Journey of an 'Olympian'

Editor's note: The future belongs to those who dare to shape it. In this series, China Daily highlights the bold thinkers and doers who are transforming industries and breaking barriers. Meet Law Wai-sum, who has etched his name in history as Hong Kong's first winner of the US Investing Championship award for delivering unprecedented returns.

Law Wai-sum rose from a humble upbringing in Hong Kong to become the city's first winner in the United States Investing Championship, delivering a record 353.9 percent annual return in 2024 by trading stocks with an account exceeding $1 million. This year, Law reentered the competition that is dubbed the "Olympics" of the investment world, achieving a 192.4 percent return in the first seven months to claim the top rank in his category.

Law's financial journey began at a young age, watching his parents argue over stock losses — an unlikely start for a future trading champion.

Law shared further details in an interview with China Daily.

Dressed in jeans and a simple jacket, the slim and bespectacled Law could easily pass for a college student; yet, his calm and composed demeanor when recalling his past — even the less pleasant moments — reveals a maturity and rationality that defines his character.

As a child, Law watched his father repeatedly siphon money to buy stocks, only to lose it on countless occasions. Law's mother tried to stop him, but the man persisted, leading to frequent arguments.

Law never blames his parents. He knows that they simply wanted to secure a better life. His father was a bus driver, while his mother, a salesperson, once hawked fruit on the streets and sold soy milk in supermarkets. Together, they raised three children — Law and his younger sister and brother.

For years, Law's family squeezed into a 500-square-foot (45-square-meter) apartment alongside three other families. Their living quarters were a coffin-sized room hemmed in by rundown cubicles. With no private toilet, they shared a single bathroom with the others — a space often overrun with cockroaches.

In time, the family moved into public housing. To Law, this government-subsidized home "marked a huge improvement in the quality of life".

Making of a champion

To ease his family's burden, Law started working at 15. He took shifts at fast-food restaurants, tried small-scale businesses, and tutored students.

When Law was just a high school student, he invested his part-time savings in stocks, exploring the market that had eluded his father's grasp.

"Trading in stocks is a way to step out of poverty, but more importantly, it's about personal growth," Law said.

With no formal knowledge, and relying only on news articles, he suffered years of losses.

"I play to win," he said, pointing to self-education through books and courses.

Gradually, he began to make profits.

After college, while teaching at a local high school, he kept trading US and Hong Kong stocks. The 2014-15 bull markets — a time dubbed by local stock traders as "Hong Kong's Great Era" — saw him earn millions by the age of 26.

"In hindsight, luck outweighed skill," Law admitted. "But complacency blinded me."

No longer content with modest gains, Law started to employ leverage.

In 2016, as Brazil faced political protests, economic crisis, and a plunging stock market, Law thought he saw an opportunity. He invested heavily — even his wedding savings — in a triple-leveraged bearish exchange-traded fund betting against Brazil's market.

When the market rebounded, Law didn't stop losing and invested more funds. But Brazil's rally accelerated, and the ETF plummeted at triple the rate.

"At a 5 percent loss, I didn't want to sell the stock, but at 50 percent, I found myself unable to," Law said.

"Right when I was on the verge of selling, a voice crept in. It warned me that if I stopped the losses and sold my stocks, all my money would be gone. It stopped me from acting."

Eventually, the losses reached nearly 100 percent, forcing Law to exit.

"I plunged into an abyss," Law said. He agonized for days before confessing to his fiancee during a walk in the park. To his surprise, she vowed, "We'll recover together."

Her compassion restored his confidence. After months, Law decided to return to trading.

The devastating loss forced Law to change his casual approach to trading. Realizing that he needed to be more disciplined, he quit teaching and began rigorous self-study — trading overnight to coincide with US markets.

"Day trading (on the US markets) gave me more immediate feedback and experience," Law said.

In addition, he reviewed thousands of his past trades, breaking down each one to uncover his mistakes.

He discovered that his losses often stemmed from recurring flaws, such as not stopping the losses, and mistiming buys.

"I found that I didn't need more knowledge — just fewer mistakes. Avoiding errors alone could transform my results."

Avoiding the mistakes was difficult. "The real battle isn't the market — it's mastering yourself through discipline."

Determined to transform, he created thousands of specific rules — like avoiding trades in the first 15 minutes of the market day — and stored them on his phone. Every day, he reviewed them. "This was my scripture," he said. Through rigorous practice, Law transformed his results. Within years, he recovered his losses and began achieving consistent profits.

As his trading skills advanced, Law turned to a new goal: sharing reliable investment knowledge. Having taken numerous courses, he'd seen the inconsistencies in Hong Kong's approaches to financial training — some courses lacked logic, while others charged high fees for lessons of little value, with some know-how even causing losses.

"I want to raise Hong Kong's investment standards," Law said.

Lighting the way for others

Since 2020, Law has created meticulously crafted educational videos, sometimes spending months on a single piece. "I want these to remain valuable even 10 years later," he said. He shares them freely on YouTube and supplements them with insights on social media.

Unlike instructors pushing stock picks or making get-rich-quick promises, Law discloses certain fundamentals: Success requires a disciplined system, not lucky trades; there are no shortcuts for investment, which requires diligent study and experience. He discusses risk management, which is knowing when to stop the losses. This approach has earned him 400,000-plus followers across different online platforms, in Hong Kong and beyond.

Growing demand led Law to spend a year developing an advanced paid course, which is now attracting students globally. "I refuse to advertise," he stated. "My courses succeed by delivering real value — training independent-thinking traders."

Yet, skeptics have emerged. Some have argued that he lacked the qualifications to teach trading.

To silence the critics, Law competed in the US Investing Championship in 2024.

Since 1983, the competition has required real-money trading in two categories — stocks and enhanced growth, with the latter allowing the trading of futures and options. Each category features two divisions — accounts over $20,000 and accounts over $1 million, with winners determined by the highest annual returns.

Competing against 450 global traders, Law's historic achievement of a 353.9 percent return not only made him the first Hong Kong winner, but also surpassed the 334.8 percent record set by US legendary stock trader Mark Minervini in 2021.

Law received plaudits at home and abroad, including from Minervini. More importantly, Law has shown that his system works and that he has earned his teaching credentials.

"I'm fortunate to have some influence," Law said. "I won't waste it — my mission is to elevate investment education across Hong Kong and beyond and empower as many people as possible."