Like other traders and businessmen, securities investors are also very superstitious. Some of them do not like the color red, while some others do not like the number four.
“Any time I purchased 10,000 stocks, the stock price would drop in the next days,” an investor told a broker of the Hanoi Securities Company. “Therefore, when I order 10,000 stocks, you should understand that I mean 9,900 stocks.”
“If you do not remember, I will leave for other securities company,” the client threatened.
Hanoi Securities Company officers understand this VIP client well. When placing orders by telephone, the client always says ’10,000’, but the broker knows that she wants ‘9,900’ stocks. The number 10,000 does not suit the person, and that if she does anything related to the number 10,000, she will fail.
“Sometimes I forget the instruction of a client, but if they get angry and leave for other companies, I will lose a VIP client,” the broker admitted.
Some other securities investors hate the number ‘4000’ and ‘5000’, so they never purchase or sell 4000 or 5000 stocks. Hoang, an investor in Hanoi, explained that he has bad luck anytime he makes a deal with the number ‘4’ or ‘4000’.
“Some friends of mine told me that 4 is an unlucky number, because the number means ‘death’,” Hoang noted.
He also believes that he should not do anything or make important decisions on Wednesday, and days with the number 4, either 4th, 14th or 24th of the month.
In the first half of May, when prices of penny stock prices dropped dramatically, many investors got angry because brokerage officers at some securities companies wore red clothes. Meanwhile, red is taboo for many securities investors, because a red color on the electronic boards means the stock price is declining.
Tuyet, a client of a securities company, complained: “Brokers would be very graceless to wear red clothes when stock prices decrease. They do not understand clients.”
“If they cannot understand them, their clients will leave for other companies,” she added.
After clients were angered by the red clothes, officers of the securities companies all wore green clothes the next days (Green on the electronic boards means stock prices are rising). A brokerage officer even claimed that he dared not wear red footwear.
In perhaps a coincidence, when staff wore green clothes the next day, the market recovered, while the prices of penny stocks, in which many VIP investors had injected money, luckily increased as well.
An officer of the securities company asserted that there is no relation between the stock price and the color of officers’ clothes. However, if clients really like green, it would be better to wear them. “When you work as a broker, you should not only give advice, but you must also understand your clients,” he stated.
At a big securities company based in HCM City, on a mid-May day, a VIP client insisted on inviting brokers to eat duck eggs.
“The stock price is declining, which cannot bring luck. Let’s eat eggs, so that the upward trend can return,” the client cajoled.
It didn’t work.