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【Investor Story】Turning a HK$300,000 Principal into HK$1 Million in Net Profit! Is Hardware Just the Appetizer, and Software the Main Course?

As an engineer at a leading AI company, how can firsthand industry insights be converted into real investment returns? From GPUs to CPUs to memory chips—is this bull run only halfway through? And how did a single options contract surge nearly 20x in just one day?

This edition of 【Investor Story】features a fellow investor deeply involved in AI agent research at a major tech firm, with four years of investing experience.@忙果酱(referred to as Mango Jam below),sharing how he turned a HK$300,000 principal into HK$1 million in net profit in just six weeks by capitalizing on the AI hardware supercycle and executing a well-timed NVIDIA weekly option trade that surged nearly 20x in a single day—and breaking down the core principles behind his 'structured trading' strategy!

Agent Engineer at a major AI company · 4 years of investment experience

Friendly reminder: This article is quite lengthy. We recommend liking and bookmarking it for a thorough read—there’s a surprise waiting for you at the end!

I. From Internet Veteran to AI Investor: Industry Knowledge Is the Ultimate Moat

Q: Could you briefly introduce yourself and share how you got started in investing?

Mango Jam: I’ve worked in the internet industry for nearly 10 years and transitioned into AI-related fields about a year ago.Working at a major tech company on AI Agent development and applied research.I have around four years of investing experience. My entry into investing actually happened quite naturally,I often discuss technology trends and industry directions with colleagues, which gradually led me to explore stocks of related companies. After doing more research, I started investing.I started with Hong Kong-listed stocks and later gradually moved into U.S. equities. Now, I primarily trade underlying stocks with a small amount of options.

I’m on the more aggressive side. If I strongly believe in a particular theme, I’ll use leverage and occasionally add some options exposure. However, I still diversify—I never put all my capital into just one or two stocks. Aggressive growth stocks may account for 30% to 50% of my total portfolio, while more stable holdings take up larger allocations.

Turning ¥300,000 into ¥1 Million in Just Over a Month: Buying TACO Amid Market Downturn + NVIDIA Options Yielding Nearly 20x Returns

Q: You mentioned turning a ¥300,000 principal into ¥1 million in net profit within just over a month—could you share more details about that experience?

MangoJam: There was definitely an element of luck involved. I had been staying fully in cash for a while, watching the volatile US stock market for a long time, and didn’t deposit $300,000 until the end of March. At that point, $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ had alreadybroken below the 20-day moving average, but I judged the market might be nearing a reversal, so I started buying into my most favored AI hardware theme.The first position I took was $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$as my core holding; meanwhile, I allocated roughly 10% of my position to short-term NVIDIA calls as an aggressive bet.

What impressed me most was one day when $Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US)$ 、 $Intel (INTC.US)$ was surging strongly, but NVIDIA was only up slightly—even though the broader market kept seeing strong volume. I decisively used $30,000 to buy NVIDIA call options. About half an hour later, NVIDIA started surging on heavy volume, and I gradually sold portions at 5x, 10x, and 15x profit levels, each time selling roughly one-third to one-half of my position. For example, if I estimated NVIDIA might rise 3% that day, I’d use Futu’s“Options Price Calculator”to calculate the target option price, then set several sell points just below that price.

That options contract peaked at nearly a 20x gain, but the actual calculated return was roughly 10x—generating over $200,000 in single-day profit, increasing my entire position from around $400,000 to about $600,000. After that, Igradually rolled the options profits into the underlying stocks, continuing to allocate into growth stocks related to CPUs and memory, accumulating a net profit of $1 million over one and a half months.

Image: Provided by the interviewee; screenshot of account returns with an initial principal of HK$300,000.

Q: When Trump issued his ultimatum, you chose to add capital against the market trend. What was your reasoning?

Mango Jam: First, I’ve studied Trump to some extent.He’s a businessman, and whenever he reaches a critical juncture unfavorable to himself, it’s unlikely he’d actually push himself into a corner.At that time, he was approaching the midterm elections, and war would have hurt his domestic popularity, so I believed the ultimatum was mostly a negotiating tactic, making subsequent concessions quite likely;Secondly, looking at the Nasdaq’s movement over those few days, I felt the market had already priced in the negative news—the panic was fully reflected in prices.If Trump showed even slight willingness to compromise, the rebound would be massive. I felt the odds were in my favor when entering the market then, though of course there was a subjective element to my judgment.

3. 'Bucket Theory' Stock Selection: Why CPUs and Memory After GPUs?

Q: Why did you expand from NVIDIA into CPUs and memory-related stocks?

Mango Jam:This is a structural judgment, which I interpret as the 'barrel theory': if one stave in a barrel is much taller than the others, the rest will eventually catch up.

Because I'm personally involved in Agent development and clearly understand thatAgents aren't hype—they're a practical technology solving real problems. Pure large models rely primarily on GPU computing power, but agents require memory, storage, multi-turn dialogue, context management, and task scheduling. During certain time intervals, GPU utilization may be under 10%, with the rest of the workload handled by CPUs and storage.Therefore, I believe GPUs have already surged dramatically, and now other hardware components like CPUs and memory—the current bottlenecks—will see structural catch-up gains.

Q: Why treat NVIDIA as a defensive position and CPUs/memory as offensive positions?

Mango Jam: Because $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$it is the most core and relatively more stable asset within the AI theme.For me, it's better suited as a core holding to stabilize overall portfolio volatility.Greater flexibility in CPUs and memory makes them suitable as aggressive positions.For example, $Micron Technology (MU.US)$ These were previously cyclical stocks, with valuations compressed relatively low; but under the AI supercycle, memory has become a bottleneck, shifting pricing power back to manufacturers—I believe there’s room for valuation re-rating.

So my portfolio strategy is:using $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$to cushion volatility; $Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US)$$Micron Technology (MU.US)$$Intel (INTC.US)$and assets like these to capture higher upside potential.One day, memory and CPU stocks dropped nearly 10%, but NVIDIA edged up slightly, so my overall position declined by less than 3%. Core holdings stabilized my mindset, while growth positions generated excess returns.

IV. Practical Trading Principles: Use technical analysis to time the market, and options to amplify gains

Q: What criteria do you use when trading options? How do you manage position sizing and take-profit levels?

Mango Jam: When trading options, I primarily focus on two factors:First, the time value should be low; second, implied volatility (IV) shouldn't be too high.

Options nearing expiration experience less time decay and offer higher leverage; however, if IV is already very high, the risk-reward ratio deteriorates. For example, NVIDIA’s IV has historically not been excessively elevated, so stock price volatility translates more effectively into option gains.

For profit-taking, I use"Double first, take back the principal"approach. Once the option doubles in value, I sell a portion to recover my initial capital, leaving only the profit position—which allows me to hold with greater peace of mind. After that, I adjust based on market volume and price actionTake profits in batches. Additionally, Futu'sorder execution experienceis very smooth, enabling quick entry and exit during intraday trading, with allstop-loss orders, limit ordersand other order types readily available. Once an option generates substantial profits, I don’t stay in the option position indefinitely,I will gradually shift into the underlying stock to reduce risk and let profits continue riding the main uptrend.

Q: How do you normally use technical indicators to decide when to add to or reduce your position?

Mango Jam: The indicators I use aren't very complex—mainly the 5-day MA, 20-day MA, Bollinger Bands, and intraday volume.

On the daily chart, I check whether strong stocks find support near the middle Bollinger Band, the 10-day MA, or the 20-day MA.If the support holds, I consider adding to my position; if the stock price deviates too far in the short term with an excessively steep slope, I’ll trim part of the position first—or close leveraged positions while keeping the base position intact. This is what I refer to as structural T+0 trading.

For intraday analysis, I mainly watch volume and the average price line.If the intraday price line stays above the day's average price line with solid volume, I won’t worry too much; but if it trades below the average price line with very low volume, I avoid aggressive trades that day.

In addition, I always conductcomparisons among similar assets.For example, $Intel (INTC.US)$ It has already risen by 10%, $Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US)$ If it only rises by two or three points, I’ll assess the situation. $Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US)$ There might be room for catch-up gains, so you can be a bit more aggressive at this point. Generally speaking, avoid chasing straight-line rallies or panic-selling during straight-line declines; instead, wait for the price to return to a relatively comfortable level before acting.

5. The Second Half of AI Investing: After Hardware, Awaiting the Software Era

Q: You mentioned AI is still in its first phase—what are the signals indicating a shift to the second phase driven by software?

Mango Jam:Hardware stocks are cyclical. Even in a super-cycle, once hardware deployment reaches a certain scale, the real profits will inevitably accrue to the software side.

I think there are several signals for this transition:

First, whether any standout SaaS stocks emerge;

Second, whether market capital starts shifting from hardware to software;

Third, whether there are signs of slowing capital expenditures by cloud providers.

What I'm most looking forward to isAnthropic and OpenAI going public. Because I'm personally using these models for agent development and know which ones perform well. Anthropic has solved many problems in the B2B space, and its revenue growth rate is extremely impressive—it has the potential to reshape the B2B industry landscape.

In the short term, I remain bullish on the AI hardware cycle, $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$$Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US)$$Micron Technology (MU.US)$these are still core holdings;

Looking longer term, I’ll closely watch for the right timing to rotate into SaaS applications. Even further out, areas like robotics and SpaceX are also worth starting to monitor—they just haven’t reached their breakout moment yet. $SaaS (LIST2520.US)$$Tesla (TSLA.US)$$Space (LIST2556.US)$

6. Advice for fellow investors: Believe in what you buy, but only if you've truly done your research

Q: What insights would you share with fellow investors who are either new to the market or already have some investment experience?

Mango Jam: First, you must believe in what you buy.Do your research, understand the industry, and truly believe in the direction—only then can you hold your position firmly without chasing highs or selling lows. Blindly following others—buying when prices rise and selling when they fall—is the worst kind of trading behavior.

Second, execute structured trades; never add to losing positions without discipline.Adding positions should be done structurally, and day trading (‘doing T’) must also follow a structural approach. This is especially true for options—averaging down may lead to even greater losses, so strict discipline is essential.

Sometimes, the best investment moat lies right within your daily work. Turning industry insights into investment returns is Mango Jam’s core competitive advantage. Starting from frontline technical expertise at major AI companies, we use the ‘bucket theory’ to identify structural catch-up opportunities from GPUs to CPUs and storage, while managing risk with disciplined options strategies—focusing on low implied volatility (IV), low time value, and securing doubled-down principal first.

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Event deadline: From now until June 7, 2026

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Disclaimer:The content of this article is provided by@忙果酱Accept@牛友有料到Compiled from the interview; the images in the text are provided by@忙果酱This article is based on interviews and the images in the text are provided and authorized by . The cases in the article are for reference only and do not constitute any investment advice. The information in the article does not constitute any industry or metric recommendation; the stock information and introductions represent the user's personal opinions, do not constitute any stock recommendation, do not represent Futu's position, and are not professional advice. Past performance of stocks does not indicate future results; the stock market involves risks, and investments should be made with caution.

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