How significantly did the 2008 Global Financial Crisis impact his assets, and how did he respond?

Okay, let's discuss what the Japanese stock trading legend B.N.F. (Takashi Kotegawa) experienced during the 2008 global financial crisis that swept the world, and how he "mastered" the situation.

The 2008 Financial Crisis? For B.N.F., that was an opportunity!

When the 2008 financial tsunami sent global stock markets tumbling and countless investors were wiped out, this legendary figure performed a remarkable act of "swimming against the tide."

How big was the asset impact? – Not only did he not lose money, he actually made a fortune!

Simply put, the "impact" this crisis had on him was positive.

For us ordinary people, a financial crisis means our assets shrink. But for B.N.F., it was actually the perfect opportunity for his assets to surge once again.

According to media reports at the time and some widely circulated figures:

Before the Crisis: His assets were around 18 billion yen.
During the Crisis: At the peak of market panic, it's said his assets briefly fell back to about 14 billion yen, which was normal – when the entire market is collapsing, even the best investors get caught in the storm.
After the Crisis (End of 2008): His assets didn't decrease but instead soared to over 21 billion yen!

You can imagine that scene: while everyone else is desperately bailing water on a sinking ship, B.N.F. was already donning diving gear to scoop up treasures from the ocean floor.

How did he respond? – The wise adapt; a 180-degree tactical shift

His response strategy could be called textbook, centered on two core principles: swift exit and tactical shift.

1. Seeing danger, rapidly sold off, held cash

B.N.F. had an incredibly sharp nose for the market. Even before Lehman Brothers' collapse triggered a global panic, he sensed something was wrong with the market. Without a moment's hesitation, he quickly sold off the vast majority of the stocks he held, converting them into cash.

What can ordinary people learn? This is like seeing a weather forecast predicting a massive storm; the smartest move is to seek shelter immediately, not stay outside betting you won't get wet. In investing, "cash is king" remains an eternal truth. Protecting your principal is always paramount.

2. Changed core tactics: From "Buying the dip" to "Riding the trend (short selling)"

This was his most crucial and "legendary" move.

His previous playstyle (Buying the dip - Gyakubari): B.N.F. gained fame through a strategy of "counterintuitive thinking." He liked to find stocks mistakenly punished by the market, those that had plummeted steeply, and buy them when others feared, betting they would rebound to their fair value. This worked well in steady or rising markets.
His playstyle during the crisis (Riding the trend - Junbari): B.N.F. clearly recognized that in a systemic crisis like a financial tsunami, the old rules of "buying the dip" were completely useless. The "bottom" you think you see might have a "bottomless pit" beneath it. Continuing to buy the dip would be like catching a falling knife. Therefore, he decisively executed a 180-degree turn in his tactics, shifting from "buying hope" to "selling decline" (i.e., short selling).

How to understand "short selling"? It's simple. Suppose you think a stock (let's call it "Wang Company") is currently priced at $100 per share, but you judge it will plummet soon. You can then "borrow" one share of Wang Company from your broker and immediately sell it for $100. Days later, as you predicted, the price drops to $60. Then you buy back one share for $60 and return it to the broker. In this borrow-sell, then buy-repay cycle, you earn the price difference of $100 - $60 = $40. In the daily plunges of the 2008 market, short selling was essentially a "money-printing machine." B.N.F. leveraged this to profit massively amidst widespread market despair.

3. Positioning during the crisis: Investing in real estate

After profiting hugely from short selling, B.N.F. made another very smart decision. In 2008, he spent approximately 9 billion yen to buy a commercial building in Tokyo's Akihabara district. Later, in 2011, he bought another building.

What can ordinary people learn? This shows he wasn't just a speculator, but also an investor who understood asset allocation. After reaping massive profits in the stock market, he withdrew a portion of his gains to invest in "hard assets" like real estate – which are more stable and generate continuous cash flow (rent) – to diversify risk and lock in profits. This embodies the principle of "don't put all your eggs in one basket."

To summarize

B.N.F.'s legendary status during the 2008 financial crisis stemmed not from luck, but from:

Extreme market sensitivity: The ability to sense danger earlier than others.
Ironclad execution discipline: Exit positions immediately upon sensing trouble, never hesitating.
Remarkable tactical flexibility: The willingness to unhesitatingly abandon the "old methods" that brought him fame and rapidly switch to new strategies suited to the current market.
Long-term asset allocation vision: Knowing how to secure wealth after making significant profits.

His story teaches us that in the world of investing, there is no unchanging gospel. The only constant is change itself. Understanding and adapting to the flow is essential not just to survive, but to thrive, amidst the market's roiling waves.