exactly 3,570,000,000 marks," Silas stated, reading the digits directly off the ledger. "Your new total liquid balance with Sterling International is now sitting at 6,570,000,000 marks. Mr. Rivers, if I may... I have worked with institutional funds for nearly a decade, and I have never seen a single individual read the spot gold market like that. Gold is notoriously volatile, especially during these liquidity sweeps, yet you pinned the exact ceiling and the absolute floor down to the single pip. How did you project that structural pocket so cleanly?"
A brief, low chuckle came through the receiver. "Honestly, Silas? It was just luck. The market behaves weirdly around resistance lines. I got a good bounce."
’Luck doesn’t time a global market reversal to the exact microsecond,’ Silas thought, his eyes drifting back to the chart. He didn’t push the point, knowing better than to interrogate a VIP client’s proprietary edge, but the sheer modesty only made the young billionaire seem more formidable.
On his end, Jake Rivers stared at the updating balance on his secure banking application. Seeing the digit 6,570,000,000 flash on the interface caught him off guard. A quiet whistle escaped his lips. Over six and a half billion. He had known the leverage would amplify the gains, but seeing the physical reality of the bank’s capital deployment layout changed things. ’Without Sterling International’s tier-one prime brokerage multiplier, moving this much volume and clearing 3.57 billion marks in a single afternoon would have taken months of compounding smaller accounts.’
’Using the bank’s infrastructure is non-negotiable going forward,’ Jake realized, his mind quickly calculating the scale of future plays. ’I need this team permanently on standby. At least till I get my own set up.’
"The institutional routing handled the slippage perfectly," Jake said aloud, shifting back to business. "Which brings me to the next phase. How is the setup looking for the second trade?"
Silas froze. The phone felt suddenly heavy in his hand. "The... the second trade, Mr. Rivers?"
"Yes. The secondary entry script."
"Mr. Rivers, I’m looking at the initial order sheet you provided before the session opened," Silas said, his voice tightening as he rapidly flipped through the physical pages on his desk. "The document only contained the parameters for the short position from 2,348.65. There wasn’t a second asset layer attached."
"Check the encrypted network feed," Jake replied, his tone perfectly even. "I uploaded the secondary continuation script about twenty minutes into your short execution, right when the volume started to plateau."
Silas felt a cold drop of sweat slide down his spine. He lunged across his desk, nearly knocking over a cup of pens as he grabbed his mouse and double-clicked the incoming secure server queue. His eyes flew across the unread log timestamps.
There it was. An unread, encrypted attachment sent precisely twenty-four minutes ago, buried under the automated system alerts generated by their massive 300,000-lot short.
"Oh, God," Silas muttered, his face draining of color. "Mr. Rivers, I... I completely apologize. The system alerts from the primary lot execution flooded our high-priority queue, and I failed to flag the incoming update. This is entirely my oversight. I will take full responsibility for—"
"Silas, breathe," Jake interrupted calmly. He was currently looking at a live trading terminal, watching the price of gold continue its strong, aggressive post-reversal rally. The green candles were pushing back up toward the mid-point of the earlier drop. "There’s no need to apologize. I’m looking at the ticker right now. The market hasn’t even reached the entry coordinate yet. You didn’t miss anything."
Silas stared at his screen as the file decrypted, revealing a new set of digits.
"It’s a trend continuation buy order," Jake explained over the line. "The market trapped the buyers on the way up, flushed them out on the way down, and now the true institutional money is driving the real daily trend back up. If you load the position now, you can still catch it. Though it’s a smaller move—it’s only going to give us about 53 pips of profit before it hits daily equilibrium."
’Only 53 pips,’ Silas thought, his heart pounding for an entirely different reason now. On a standard account, 53 pips was a decent day. On their current capital allocation, it was another astronomical fortune. He couldn’t let this slip go to waste because of his own clerical blindness. He needed to prove this desk was flawless.
"We will catch it, Mr. Rivers," Silas said urgently. "I am initializing the desk immediately."
"Use the same parameters," Jake instructed. "Deploy the full balance. Go all-in based on the new capitalization figures, and don’t worry about the floating drawdown. Just let the execution ride."
"Understood. Executing now."
Silas slammed the phone down and turned toward the room, his voice cutting through the leftover chatter like a whip. "Back to your terminals! Reset the execution matrix! We have a second live order incoming from the client!"
The traders scrambled, the celebratory mood vanishing instantly as they threw themselves back into their seats.
"Silas? Another one?" the head executioner asked, his eyebrows furrowing as he pulled up the fresh data packet Silas pushed to the main screen. "Look at the balance line... we’re staging orders with a 6,570,000,000-mark capitalization this time?"
"Maximize the prime tier multiplier again," Silas ordered, his fingers flying across the risk-management terminal. "With 1:100 leverage on 6.57 billion, our available buying power is now 657,000,000,000 marks. We are building a long position of exactly 650,000 standard lots."
The lead risk officer let out a sharp, nervous breath, staring at the sheer size of the numbers. 650,000 lots. The pip value was now an insane 65,000,000 marks for every single point movement in price. He glanced around at the other analysts, who were rapidly adjusting their charts.
-Is this guy serious?’ the risk officer thought, his chest tightening as he loaded the entry orders. ’He just made over one hundred percent profit in less than an hour, and now he’s throwing the entire winnings back into the meat grinder? This is classic overconfidence. He’s getting cocky after a lucky hit.’
’No way this lands twice,’ the junior executioner thought, his hands tensing on his keyboard. ’Gold is completely unstable right now after that crash. If the market retraces even ten pips against a 650,000-lot position, the floating loss will cross half a billion marks in seconds. He’s going to give the money right back to the market.’
"Price is climbing through 2,336.00," the head analyst announced, his voice tense. "The post-reversal momentum is holding. It’s moving exactly toward the client’s entry line."
"Staging the block entries," the executioner called out. "Entry target is set at 2,338.50. Stop-loss is configured at 2,332.00. Exit target is locked at 2,343.80. Exactly 53 pips."
Silas stood directly behind the primary terminal, his eyes locked onto the spot price. The gold ticker flickered, ticking upward as institutional buying volume sustained the bounce from the lows.
2,337.80
2,338.20
2,338.50
Click.
"Tranche one filled! 325,000 lots long at 2,338.50!"
The market paused, dipped slightly to 2,338.10—flashing a rapid red -260,000,000 on the floating balance—before a fresh block of buy orders pushed it right back up.
Click.
"Tranche two filled! All 650,000 standard lots are live! Average entry is exactly 2,338.50!"
The room fell completely silent again, the atmosphere thick with anticipation. Unlike the previous trade, which had shorted into a violent, dramatic spike, this position was riding a steady, grinding upward trend. The candles were methodical, ticking upward block by block as the market sought its true daily value.
+10 pips. Floating Profit: +650,000,000 marks.
+22 pips. Floating Profit: +1,430,000,000 marks.
The risk officer watched the green numbers accumulate, his previous skepticism slowly turning into pure bewilderment. ’It’s not pulling back,’ he realized, his eyes scanning the order flow data. ’There’s no institutional selling pressure at all. The big banks are completely supporting this move. How did he know the market structure would stabilize right here?’
"35 pips in profit," the executioner murmured, a slight smile breaking through his professional demeanor. "Price is at 2,342.00. Momentum is steady, no signs of exhaustion."
"Hold it," Silas said, his voice quiet but absolute. He wasn’t doubting this time. He was watching a masterclass. "Wait for the target."
The gold ticker ticked up steadily, entering the mid-2,343 zone. The retail traders who had been caught in the earlier short squeeze were completely out of the market now, leaving the field clear for the steady institutional volume to lift the price directly toward Jake’s target.
+45 pips.
+50 pips.
"Approaching daily equilibrium at 2,343.80," the analyst warned, his hand moving to the master override.
2,343.75
2,343.80
"TAGGED!"
Click.
"Clear the book! Flatten everything!" Silas ordered.
The screen flashed bright white for a fraction of a second as the 650,000 standard lots were absorbed by the market’s resting liquidity.
"All positions closed!" the executioner yelled, slamming his hand down on the desk with a triumphant laugh. "Clean exit at 2,343.80! We caught the full 53 pips!"
The final trade summary generated instantly, replacing the live chart on the central display.
[TRADE SESSION LOG - CLOSED]
Asset: XAUUSD (Gold)
Total Volume: 650,000
Standard Lots Average Entry: 2,338.50
Average Exit: 2,343.80
Total Distance: 53 Pips
Pip Value: 65,000,000 Marks
Gross Profit: +3,445,000,000 Marks
Final Account Balance: 10,015,000,000 Marks
The traders stared at the final line of text in absolute silence. The skepticism, the worry about the client being cocky, the fear of losing the initial profits—all of it was completely wiped out.
’Ten billion marks,’ the head analyst thought, his mouth slightly open as he looked at the final balance sheet. ’He literally started the afternoon with three billion, and now he’s holding over ten. Two completely different trades, two completely different market conditions, and he extracted billions from both without a single error.’
Silas picked up the phone again, a wide, unstoppable smile pulling at his face as he looked at his team, who were now openly laughing and cheering in the background.
"Mr. Rivers," Silas said, his voice vibrating with excitement. "The continuation script just cleared. 53 pips secured. Your final account balance with Sterling International Bank has officially crossed 10,015,000,000 marks."
On the other end of the line, Jake took a slow sip of his water, his left eye completely clear as the heightened awareness receded into the back of his mind. The one-hour window was closed. Attempting to look at the market now would just be analyzing empty noise.
"Excellent," Jake replied smoothly. "You guys did a pretty good job today. That’s enough for this session. Your team can rest for the day."
Silas blinked, caught slightly off guard by the sudden halt. "Sir? The London session volume is still flowing, and the New York overlap hasn’t even hit its peak liquidity. If you have secondary levels mapped out, the desk is fully energized and ready to execute immediately."
"No," Jake said, his voice quiet but commanding. "Don’t get greedy. The market will always be there tomorrow. I’ll send over the next set of slips in the morning."
"Understood, Mr. Rivers. We will stand down until your call tomorrow," Silas said respectfully before hanging up the phone.
He slowly lowered the receiver, Jake’s words echoing in his mind. ’Don’t get greedy.’
Silas looked back at the glowing wall screen displaying the ten-billion-mark balance. In his line of work, he had seen plenty of wealthy individuals hit a massive winning streak, only for their egos to take over. They would get drunk on the adrenaline, over-leverage to hunt the next high, and watch the market crash down on top of them, wiping out everything they had built. It was a classic trap for arrogant investors.
Yet Jake Rivers, who had just systematically extracted over seven billion marks from the global gold market in a single hour, had walked away without a single trace of hesitation. He had drawn his profit boundaries cleanly and closed the book.
Silas realized right then that he had completely misjudged the young billionaire. In their past phone calls, he had always secretly viewed Jake as somewhat cold, demanding, and dismissive—perhaps even a bit arrogant due to his sudden wealth. But looking at the charts now, Silas saw him in a completely new light. That cold demeanor wasn’t arrogance at all. It was an absolute, terrifying level of discipline. Jake didn’t view the market as a gamble; he viewed it with calculated, emotionless precision.
Silas turned to his cheering team, a new sense of reverence settling deep in his chest. He wasn’t just managing an account for a VIP anymore; he was facilitating a strategy for someone who completely mastered his own restraint.
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